"PROFESSIONAL GUITAR"

Norman Boling · Post by **Norman Boling** » 2 Apr 2011 5:07 pm

What seperates a "Professional pedal steel guitar" from a beginner, starter, student model???

Wouldn't the "professional label" refer more to the skill level of the person that plays it rather than particulars about a certain brand???

Seems like the guy's in the 50's 60's did some pretty amazing stuff on some pretty simple guitars??

What am I missing here?

Thanks

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 2 Apr 2011 6:20 pm

One thing I know I can rely on when I encounter the term "professional" is that it's usually unaffordable…

Mac Knowles · Post by **Mac Knowles** » 2 Apr 2011 6:35 pm

Norman...I don't think you're missing anything here. It really is all about the skill. If an E9th guitar has 3 pedals, 4 knees, stays in tune fairly well and doesn't walk all over the stage when you "knee" it, a brand X or a homemade guitar will enable you to play anything your little heart desires for many years. Many, many of the licks we play at gigs are the same ones we've copied from the players of the 50's and 60's. But some folks just have to have the latest and "best" machine out there. I've been playing gigs for over 60 years so have seen quite a few strange things, mostly good but you sometimes wonder....why does this guy need a top of the line Telecaster when he can't even keep time with the three chords he can play! Just pick out a guitar that fits you, acoustically, mechanically etc. and to heck with what ever it's got on the logo.

Cheers,
Mac

Norman Boling · Post by **Norman Boling** » 3 Apr 2011 5:56 am

Thanks for you input....yep, as I figgerd..practice, practice, and practice some more...

At least until sound and style can be packaged with a new professional guitar purchase...maybe in a little foil bag you open up, sprinkle on the fretboard and VIOLA!!

Not likely....

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 3 Apr 2011 6:44 am

Usually but not always, the pro models let u move bellcranks and pull rods ,etc. around to attain more/different copedents if desired, while the student models are generally setup with a "standard", fixed copedent. Mostly bling other than that....jmho....Stormy

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 3 Apr 2011 7:55 am

These are the various items that constitute a "Professional" steel guitar.

1) It actually says "Professional" on the front of the guitar.
2) The guitar comes with a drink holder on the right leg. (Left leg if you are a lefty).
3) There are tassles coming off the key head.
4) The guitar comes with a feature that put's it self back in the case at the end of the night by pushing a button on the endplate.
5) It answers to the name "Julius".
6) Comes equipped with the latest Edward Thomas 7113 Steel Tone pickups guaranteed to wow your steel playing friends.
7) Has the anti-force mechanical tuning device the stops the guitar from going out of tune when a fight erupts in the band between one guy and another who took a pass at his wife.

Has neither bell cranks nor push rods, but is hydrolic.
9) Has Johnnie Shmegeg's mysterious tone mod. (No one knows what it is, and he ain't tellin!)
10) It's colored black.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 3 Apr 2011 8:17 am

Student model guitars usually have one-piece changer fingers and a fixed copedent. Professional models have two-piece changer fingers and mechanisms that can accommodate any copedent. Also, the student models generally have other cost-saving features like non-adjustable legs, no neck (fretboard flat on the body of the guitar), cheaper tuners and pickups, etc.

Seems like the guy's in the 50's 60's did some pretty amazing stuff on some pretty simple guitars??

The professional guitars of that era were mechanically simpler than today, but they still had high quality machining, substantial mass and state-of-the-art pickups. If you sit down behind one, it doesn't feel at all like a student model. You know it's a professional pedal steel.

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 3 Apr 2011 9:15 am

Succint and spot on B0b.....Stormy

Gary Richardi · Post by **Gary Richardi** » 3 Apr 2011 9:16 am

Perhaps the better question, which are being addressed by the replies, is what makes for a good steel? One feature I like is short throws for the knee levers.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 3 Apr 2011 9:51 am

What Bob said. Really. I often wonder what features Edward Sizzorhands would have desired if he had taken up pedal steel. Maybe a serrated blade sharpening stone attached to the leg?

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 3 Apr 2011 10:18 am

If u know a modicum about adjusting and setup on a psg, and assuming it has "Pro" model features ,u can set the lever or pedal throw as short or long as u like.....Stormy

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 3 Apr 2011 10:19 am

Kev, wonder what HIS bar look like ...

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 3 Apr 2011 10:31 am

Storm, can you tell me where I can get some modicum? Home Depot? Bob, you must mean those high quality machined old Sho-Buds where the knee levers would go flying off when you least expected it? Loved those. You used to have to go to MASS to pray SUBSTANTIANALLy (is that even a word?) before playing one. Sometimes your prayer was answered and all the knee levers stayed on the guitar.
I'll tell you how much modicum I got. Last night an audience member came up to our band leader with a request. But I played anyhow...

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 3 Apr 2011 10:50 am

Stormy said;
"Kev, wonder what HIS bar look like"

Like Keef's shiv!

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 3 Apr 2011 10:52 am

I'm picturing it actually as the middle finger of his left hand. He was a utility player from what I understand, and had a can opener ,skate key, etc. as fingers. If I was designing a new Professional model steel I would include a bottle opener on the right end plate. I think Fender was way ahead of their time with ashtray keyheads. The problem was emptying them out. The Polish guys used to turn their guitars upside down and shake real hard in the men's toilet.

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 3 Apr 2011 10:56 am

Kevin maybe he had a modicum of "Swiss Army Knife" built in

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 3 Apr 2011 10:57 am

I like that.

Terry Winter · Post by **Terry Winter** » 3 Apr 2011 11:49 am

bOb said it the best. I've done the student model thing on my first two steels and then moved on to the so called Pro thing. I should have saved a little more first and bought a little better steel, first time out. Hey but that's water under the bridge now.(my two cents)(Canadian of course) Terry

Danny Letz · Post by **Danny Letz** » 3 Apr 2011 3:24 pm

I was buying an amp one time before I started playing steel. I told the salesman that I didn't know why I was buying an amp like that because I'm not very good. He said, if you're not very good, you need all the help you can get. As I gained experience I found that when you finally get all the best equipment, all your excuses are gone.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 4 Apr 2011 1:10 am

Terry Winter wrote:bOb said it the best. I've done the student model thing on my first two steels and then moved on to the so called Pro thing. I should have saved a little more first and bought a little better steel, first time out. Hey but that's water under the bridge now.(my two cents)(Canadian of course) Terry

Before I bought a PSG I did some research on the pros and cons of owning a student model, and aside from price the cons far outweighed the pros. Buying a used professional guitar was the best way to go.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 4 Apr 2011 8:18 am

Looking at it another way,we could just as easily say that the "professional-grade" instruments are the standard and the student/entry-level instruments are made more simply and less expensively so as to not require a big money investment from people who are deciding whether to take up music themselves or giving their kids the opportunity to take up music.

That's an entirely different issue from the one where wealthy people who can afford to pay big go out and buy top-end gear for Little Johnny when he decides he wants to be a rock and roll star,and it is also different from the issue of (say for example)Gibson putting pro-level quality into '50s LP Juniors and rockers/blues'ers finding out ten years later that those instruments really do deliver the goods for those genres.

Richard Park · Post by **Richard Park** » 4 Apr 2011 3:03 pm

I've had three pedal steel guitars in my life.
An Emmons 8 string, 3 pedal with no knee levers
A Sho-Bud Maverick 10 string, 3 pedal, 1 knee
A Sho-Bud Pro II D-10, 8 pedal, 4 knees

Two of them were not "Professional Guitars".

Marc Jenkins · Post by **Marc Jenkins** » 4 Apr 2011 3:28 pm

Sometimes it's perception! Around here, anyways... When the Jackson Blackjack as released, it was ASSUMED to be a student model because it was much less expensive than other steels, regardless of what the builder and guitar owners said: it is clearly a professional instrument.

Bob Vantine · Post by **Bob Vantine** » 5 Apr 2011 12:51 pm

"ENTRY LEVEL" description sounds better than "STUDENT MODEL" to me . $:\$
I play a "ENTRY LEVEL" and will continue to do so until one of us wears out ..... probably me !