The Steel Guitar Forum

Got to meet, talk, and pick a little with a really cool feller this afternoon......thanks to my buddy Brandon Anderson for introducing me to Mr. Cotton Hudson......I didn't even know there was anybody else in Tarboro, NC that played Pedal Steel other than me.....Mr. Hudson also builds steel guitars, played a very nice SD-10 than he built a few years ago. Black lacquer guitar, with a wood neck, 3 x 4 all-pull Emmons set-up I was very, very impressed with the quality, playability, and tone of the guitar. Pedal action and intonation was dead on too... The most surprising thing was the weight, I could not believe how light this guitar was.....he used poplar for the cabinet instead of maple, and used aluminum legs instead of steel. I really liked the tone of this guitar alot, as bad as I hate to say this, it sounds better to me than my Emmons Le Grande. The combination of the poplar body with a Wallace T-T pickup, through a Nash 400 really produces a great tone, no effects just amp reverb, it was "pure steel" and sounded great.....too bad it's not for sale. Should have taken some pictures of the guitar.....I will next time I'm at his place.

I have known Cotton for many years. We started out about the same time on the old Packhouse Jamboree in Wilson. Yes, I can attest that he is a great guy. I've not seen any of his builds but I'd like to.

He is a great guy for sure, very surprised that I had not met or known of him before now, especially given the fact that he lives about 5 minutes away from me...

The guitar that I played today, was the last one he ever built, he also had several others that he built over the years set up there in his shop. It was interesting to look at the guitars in chronological sense and see how he improved his guitars over the years. We talked shop for quite a while and swapped turns on several old Ray Price shuffles....Even though his playing has been severely impacted by arthritis, he still as great touch and tone, and it's very evident that he was a great player before his hands started giving him trouble.

I very well may talk to him about collaborating on a build, with me making all the components and him providing input and guidance, I think he might like that. I really like the guitar that I played today, but unfortunately it's not for sale. Being that it's the last one he ever built, he's not really wanting to part with it.

While I'll always be an Emmons man several things really captivated me about this particular guitar. The tone was great, I think the use of Poplar in the cabinet and neck really had a positive impact on this. It just seemed to have a little better clarity and string seperation than the majority of the maple bodied guitars that I have played, my LeGrande included...Excellent sustain as well, great intonation all the way up the board too.

His under carriage and changer design is very simplistic, extremely cut and dry. It is a strong design, and there's nothing there that doesn't need to be. Parts all well made from appropriate materials, and it's not an over-built tank like and old MSA or a Dekley. I think the lightness of his pull train might also lend itself to better sustain, that is to say you don't have the huge mass of steel parts dampening the resonance of the instrument.

The weight was very impressive too, this guitar is basically the same stature and size of any modern all-pull SD-10 and (I'm just guessing here) I would say out of the case it's around the 25-30 pound mark, I'll put it this way, it is noticeably light weight, but heavy enough it does try to move on you when you hit a knee lever.

Also worthy of mention, the action on the pedals and lever was absolutely perfect, one of the best playing, most comfortable guitars I have ever sat behind. The only other guitar I have played that was this smooth is Ricky Hagan's red SKH......anyways I see I have rambled enough here. It was a good day though, always love meeting new people who are just as passionate about these ole biscuit boards as we are....

Evan Rose I sure like to see photos of this last steel He built including workings.javascript:emoticon(':?')