The Steel Guitar Forum

Last winter when I was designing and building a custom double 8 string console steel I was curious about the design evolution, and innovation, by the various steel guitar manufacturers of the past. Just who did invent what, and when? My investigation here is limited to multi-neck steel guitars and my source of information is "Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars" (2nd Edition) by George Gruhn and Walter Carter, internet exploration and my own 40 year love affair with steel guitars. As is typical of the musical instrument industry, there were very few innovations and a great deal of replication in steel guitar design. The two dominant types of steels found here are lap steels and console guitars. Lap guitars, obviously, rest on the players lap and console guitars are, generally, mounted on legs. Even this rule is widely broken by the use of the wordconsole on legless lap guitars and optional legs available on some lap steels. That stated, let's get down to some firsts. Epiphone put the first doubleneck into production with it's double 8 string, Rocco Model of 1936. Gibson, however, garners the most "firsts" in innovative design with their Console Grande introduced in 1938. The CG was the first rectangular shaped steel, the first with staggered tiers, the first with detachable legs, the first with upward mounted tuners and was the first to use the word "console" to describe the design. Virtually all other console steels that follow are outright copies of this design or refinements of it. The list that follows includes the year on introduction and discontinuation. Please note that this list deals with production guitars and not custom instruments.