The Steel Guitar Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMKeUVDPnq8

There's been much discussion about the Pedabro over the years, but most people have never heard one. Here's a good demonstration by Kevin Morris.

why does he have a microphone on it? doesn't the pickup sound any good? how much do those babies cost? does he play it outside of his studio?

Wow! I've never heard anyone copy Paul's work on that song that exact. Wonderful, and boy do I wish I had a Pedabro or two...

I've never had one, but what I have heard was what you would imagine would be true (like any Dobro): the magnetic pickup sure doesn't give you that authentic resonator tone... I would guess that Paul must have had it mic'ed up in the studio for most of his work.

I am a tremendous fan of the Fishman Nashville series bridge pickup available now, with the Jerry Douglas model Aura for my resonator. I would imagine there would be a way to rig, or possibly have Fishman build a custom pickup for the Pedabro that would give similar results. I guess I need to buy a Pedabro first! (I don't believe Paul Sr. builds them anymore, and there are very few out there).

Great picking in that video!

David Spires

Chris Ivey wrote:Why does he have a microphone on it? Doesn't the pickup sound any good? How much do those babies cost? Does he play it outside of his studio?

If you put a magnetic pick-up on any instrument the tone comes from the amplifier rather than the instrument. For instance, a banjo with a pick-up sounds like an electric guitar. So there would be no point building an acoustic instrument like a Pedabro and then putting a regular pedal steel pick-up on it. The microphone is there because the Pedabro is an acoustic instrument. You could put some sort of piazzo pick-up on the bridge, maybe.
How much do they cost? No-one is making them, and people who have them don't want to part with them, so it would be a matter of paying someone to build one for you, or build your own.
I don't know whether Kevin plays his instrument outside of his studio. I imagine so. Pedabros have been used on studio recordings and on live stage shows, but not very often.

David Spires wrote:...I would imagine there would be a way to rig, or possibly have Fishman build a custom pickup for the Pedabro that would give similar results. I guess I need to buy a Pedabro first! (I don't believe Paul Sr. builds them anymore, and there are very few out there)...

I've thought of taking a cheap instrument with a good mechanism, such as a Carter Starter, and building an acoustic enclosure with a resonator and cone into it.

oh..i thought the genius of paul franklin senior had figured out how to make it sound the way he wanted it to.
paul jr sure made it sound good live with dire straits.
that guy playing the demo was fairly simplistic and
didn't necessarily draw the tone out of it.
all i know is they are very expensive.

for my budget i'd probably get tom bradshaw's dobro pedal.

Paul Franklin Sr. only made a few of them, but they are no longer being made. The first record to ever use a pedabro was "Forever and Ever Amen" by Randy Travis-Paul Franklin Jr. played on the song, then other artists started using the pedabro on sessions-Mike Johnson played pedabro on Josh Turner's "Long Black Train" and Carson Chamberlain played a pedabro with Keith Whitley-Carson's pedabro had both the pedabro neck and a steel neck

There was a Pedabro listed for sale a while back (at a premium price however,possibly by Bruce Bouton?)..Show Pro offers a D-10 with the option of the rear neck being a version of the Marrs 'Cat Can' dobro simulator.

Hal played one with Mike Auldridge and Jimmy Heffernan on the Resocasters.

let's see now....pedabro....not too stage or gig friendly..fragile...limited tuning
$15,000

bradshaw dobro pedal...easy to use...more versatile..easy to carry..durable..use on any tuning
$150 or less..
(not sure on price, but you get the idea)

let me think on this.

David Nugent wrote:There was a Pedabro listed for sale a while back (at a premium price however,possibly by Bruce Bouton?)..Show Pro offers a D-10 with the option of the rear neck being a version of the Marrs 'Cat Can' dobro simulator.

At this moment in time, the ShowPro Cat Can option is probably the most practical alternative for a very close resonator sound, since Paul Snr no longer makes the Pedabro. The electronic simulator box versions slightly resemble a resonator guitar, but..............it depends how discriminating you are. I have a MatchBro, and I'm afraid it's No Cigar.

chris ivey wrote:why does he have a microphone on it? doesn't the pickup sound any good? how much do those babies cost? does he play it outside of his studio?

First of all, they are indeed rare, but there were more than "a few" made, I believe Paul Sr. built about 25. We had two of them in the same room several years back at a Northern California steel jam in San Jose. Peggy Green brought both of hers set up in two different tunings.

I think they have kind of a "sweet" sound and aside from Paul Jr. and a few others, Hal Rugg played his beautifully on the CD mentioned by Lane, The Resocasters, with Mike Auldridge and Jimmy Heffernan on various dobros.

But they are quiet and don't have the "growl" of a good six string dobro. If you were to bring one to an acoustic jam, like one including bluegrass with instruments like banjo and fiddle, I don't think it would be heard very well unless you brought along a mic and an amp. And of course no quality dobro pickup like the six string only Fishman Nashville Resonator pickup exists to amplify them. So if you put a magnetic pickup in one, it will sound a lot closer to a pedal steel than a dobro with pedals attached, in the same way that a six string dobro sounds more like a lap steel when a magnetic pickup is mounted under the strings in between the end of the fretboard and the edge of the coverplate.

I saw the Resocasters when they played ISGC, and Hal on the Pedabro was definitely outgunned volume-wise compared to Mike and Jim on their acoustics.

Ken Byng wrote:
At this moment in time, the ShowPro Cat Can option is probably the most practical alternative for a very close resonator sound, since Paul Snr no longer makes the Pedabro. The electronic simulator box versions slightly resemble a resonator guitar, but..............it depends how discriminating you are. I have a MatchBro, and I'm afraid it's No Cigar.

I recall that one instance of Buddy Emmons using a Matchbro fooled Tommy Auldridge's brother. A matter of good settings and skillful hands.

The ShowPro Cat Can (or Resonator Simulator) has no pedals, so all it can do is replicate a Dobro.

The PedaBro is a completely different instrument, and, as far as I know, is the only way to play pedal steel licks on an acoustic instrument, other than playing with the electronics of a regular pedal steel by adding a Dobro simulator unit.

Putting a Duesenberg Multibender on a Dobro would be a lot closer to a PedaBro than a ShowPro Cat Can would.

per the website Show Pro Cat Bro comes with 6 pedals and 6 knees. I would be surprised if no pedals are used for the back neck

Thanks Bill - you beat me to it.

Alan, Chris's point is a fair one. My resonator mandolin (plug here for Stuart Wailing!) sounds great, there is a piezo-acoustic pickup mounted on the resonator cone. You plug it into an amp, and it sounds great, but very much has the reso tone, not at all what a magnetic pickup would give you.

Less faff than having to set up a mic.

Bill Lowe wrote:per the website Show Pro Cat Bro comes with 6 pedals and 6 knees. I would be surprised if no pedals are used for the back neck

http://www.showprosteelguitars.com/index.html

If the Cat Bro does have pedals and knee levers working on the Cat Can neck, then it answers Chris Ivey's question. Yes, you can buy a PedaBro, or certainly a very close approximation, with the benefit that the Cat Bro will be much louder than the PedaBro.
Does anyone have any recordings of a Cat Bro in use?

Hi Alan
Your question re recorded sounds of the Cat Can has been asked on this forum before, and at least one was forthcoming to my memory. I was struck at how close it was to an actual resonator guitar. Another Duane Marrs/Jeff Surratt invention that is extremely unique.

Anybody out there have any photos or additional information on the Show Pro Cat Bro? The Show Pro website has a price and a tiny picture, but I could not find any other info there.

I can't track down any sound clips as yet, but here is a page that refers to a very young Jeff Surratt playing his Marrs pedal steel with a Cat Can on the rear neck with 2 pedals attached.
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/surratt.html

I think Jeff plays one himself .. the Reso neck being on the back in place of the C6th neck...and tuned to D9th the same as PF does with his Pedabro .. I believe the pedals and levers use the same changes as the E9th neck ..just all tuned down 2 steps... perhaps Jeff could give us the good oil ??

nobody seems to be grasping my point. (ooh) i'm not putting down the pedabro or the cat-pro...
i'm saying from a strictly financial standpoint it would make more sense to use a dobro simulator stompbox with your pedalsteel. considering how many tunes would use this in your show (it is somewhat of a novelty effect), and considering how much the audience will actually appreciate the difference, it makes the pedabro and cat-pro a richman's show of wealth, unless they happen to be one of the very few true creative artists out there.
at the thousands for a show pro cat pro, or $15,000
for a pedabro, it makes less than two hundred sound good. what i've read about bradshaw's pedal makes it sound better than any other option. and tom being the overly honest and caring business person he is, i would trust that.

Your point is gotten, Chris. Looking at it from a financial viewpoint, the best way to represent a Dobro is by using a Dobro. But there are people who want the folk sound of the unamplified Dobro yet want to play the licks that they have learned from the electric E9 and C6 tunings. C6 is the easiest. since most of C6 doesn't rely on pedals or knee levers. E9 doesn't gain much from amplification. Infact if you're playing a non-pedal instrument in E the re=entrant first two strings don't do much for you.

those pedabros are neat.I like the sound of them.Im kind of surprised someone hasnt thought about manufacturing them.