The Steel Guitar Forum

I am a beginner who just joined the forum last week after researching different topics on here for the past couple of months. I am a true beginner in the sense that I have never attempted to learned an instrument before. I am looking to stay around $1,000 or less for my first guitar. After checking out the site, here are some of the things I feel I should be looking for in a PSG:

1) An S10 or SD10 with Emmons E9th setup so that I can easily follow the teaching material I purchased.
2) a used pro model (MSA, BMI, etc.) that has at least 3 pedals and 4 knee levers. Or a used Stage One since the reputation of these seem to be so high.

I talked to Doug at Stage One via e-mail and there is currently several months waiting list for a brand new unit. I am not really wanting to go the Carter Starter route just because of the build quality issues I have read about. I will need a volume pedal and amp at some point so a package deal would be great but not absolutely necessary.

Please let me know what you have. Any advice would be appreciated as well, since I can use all the help I can get at this point. I am in between Dayton and Middletown so maybe someone knows of resources I could tap into in this area.

Thanks, Ryan.

Hi Ryan......Welcome to the journey I'm just about 9 months ahead of you. Some great resources here on the forum. I highly recommend the StageOne or Encore. Doug builds a great guitar. I see used ones on here occasionally, but you have to be quick it seems.
Have fun and enjoy it, no matter how frustrating it can be at times

Hard to beat this one:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=263714

Thanks Lynn and Lane.

Still looking.

I got my eye on a Dekley, nothing for sure yet. Here is some of the description the seller gave and I have seen a few pictures:

"BIRDSEYE MAPLE AND CHROME TRIM 10 STRING STEEL GUITAR W/3 PEDALS, 4 KNEE BUMPS, LOW BOY VOLUME PEDAL & TUNING TOOL..........

What do you guys think?

Dekleys are really good sounding, stable as a rock. The only con I have is the weight. They are heavy. If you purchase this guitar you will never need another if E-9 is what you are going for.

Ryan Mullikin wrote:I got my eye on a Dekley, nothing for sure yet. Here is some of the description the seller gave and I have seen a few pictures:

"BIRDSEYE MAPLE AND CHROME TRIM 10 STRING STEEL GUITAR W/3 PEDALS, 4 KNEE BUMPS, LOW BOY VOLUME PEDAL & TUNING TOOL. NEW STRINGS (EXTRA STRINGS) AND IS VERY CLEAN AND HAS BEEN KEPT IMMACULATE, SOUND IS WONDERFULLY FULL AND WARM. COMPARE IT TO A GFI OR A CARTER AND YOU WILL SEE THERE IS NO COMPARISON. THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL MODEL. IT COMES WITH A HARD TOURING CASE AND STAGE DUST COVER. THIS STEEL IS FANTASTIC FOR BEING THIRTY SOMETHING YEARS OLD, ALSO IS AS SOLID AS A ROCK AND MULTI ADJUSTABLE. EVERYTHING IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. (CASE IS IN GOOD CONDITION) DEKLEY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS IN 1984, THIS A VERY RARE INSTRUMENT AND IS NOW A COLLECTORS ITEM THAT IS HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER. I'M ASKING $999.00 FOR THE WHOLE THING OR I WOULD RATHER TRADE FOR SOMETHING FUN OR OF VALUE."

He is checking on if it is Emmons setup. What do you guys think?

If they are the owner, wouldn't they already know if it was Emmons or Day setup? If they are not the owner, I would want to know who is. Ask for pictures and be specific to what you want to see. Hard for a scammer to get "specific" pics when asked for them. Just be careful, is all I am saying.

When I texted him about the guitar he said it belonged to his father in law who recently passed away. I should have added that to the last post.

Ryan Mullikin wrote:When I texted him about the guitar he said it belonged to his father in law who recently passed away. I should have added that to the last post.

Then he shouldn't have any problem getting you some "specific" pictures.

Ok, I requested pics of the underside and the changer end. He said it is Emmons set up. Let me know if these pics tell you anything as I have no idea.

That's a clean guitar! For $999, you should have already purchased it by the time you read this! That's all the guitar you'll need for many years.

Agreed. That's a couple hundred off its normal price.

$50 more gets you a brand new StageOne with 3 and 4, an excellent travel case with leg/rod pouch and builder support from Doug just a phone call away. Just saying.......bang for the buck.....the only thing more expensive than buying it once is buying it twice......

Update - I ended up getting that Dekley and am very pleased so far. I have practiced maybe about 6 times so far using the "Teach yourself to play pedal steel guitar" book/cd. I think I am hooked! Thanks

Ryan,

You must live fairly near to me. If I can help you, get in touch.

Tony