The Steel Guitar Forum

We all at sometime or another hear about different gigs with different kinds of music.The question is this:Would you have different guitars for different situations.Can one brand do it all.A person may want a different brand for say a jazz gig compared to a country one.How about church music.In this I mean they may mix country gospel and a song later the choir may sing more black gospel style.I attend a United Penticostal church and the musicians are first rate.
The push pull guitars have wonderful bottom end tones on say c-6,but I wonder if the guitar is good for all styles or should a person have several brands for several situations?Just wondering

I have 2 steels one for practice one for performance. Both are Carter U12s with different pickups but basicaly the same copedent. I find it saves time and wear and tear on my back to leave one set up where our band practices.

Were I still playing in "sleazy joints", I might have a separate guitar for that type of gig...and a good one for the "classy" places. As far as sound goes, I have no problem getting everything "from Chalker to Mooney", and from rock to country, and jazz, out of one guitar.

But apparently...some other players do.

As long as it matches my outfit!<img src=http://home.hvc.rr.com/jsganz/Smile.gif>

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<font size=1 face=BinnerD color=red>Steelin' Video * * * <a href=http://home.hvc.rr.com/jsganz/Steelin'.mpg> Clip-1</a>* * * *<a href=http://home.hvc.rr.com/jsganz/Wraparound.mpg> Clip-2</a>

From what I've heard, not everybody has your talent Mr. Hinson. Hence, the need for more than one guitar!!

I think it would be cool to have a number of guitars, say 6 or so and just grab one of them on the way out the door to a gig.Seriously though,I did hear about a player one time who said he had several guitars for different situations, Sho~Bud guitars,Emmons and Mullen.I guess with the difference in manufacturing on each brand,it would make sense that each one would have a different tone.I thought it would make an interesting topic to post.

They DO have different tones. A ShoBud does NOT sound like an Emmons and a Mullen is still different and other brands as well. Now, a great player will be able to play a lot of different styles on one guitar and that transforms into different sounds. Also, Donny Hinson said that he likes to frequently change amp settings and that also makes for differences in sound.

I would like to have an old Fender is I were playing the "Bakersfield" stuff as part of a regular set. But that's just me!

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Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd
Dan-Echo, E-Bow

Chris, save your money and just practice until your fAngers bleed or you get blue in the face from perspiration. Cocktail hour will necessitate a breather too and when your kidneys have filtered out all those impurities, practice some more!
Gary Leeeeee

<SMALL>From what I've heard, not everybody has your talent Mr. Hinson...</SMALL>

Despite what you might have heard, Chris, I'm really quite mediocre as a steelman. Where I differ, mainly, is in my approach to the instrument. I'm not one to constantly change guitars, speakers, amps, tunings, pickups, effects pedals, cords, etc. looking for "that sound". I already <u>know</u> that most of the deficiencies in my sound are caused by the thing between the steel and the seat, namely me! Allow me to digress a little more...

In the world of pedal steel, our sounds are somewhat limited by what we play. After all, the PSG is basically just a solid-body guitar, and its timbre is therefore limited. Nevertheless, there are different sounds...and (contrary to what most steelers will say) most of these different sounds are due to playing technique and amp settings---not their using "different guitars". Now, many will argue this, and for their benefit, let me give you some examples...

When Curly Chalker played his Sho~Bud, did it sound anything like Pete Drake's Sho~Bud? When Jimmy Day played a Fender, did it sound anything like Ralph Mooney's Fender? When Doug Jernigan played his Mullen, did it sound anything like Herby Wallace playing his Mullen? When Buddy Emmons played his Emmons, did it sound anything like Bruce Bouton playing his? The list goes on and on, and by now you should be getting the point!

And...you can probably see why I've formed some of those "hard to take" conclusions I came to in the first couple of paragraphs!

The sound's not in the guitar...it's in you!

amen

I usually use my Williams D-10 for country gigs, and my Sierra S-12 for my gigs with Open Hearts (a new age folk-rock band). I have some parts worked out on the S-12 that I can't do on the D-10 because of the tuning differences. It's fun to switch instruments, though. Keeps me on my toes.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic

Reply to posted question: Would I? NO! Do I? YES!...Explanation: In a perfect Steel Guitar World, I would only need one. In the real world two is almost a necessity for me. I own a Zumsteel which sounds great almost everywhere, but I sometimes work in places and under conditions which could ruin it. For those gigs I take my "other" steel. The "other" steel doesn't play or sound quite as good as the Zum but its built like a tank. If it gets ruined...Ho..Hum.
W.C.

Usually I take my Sho-Bud Professional and my Evans, however it has single coil pickups, so in a recording situation where there is going to be a lot of computers around, like Flying Faders on the console or I'm bringing the full rack, then I bring my Super Pro which has EMG pickups and doesn't pick up the RF. It also has a lot of other mods that make it good for recording "different" stuff.

If the music is standards and swing from the '30s and '40s, I take the Bigsby and the Standel.

If the music is heavy metal then I'll take the modified D-12 Dekley and the MosValve.

If push comes to shove though, I'll just take the Professional.

I prefer to use me lacquer finish guitar for indoor gigs and my mica one when I'm playing outdoors. It doesn't always work out that way, but that's what I prefer.

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My gear: A piece of wood with some wires attached

For the sheer fun of playing with a great balance of tone and all that stuff, I'd take my Rick Bakelite and tw-reverb Fender tube amp........for any kind of gig or tunes. But for a real hard driving club or dance scene with western swing dance music, I'd take my Emmons P/P dbl-10.

Like Robert Todd, I have two Carter S-12's set up EXACTLY the same (E9/B6). I leave one at church and one at home. I not near a good enough player to tweak a guitar or a tuning for different playing situations. However, I would like to tune one of them down to Eb9/Bb6 just to hear the difference in timbre.

I usually just bring one of my ZBs. Heh heh.

I just love the tone(s) and sounds of the ZB guitars and Fender tube amps, especially with the split pickup settings you can get on the guitars. I've played some different styles with this combo, and they seem to hold up well, fit in well, and shine when they need to.

And as many of you said above, alot of it depends on what each player does with his/her equipment, whatever the brand.

A whole range of great tones revolving around a warm, beautiful voice.

Yup, luv 'em.


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Larry Chung
ZB D-10 8+4; ZB Custom S-11 4+4; ZB Student Model 3+1 Yeeeeahhh, Bay-Bee.

There are so many great steel guitars being made today. After a 15 year 'retirement' from playing and then moving to Texas from Washington State a year ago, I was once again inspired to start playing steel.

Because I was curious about the many different steel guitar builders and what they played like and how they sounded etc., I started buying several major steel guitar brands and playing them to see how they responded to my touch and playing style etc. In the last year, I've owned three Emmons p/p's; Carter; Mullen, Derby, MSA's (older models - Classics/XL Vintage etc), Sho-Bud Super Pro; Sho-Bud LDG; Emmons Le Grande; and Zum (I think I've forgotten some, but I don't want my wife to find out!). In addition, I've played several other brands and various models/pickup configuration of the same brands that I personally owned and listed above.

This is just my personal conclusion...I will sad-to-say)always sound like Bill Simmons because of my attack-touch etc (my hands) no matter what steel I play; however, there was a definite difference to 'my sound' from the majority of the different steel guitars/pickup combinations I owned or played in my personal experience. The great players -- Emmons, Hughey's, Ruggs, Anderson's, Greens, Chalker's, Day's etc. can sound wonderful on any brand probably. But even they will tell you the different brands and pickups affect their overall tone/sound. For a lesser talented player such as myself, the different steels and pickups combinations did affect my overall tone although the bulk of it is in 'the hands'and to my ears. For me personally, there are three steels that fit best for 'my hands and ears'. Bill Simmons

I'm going to add to my previous post,here. For session work,I prefer my D-10 over my S-12. My main reason is simple. The E9 on the D-10 does not have the low strings of the S-12. Sure, I have done plenty of sessions with a S-12,but experience has taught me that I will get a "cleaner" sound with the D-10 E9. If you isolate the steel tracks on playback,a discriminating ear can hear background noise caused from the bar noise of the low strings. This is a little thing to some,but some engineers have incredible hearing and will not settle for anything less than CD quality,super-clean tracks!
Just my $0.02 worth. ~~W.C.~~

I have two: an S12 Zum and an Emmons LeGrande. I use the Zum with a DigiTech 2112 direct to the board for rock band and experimental music situations, of which there have been a number in the last couple of years (Badlees, Cellarbirds). I've put some odd pulls on the pedals that normally operate the B6 side, and the low E and B strings are an advantage for this kind of stuff.
I like the LeGrande with an amp, either a Peavey Chorus or Nashville, for more straight up country or country rock situations.
I'm also working with a kind of alt.country/No Depression band called Case 150 and brought the Zum setup to the first practice. It was immediately clear that this was the wrong rig for the gig and I've used the Emmons with them ever since. But the horn that would truly be right for this band is an old Sho-Bud, preferably with a red-and-blond lacquer finish.
So yeah, different steels for different feels. Wish I had a couple more.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Mark Tomeo on 29 October 2002 at 09:57 AM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks Mark.Your reply out of all of them that I received was the one and the wording I was looking for.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Richard Plummer on 29 October 2002 at 11:45 AM.]</p></FONT>