The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm appealing to the infinite wisdom of my fellow forumites to solve this problem:

I need to devise a way to attach my Sho-Bud volume pedal to my 8-string Fender Deluxe, which has three legs. OR - possibly - a way to rig a clamp-on stand to my Mullen D-10 on which I could mount the Fender.

The problem I'm faced with is that my band plays a lot of small clubs with limited stage space so that I have to physically move the Fender out of the way to play the Mullen. If I could move the Fender and volume pedal together, a la the pedal steel, it would make my life much easier. Of course, to complicate matters further, I also play guitar and have three of those on stage as well. Maybe I should just take up harmonica or nose flute. Any ideas/suggestions or knowledge of existing devices?

John Borchard

John in those situations; what I do it put a towel on top of my Pedal steel and then put the Fender Deluxe on top of the C6 neck and pull the cord outta the pedal steel and plug into the Fender...and never move your butt.....and your good to go.
I haven't a clue on how to attach a volume pedal to the Fender Deluxe with three legs and no pedal bar.......sorry.
Good luck.
Ricky

Thanks, Ricky. That could work. I'd just have to find a spot to stash the Fender when playing C6.

By the way, I saw you with Dale in Austin at the Continental Club last May. Great playing! I wanted to come up and say howdy, but it was so packed we couldn't move.

Anyway, thanks for the tip AND the great music!

John Borchard

Sounds like all you might need is a length of 1" X 3" furring strip (to go between the center and right leg) and a couple of those real small (8") bungee-cords. Cut the wood about 4" longer than necessary (so it'll overlap the legs at each end), and then attach it to the legs with the cords. If you wanted to get fancy, you could also bolt a couple conduit clamps on each end of the board, and then use a screw and a wingnut to attach it the legs...a la' the old MSA steels.

Then just mount a pedal-bar volume control bracket to the board, and you're done.

Oh yeah - conduit clamps! Good idea Donny! This is great. Thanks for the ideas, fellas. Anybody have any other thoughts?

John Borchard

Well the key to this problem is to donate some of your extra toys to me!!! Heh Heh. Planning on being in Athens the 8th and 9th. Catch up with you when I get in town. Hopefully the weather holds out.

Later Greg

My wife couldn't agree with you more, Greg. My music room is like a giant fungus that's already devoured half the dining room and is eyeing the living room. Look forward to seeing you when you come up.

Does anyone recall how John Ely set up his rig when he was with Asleep at the Wheel? He played pedal steel AND a D-8 Stringmaster.

John Borchard

Why carry the Fender when you have C6? I don't understand what the Fender can do that the C6 can't.

I got a solution - just leave the Fender home and play everything on your pedal steel.

I've actually considered that, Larry and Michael. But I tune the Fender to a G6 as it complements the singer's range better (I have better access to those Dobro-esque open positions) and many of the twin parts I play with the guitar player utilize open strings in this tuning. Also, tonally, it works better on most of the stuff we do, which is coming from a '50s to early '60s country perspective. I actually use the pedal steel on only about 10% of the material we do. This is a complete reversal of what I was doing 20 years ago - playing pedal steel almost exclusively with a slide or lap steel part thrown in very occasionally. It seems some of us have to go backward to go forward?!!

John Borchard

Go ahead and close this one up, b0b. I'm working on a design to accomplish this. When I finish it (and if it works), I'll come back and post the solution. Thanks for all the info and suggestions, folks.

John Borchard