The Steel Guitar Forum

This is going to sound like a silly question, but has there ever been a book written on the history of the pedal steel? i.e. evolution of the instrument, designers, players, music, etc. There are lots of electric guitar books out there, but I've never come across one on PSG.

Leslie,
Try finding the Winnie Winston/Bill Keith
Handbook For Pedal Steel Guitar (something
like that). Before this great forum came around and also with the tremendous upsurge of pro and semi-pro players coming out with
instruction courses, the Winston/Keith book was about all we had to go with, about 30 years ago.

I know it has been re-issued and "Scotty's"
may be carrying it.

It goes into some history about the pedal steel and has great tabs/w CD and players' co-pedant setups.

Chip<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 11 February 2003 at 05:54 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 11 February 2003 at 05:54 AM.]</p></FONT>

Elderly carries it.

I've got the Winston/Keith book, but it's outdated as far as gear and players are concerned. A lot has happened since the mid-1970s.

I don't believe a great amount has really taken place since the 70's.

Yes, most guitars have better mechanics and pickups [maybe] but E9th, C6th, Universal
all pretty much remain as they were 30 years
ago.

Emmons has fooled around with a knee and a pedal here and there [as well as other players] doing something different, but I believe most players haven't strayed too
far from their usual tunings.

As far as the birth of the modern pedal steel,
which some claim to be when Bud Issacs put a knee lever on the high E string, the history of the steel remains as it always will - a part of history.

I just re-read your post, and it appears you seem more concerned with the history of everything on the steel, as opposed to what's been happening since the '70's.

Leslie: Some time ago Tom Bradshaw published a Steel Guitar Magazine. In a few of the issues he had some good articles on the history and development of the Steel Guitar. I understand that he still has some of these issues for sale. You can contact him at bradshaw@california.com