The Steel Guitar Forum

I was at a local jam session, having a great time impressing all the armpit guitar players, when one of them asked me: "can you play a real steel guitar too, you know with all those pedals?"

I am sure my expression was not a pleasant one... as I launched into a scathing response to his question. Noting that the Hawaiian (steel guitar) was invented many years before the pedal guitar was created...

I hope I didn't come off sounding too condescending, as I would really like to be a pleasant example of
the steel guitar community, not to mention a good Christian witness!

Dom

You said the right thing. If they think that you're too nice, they'll be calling you to play freebies all the time.

What really grinds on MY nerves are the ones that want to play steel that have been too misinformed or
too lazy to look into the history of the instrument...

and, then proceed to project an image to others that they are experts in the game and more confusion arises.

Some of the younger, newer players of standard guitar couldn't carry Chet Atkins guitar case yet with all of the electronic gadgets, wild paint designs and glitter........and high horse power amps seem to feel that they're in the same league as Chet or Grady Martin or Hank Garland

Some of them could actually lighten the weight of their instruments merely by removing all of the strings except for the TOP "E" string that they play so LOUD on while taking the vibrato units and jerking the heck out of it to get some kind of racket.

At least DOM, "WE" do know the difference, did our early day homework, took lessons and worked on getting melodious sounds from the guitar while striving at the same time to learn and develop some real playing technique.

My hats off to you. You do a great job with your
YOU TUBE SGF/postings.

Haha.... I get this a lot with my double bass. People want to know if I play the real bass.... ya know, the one that looks like a geetar. I dont even bother to tell them the double bass was around for 400 years before Leo Fender.

Dom Franco wrote:"can you play a real steel guitar too, you know with all those pedals?"

It sounds like he was expressing a genuine interest...and perhaps he just used the wrong adjective to describe a pedal steel guitar. There is so much to learn for the uninitiated. As a small example "non-believers" wouldn't think twice about calling every resonator out there, a Dobro.

Rick Barnhart wrote: There is so much to learn for the uninitiated. As a small example "non-believers" wouldn't think twice about calling every resonator out there, a Dobro.

I've seen some very well known reso players with other brands introduced on stage as the Dobro player. I have many recordings that list the reso player as "Dobro with the name of artist" and these musicians knew they weren't playing a Gibson Dobro. There are many name brand words in our vocabulary that take on a generic meaning. Have you ever called a facial tissue a Kleenix? Here in the South, we call every brand of carbonated beverage a "Coke" but we're still smart enough to know the difference between orange soda and Coca-Cola. For many years everyone called a reso guitar a dobro and the name stuck. The genie was out of the bottle 50 years ago and they aren't going to put it back. I think the usage is common for both believers and non-believers. No one except Gibson expects every mention of the word dobro to be a Gibson Dobro.

Rick Barnhart wrote:As a small example "non-believers" wouldn't think twice about calling every resonator out there, a Dobro.

Absolutely!

If I had a nickel for every time someone called my 1929 metal-bodied squareneck tricone a "Dobro," I could buy... something nice (like a new set of strings, maybe).

Here's an "expert" take on it. Reading the first sentence will be enough....

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/guitars/lap-steel

another dumbass non-player, explaining the intricacies of an unknown something or other, incorrectly.

Dom Franco wrote:I was at a local jam session, having a great time impressing all the armpit guitar players, when one of them asked me: "can you play a real steel guitar too, you know with all those pedals?"

I am sure my expression was not a pleasant one... as I launched into a scathing response to his question. Noting that the Hawaiian (steel guitar) was invented many years before the pedal guitar was created...

I hope I didn't come off sounding too condescending, as I would really like to be a pleasant example of
the steel guitar community, not to mention a good Christian witness!

Dom

My $.02......You missed out on a golden opportunity to "educate"....assuming that your comments in paragraph 2 are accurate.

The "innocently ill-informed" (those without malacious intent or "an axe to grind") are the ones who need a little TLC along with information.

Its up to us to educate the uninformed. Its all steel guitar, just that some have pedals, some have legs, and some we just sit on our laps.

Actually I have also been the recipient of that attitude from other steel players because
I have only 6 strings on this "cute little thing" that sits in my lap.
It seems that if I don't have what looks like the inside of a piano in front of me I am not a real guitar player.

What I think bothered me most is not the criticism, but the fact it was coming from another musician.
(I'm not really a musician yet but I'm trying)
I always thought we were all members of the same club and would be supportive of each other.

I think they call it real steel because of all the steel in the body and legs and changers and heads,
as if a wood guitar couldn't be steel; it's just ignorance, and I mean that kindly.

There it is, in the article: "Strictly speaking, a steel guitar is any guitar made out of metal...."

This thread reminds me of a thread I posted on the "old forum" back in 2002. The thread was titled OBSOLETE INSTRUMENTS?

I quoted what a vintage guitar dealer/collector had posted on his web site. This caused quite a stir on the forum!

Note on LapSteel Collectibility.

I don't individually rate each lapsteel model for collectibility, because they all pretty much fall into a "D" or "D-" category. Remember, they are basically obsolete instruments by todays standards. Therefore they are only interesting as historical sidenotes.


Lapsteel for Sale?

"No, lapsteels are not worth a lot of money. They are basically obsolete as musical instruments (the pedal steel did them in), though some rare musicians still use them today. They do have historical significance, but since they aren't viewed as "viable" instruments today, their values are fairly low. Because of their historical importance, I am interested in buying lapsteels if they are priced "reasonable". Just thought I'd mention this before you email me asking $1000 for your lapsteel!"

Then, there are those who would suggest that a single neck pedal steel guitar is not a real steel guitar, because all the pros play double neck steel guitars.

Doug Beaumier wrote:I quoted what a vintage guitar dealer/collector had posted on his web site.

No doubt this "vintage guitar dealer/collector" would think nothing of stripping the parts (pickups, tuners, pots, knobs, etc.) off classic Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, etc. lap steels to install on his beloved and non-"obsolete" armpit guitars.

So sad. Hopefully, times have changed since 2002.

I'm surprised the guy didn't say "real steel pedal" or a "real slide", and really show his ignorance.

So sad. Hopefully, times have changed since 2002.

Evidently not. One of those quotes it still on the web site. He still feels that lap steels are obsolete.

----> http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson7.html

A less known to the public instrument will always draw interest and questions, and it is a perfect place to educate. However, when some guy's opinion leads to spouting off at the mouth, or their ignorance has them pulling stuff out of the other end of their anatomy, rather than a little research, I have a bit less patience.

Some instruments don't get no respect, and sometimes an instrument is seen as a "lesser" version of another. Think accordian:piano or ukulele:guitar. And then there's the banjo....

some of the younger and newer players are quite good. And humble.

One once bought a Shobud Pro II from a guitar store. The young guy that sold it to me called it a lap steel.

Tom Pettingill wrote:Its up to us to educate the uninformed. Its all steel guitar, just that some have pedals, some have legs, and some we just sit on our laps.

Tom's right, It's up to us to educate the uninformed. I get the "lap steel"comments sometimes when I am playing a D-8 or T-8 console, and it irks me a bit, but they are just uninformed. And as Rick B. says they are expressing genuine interest, and always mean well, and are impressed with the over all set up.

The funniest comments I hear is.... " the necks are all tuned the same right ?" or "So they are all tuned the same in a different key " ?

I've heard it called everything from an "iron guitar" to a "slide" to a "string guitar". One night back in the 80's two heavily inebriated young men came up to me at the end of a gig, and one said "you play awesome keyboard". His friend said "you idiot... that's a synthesizer!". And he was serious.

(never mind)

who cares?