The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently acquired this pedal steel from a person that found it in the Salvation Army Thrift Store. The steel intriqued me because it appears to be either an early prototype or production steel or one that someone with very good skills built for themself.

There is another matter of it's origin that I suspect but don't want to scew other more knowledgeable advice and opinions until some information comes in here.

I would appreciate if you would look at this steel and see what you might recognize, or even offer some educated guesses.

Thank You,
Denny Turner
Geetar Bedlam
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 18 September 2003 at 01:08 AM.]</p></FONT>

Well..... for sure the pick-up LOOKS as though it's off a Fender 800 or 2000.
Baz

Aloha Denny...is there anywhere in Oahu where I coud hire a Fender 1000 for a couple of weeks next Easter ?
Baz
(Some clips of my music here) http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/html/live_1.html
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by basilh on 20 September 2003 at 04:57 AM.]</p></FONT>

Thank You Baz. I will send you email at your SGF registered address.

Aloha,
Denny T~

Looks like maybe and old ZB.......

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

<SMALL>or one that someone with very good skills built for themself.</SMALL>

I'll go with that statement...mainly because I don't recongnize anything on there from any pedal steel I've seen.
Ricky

Denny: Looking at the underside of the guitar reminds me of the "Fuzzy" I just bought. It's the same design. Try sending the pictures to Mitsuo Fujii and let him take a guess. A lot of his early guitars fit your description. His address is: fujii_m@fuzzypsg.com

Good luck,
Carl

I'd agree that the pickups are very Fender-ish. The rest of the guitar looks like a one-off by some machinist. Some features (like the nut design and the seperate key-blocks) seem to have been dictated only by a lack of machine capabilities, or the knowledge of how more popular steels (like the Sho~Bud of Fender) were put together. The pictures don't give much detail, so I can't even tell if it's a rod, or cable-operated guitar.

Possibly, someone once saw a Fender pedal steel, and said "I could probably make something like that". Because nothing in this steel looks like anything used by any known steel builder that I've ever seen, I'd guess it's more likely a "home built" than any manufacturers' prototype model.

Wow ...Thank You Carl. That sounds like a great lead ...as what's left of the undercarriage is rather unique. I will email him.

Aloha,
Denny T~

ps: Having just woke up with only 2 cigs and an inch out of my first cup of coffee this morning (2 PM !), ...Aloha means I don't know yet if I'm coming or going!

Thank You Donnie. That was my first impression too. But after looking at it and pondering details at legngth, it appears that the person who made it did indeed know quite a bit about pedal steels and mechanical engineering, ...albeit like you said, they apparantly made it without certain machining resources ...but had some basic machine tools.

Pardon the poor image quality, but that's the best I can do with the "fabulous" cheap digital camera I bought off of eBay on my shoe-string budget, and can't afford to replace yet. Also, and pardon my lack of proper pedal steel terminology knowledge; ...except for the pedal-to-changer "bellcranks" mounting rack "axles", the rest of the pedal mechanism all the way upt to the changer unit is no longer with the guitar. I think the existing overbuilt rack is indicative that final production parts had not been proven and dialed in yet (if that was ever the intent). I think the existance of a rack to act as mounts for a "bellcrank" mechanism, suggests the mechanism was by rod control rather than cables. There is no indication that any pulley mechanism was ever present (no holes for mounting anchors, idlers, transfer pullies, etc.).

Let me add a few things here that might provide clues and ring some bells for someone's suggestions. The builder's skill and knowledge in an apparant lack of full machining resources leaves me to suspect that it is an early and probably prototype or proof of concept piece. The aluminum plate around the pickup and changer is not impressive, and could (would?) have been made more impressive in commercial production; making me believe the steel was not a final commercial production unit. ----- I think the changer unit was either manufactured by another pedal steel company or hired out to a machine shop, because if the person who built it had the machinery to cut the changer's fine machining, then they would have had the machining to build a tuning machine chassis rather than the much more time it took to make, align and tap individual tuning machine blocks; And I would think the builder also knew that individual blocks would not carry a married acoustic signal as well as a machined or forged chassis for the tuners; but limited machining dictated the individual blocks. ----- The roller nut is actually quite clever and functional; further evidence that the maker had a good knowledge of both pedal steels and mechanical engineering ...or was brilliant in observing, copying and improvising. But of course it could have also been a collaboration between someone who knew pedal steel and a machinist with limited tools.

Another indicator I can't quite figure out is the "shark tooth" casing sides on the pickup. I have seen something very similar in the past but just can't recall where. On one hand it seems like it might have been Japanese but on the other hand seems like it might have been in some Fender products. ----- The Japanese were copying Fender and Gibson (and others) verbatum in the late 1960's and early 1970's, even to the point of using Fender and Gibson logos ...counterfeits if you will. I personally saw them popular in Tokyo shops in 1969 and even in the American PX !; So the existance of a dead-ringer Fender pickup counterfeit could be possible and probable if the pedal steel were made in the far east. I doubt someone would have went to that "shark-tooth" design trouble as purely cosmetic if they made the pickup one-off themself (although that would not be uncommon of pride for an Oriental responsible for making the pickup); ...and it not having a design that was congruent with string geometry, I cannot think of any flux focusing it might be designed for. So if it is an individual's project then I think they would not have made the pickup in that manner but probably would have made it simpler, or used a/this pre-existing pickup. And if it was an in-house project of an instrument company, then other instruments that were already using the pickup might lend to solving the "mystery" of who made it.

All my babbling here doesn't get any closer to who built it, but maybe will provide someone clues.

Thanks again,
Aloha,
Denny T~
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 24 September 2003 at 07:08 PM.]</p></FONT>

Aloha Denny... your mention of "Flux Focusing" is on the nail.... the pick=up is a cpoy of the ones on the Fender 400/1000..and 800/2000 series of guitars...AND... the Sharks teeth bits at both sides of the pick-up were in fact the TOP edges of a "U" shaped piece of metal that was in DIRECT contact with the bottom part of the (Magnetic) pole pieces....
EXTENDING the lower poles to sit either side of the top poles... concentrating the field along the strings ...??? does that make it any clearer ?
baz

You bet Basil. I kinda figured it might have some deliberate focusing effect, but didn't want to claim so not knowing for sure.

Did you get my email about the easter thang?

I don't get back here regularly, so if you didn't, please email me so I can resend it.

Aloha,
DT~