The Steel Guitar Forum

Looking at this . Basic is good. Opinions ? Thanks
https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/ ... 95617.html

If I was anywhere near Atlanta, I would definitely schedule an appointment to take a look at it. It appears to be a modified GS-8. Its bellcranks alone are probably worth nearly the cost of the instrument.

Odd that there are no pics of the changer fingers. Every GS I've ever seen has capabilities of raising and lowering with two rows of holes in the end plate.

Most players want lowering of the 4 and 8 strings or at least 8. [The E strings, I should've said, in this 8 string and tuning case, 2 and 6.]

If the changer fingers etc. are all original and intact, it may be possible to fab a new endplate and gain access to the lower changes.

The changer may have some value in that case, but we can't tell without some underneath shots of the changer and fingers.

It appears to have had more than one mod, including pickups, and is now basically an 8 string six banger with only raise capabilities on 4 strings with 2 pedals. Very limited unless one just wants a few string bending sounds.

If you're considering traditional pedal steel action, I'd look for something else, but I defer to Mike Cass et al Emmons experts here.

If you're still interested, I would encourage you to take a knowledgeable player with you if you go look at it.

The first photo, out on a deck or something, shows the guitar with a strange pickup, with some sort of black "wings" wrapping around the changer.

I think I'm going to pass . I have a 6 string 2 pedal I built that will do me . Thanks for the replies .

If you look at the pic of the changer taken from slightly above, you can see it is a pull release changer. The pickup / control plate has been cut so the change would fit.

Might be time to say something here. Comments are getting progressively dumber by the minute.

It would be a good idea to actually read the ad for the instrument being discussed first. It's clearly stated that it's.....

An Emmons 8 string, 2 pedal, raises only, fixed tuning, E9 A and B pedals,
lightweight pedal steel. It’s a push-pull changer without the "push".

What was not mentioned is that it was “PROBABLY” marketed to players who wanted to emulate the stand-up style of Don Warden with basically a 2 pedal eight string E9 without the chromatics. The type of legs adjust to any height needed including sitting height.

A couple of mods were made to make it slightly less of a one-trick-pony. Instead of four holes in the endplate it now has eight. This allows access to all strings for more tuning options including an 8 string E9 with chromatics.
The pickup mounting plate now supports a standard pedal steel pickup, not just the low profile 8 string version it came with.