Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
|
Posted 7 Feb 2018 4:44 am |
|
Last night I received a message from his wife Becky that John left us on Saturday the third of February. I first met him at one of Gerry Hogan's steel shows about fifteen years ago. As a stranger and foreigner he made me feel welcome instantly and even invited me for a day to his home to stay with him and his family.
He was a great steel player and repairman also.
RIP John. I will never forget your kindness!
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
|
Gerry Hogan
From:
Burghclere, Hampshire, England
|
Posted 9 Feb 2018 1:51 am
|
|
Thanks for posting this, Joachim!
John was a very good friend of mine for over 40 years. Over that time, he was also the man I trusted with maintaining my own steels and those of customers of mine, to whom I passed on his name if they required assistance with repairs. He used to work wonders with some of the pieces of rubbish he was given by inexperienced people who'd unwittingly purchased garbage from the internet! He never charged the going rate for his work.
I never saw John beaten by a mechanical problem! He always found a solution to the most difficult repair!
While he was still working a day job, John built a most amazing house - from scratch! He bought all the tools he needed to do this, including a large mechanical digger! When he retired from his engineering job, he bought a quantity of engineering tools, which assisted him to do his great steel guitar repair work!
As Joachim stated, he also became a fine pedal steel player and attended a couple of Jeff Newman’s more advanced courses when Jeff was over in England in the late '90s and in 2002.
My sympathy goes out to his wife, Becky and son, David at this sad time. I shall miss John’s dry wit and quiet professionalism. R.I.P. John.
Gerry |
|
