Stringmaster Pedal Conversion in action!!!!

Kevin Glandon · Post by **Kevin Glandon** » 30 Nov 2019 9:23 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q4JRvO_UUI

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 1 Dec 2019 7:38 am

hmmm, operating pedals with left and right feet, no volume pedal required.

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 1 Dec 2019 9:05 am

Reminds me of some of cool voicings Basil Henriques gets with his A7 copedent (also a "both feet" set up) on Fender 400/1000 steels...

Close up on the hands, he's applying some serious bar pressure!!! Around 90 seconds in, looks almost like he's trying to fret the strings against the fretboard with the bar

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 1 Dec 2019 2:24 pm

Three finger picks, I notice - good man!

Don Crowl · Post by **Don Crowl** » 1 Dec 2019 8:32 pm

i heard chord voicings reminiscent of Alvino Ray & Rico Turchetti, the latter also being from a modified non pedal steel.

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 1 Dec 2019 11:56 pm

That was great!

John Herb · Post by **John Herb** » 2 Dec 2019 6:20 pm

What is he doing at the 1:40 mark in the video? I've seen Speedy West do that a lot in videos but I could never figure out what exactly he was doing.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 2 Dec 2019 7:15 pm

To my ears (which has a high percentage of tin) it has a hybrid sound.....not quite a pedal steel and not quite a non pedal....

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 3 Dec 2019 2:24 pm

Fredrick Herb wrote:What is he doing at the 1:40 mark in the video? I've seen Speedy West do that a lot in videos but I could never figure out what exactly he was doing.

Raking back across the strings with three fingerpicks? I've never been good at that but heard players that are...

On second listen to this, it really reminds me of Basil's playing particularly on jazz standards, which I hope he'll take in the best way possible...

Some of his early 60s demos, East of the Sun has some cool stuff:
http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets/kitchen1962/

Steve Waltz · Post by **Steve Waltz** » 3 Dec 2019 2:24 pm

Curious how most stringmasters were altered to add some amount of pedals. I wish the parts came with my guitar when I bought it but they were long gone. On the inside nexk someone drilled out the tuning pan and through the body. Pedal rack was mounted in the middle of the guitar. No sign of anything attaching to the legs if they are original. Outside neck had a few holes drilled through the body behind the bridge which seems like strings would have caught on the steel plate.

Anyone have pictures of how these were altered?

Anyone have pictures of how shot Jackson altered the double 8 Bigsby with sho bud parts that Lloyd Green played?

John Herb · Post by **John Herb** » 4 Dec 2019 4:25 am

This is the only photo I've seen with Lloyd playing the modified Bigsby. Bobbe Seymour was restoring it though I dont know of its current whereabouts.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 4 Dec 2019 4:34 am

very nice...

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 4 Dec 2019 3:56 pm

Steve Waltz wrote:Curious how most stringmasters were altered to add some amount of pedals. I wish the parts came with my guitar when I bought it but they were long gone. On the inside nexk someone drilled out the tuning pan and through the body. Pedal rack was mounted in the middle of the guitar. No sign of anything attaching to the legs if they are original. Outside neck had a few holes drilled through the body behind the bridge which seems like strings would have caught on the steel plate.

Anyone have pictures of how these were altered?

.

I always assumed that a hooked rod (like a coat hanger) comes up through the hole in the tuning pan and pulls down on the string to sharp it. The tricky part would be to create the pedal linkage and a way to set the stop. I would love to know more about this as well. I have no idea about the holes down by the bridge - they don't even line up with the strings.

Steve Waltz · Post by **Steve Waltz** » 4 Dec 2019 5:13 pm

Tim, On the tuning pan side I also was assuming something might have grabbed on to the string and pulled it down? The string could be strung up to go over the holes.

I don't plan to do anything with this guitar. I'm just curious how they did it when they did it.

I like the picture of the bigsby. It does show the sho bud bell cranks. I can't remember if that had been converted to 10 string or not. I did bid on it when it was on ebay. I thought it was just an altered Bigsby and didn't know what Bobby knew about it.

John Herb · Post by **John Herb** » 4 Dec 2019 5:22 pm

While this is not a Stringmaster I just thought I'd put this video here. Pretty cool Vega console steel with an added pedal by Shot Jackson which gives a good look on how these steels were converted.

https://youtu.be/kIR3dM0LnYs

Steve Waltz · Post by **Steve Waltz** » 4 Dec 2019 6:09 pm

Thanks for that you tube link. So the tuner pan holes had shafts that pushed up. Underside shot would be cool.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 5 Dec 2019 8:37 am

I think on most conversions I've seen, the shafts pulled down.
Erv