The Steel Guitar Forum

The entry on his restored Fender 400 by Wade Tkac and the response by Jim Sliff raised a possibility in my mind. FIRST, how many of you still own a Fender 400, 1000, 800 or 2000? I have a 2000. SECOND, would it be possible to have a convention limited to players of these fine old instruments, the forerunners of all the modern "scissor" type changers? Or perhaps we could do like the Hawiian players do at the St. Louis convention and secure a show room for a day or half a day playing only these Fenders? ANY TAKERS OUT THERE??????

If I could afford the trip I'd be there in a second.

Hey - let's do it in L.A.!

Ps - It's RUSS Tkac.....



PPS - there are a bunch of outspoken Fender players, and a TON more that lay low and communicate by email. A whole bunch of us are in the process of rounding up people we know and recruiting others to make parts. These steels get dissed by a lot of modern players, but you can do some amazing things with them - and the tone is incredible. would I like a newer-type steel someday? Sure. Will I stop playing Fenders? No. Will they remain my #1 players? Probably.

It's really amazing how different they feel with a little work. My 400 plays more smoothly and with a more positive feel than most newer steels I've tried, and blows 'em away tone wise.

And what's "cabinet drop"?


heehee.....

Cabinet drop is what you experience with a fender steel if it slips out of your grip as you're turning it over.
As for the convention....Just say where and when !!
Baz
Fender 1000 (9 pedal), 400 (9 pedal ) and PS-210
(as well as a Stringmaster 3x8 and Deluxe 8.)

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<SMALL>Steel players do it without fretting</SMALL>

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by basilh on 21 June 2006 at 02:59 AM.]</p></FONT>

Russ, sorry for mis-spelling your name. I wrote it down from the previous entry and couldn't read my writing.

Hey, you Fender 400, 1000, 800 and 2000 owners, come out of the closet and let us know who you are, even if you think a convention is problematic. We might have enough of us to at least start an internet news letter. Write an entry here or email me so we can tell what level of interest there is.

I would be interested in something like this...especially something in the midwest or something.

Another thing that would be neat & super handy would be if everyone compiled all their info & knowledge & we made some kind of pamphlet. Maybe one on how to do repairs & one on how to do mods like adding knees & other things. Just an idea.

Casey

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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"

Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!

Fred,

No problem on the name. A guy in school called me Steve and an old timer who comes to my work calls me Kenny! You got the last name right and that's the hard one!

As for my Fender 400s...they are far from restored. I just cleaned them up and added a few parts. Modified yes, restored no. I like the bar dings, chips and faded finish but like it to play well.

I think a nice web site for the Fender steels would be a nice place to compile information.

Russ

Well, I still have my 1000 serial number 0135. It is in very good shape.The cases are almost mint.Let me know when the convention is...Mine sounds great. That may be because of the Fender volume, tone, fuzz, wah pedal.
( not really )but it is a little different..

Old Bud
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Willis Vanderberg on 21 June 2006 at 02:27 PM.]</p></FONT>

I've got the 1000.

It's been re-finished and the front neck has been lowered about an inch, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. In my opinion, it's the best.

Alas, I am but a poor man and a convention is too far out of reach.

A chat room or something could work.

Tim Jones
~)Fender 1000 (with only TWO pedal changes)and nothin' else (~

Wish I still had my old 1000...I'd come!

I would come if my sho buds dont get pissed and wreck the place while im gone. Just because they got levers they think they can get away with anything.


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Got Twang ?

Mark

Hi, I just today received my 400, it is original finish and looks like brand new,
it stayed under a bed for 45 years, I am so
happy. I also have a Fender 800 in good condiction. I like what your trying to do. I couldn't make a convention but would like to corrispond. Thanks, Leon

Let's start a Fender PSG website. We can also try to keep this thread going and try to catch up with Larry Chung's 28 page ZB thread!

Dave Z

I played a 1000 till I wore it out,back before
the forum, Couldn't get any responce from fender, so I swapped it off.
I boug ht a 2000 off ebay a while back and love
it but still not like the 1000.
I also Have a zb and pedalmaster.
Would love to see a thread on fender,be a good source to find spare parts

Another thread as long as the ZB one might cause a few guys to explode!

Dave Z. Are those Fenders of yours done yet?

Russ<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Russ Tkac on 21 June 2006 at 06:53 PM.]</p></FONT>

Not yet Russ! But I think there're close. As soon as the bodies come back I'll slap those babies together!

DZ

Tim Jones,

It's nice to see another Kansan on here. Really awesome to see another Kansan that's into Pedal Steel & happens to have a Fender.

I have a Fender 800 & have been monkeying around with it.

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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"

Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!

Keep it going, fellas

I have a Fender 400 with 4 pedals. I hardly ever play it. The strings are further apart then my Carter and it doesn't have any levers. It does have a nice tone.

Justin


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Carter D10, Fender 400.
Nashville 112 & 1000,
Goodrich LDR,
DigiTech RP-100,
Peterson VS-II

I just got some goodies from ebb - a couple knee levers I think will adapt to the 1000 if I can figure out mounting brackets, a couple barrel tuners (need to figure out what the set screws are supposed to be though - they weren't included) and a couple pedal rod ends. On my way now to geting this 1000 set up in a B6/E7 (or maybe E9) copedent. I'm sending him some other stuff I had that he might need for his project 400.

Found out a weird thing - rod ends are NOT all the same! the ones I got fit Fender chrome pedals - but I also have some non-Fender chrome pedals just a hair narrower, but with the same mounting holes (but no spring-plate for the rod end). Some ends fit both types - but some fit only the Fender pedals, and some fit only the other ones...and I have no idea what the other ones are from! Luckily, I have enough matching sets...but there are also slight differences in rod threading, and get this - some of the ends fit both types, some fit only one or the other.

And of course, I have two loose ends that don't fit the two loose rods. The ends I got today worked fine on the other loose rods.

These loose rods have a larger-than-normal hook end, so I'm assuming they are not Fender - so I'll take them to the machine shop by my office and have them gently rethreaded to fit the ends I have. They're cose enough that I could pobably just force it together, but I'd rather just tweak the threading so I can adjust the lengh.

Anyone else run into weird chrome pedals/ends/rods??

Strange.

Oh - and if anyone knows what kind of Allen setscrews I need for the barrel tuners, please let me know.

Hi - a late model Fender 1000 here. Originally with 8 pedals, I've added two. I'm using the Fender documented A6 with 6 changes and a variation of the Isaacs E7 with 4 pedals.

It's pretty mint I guess. Basil's seen it, so he'd be a better judge.

I think a convention in the US would be a bit far for me from the UK, but a newletter/yahoo group might be fun.

Ian

Fender 400, 6 pedals, extra knee...

It's a "borrowed from the best brother ever" steel, but I love it like it was my own

I drop the F# out of the middle, to keep the low E and add the high G#, a' la Al Perkins' old copedent.

If we could swing it in the Midwest, I'll bet Neil and I would WANT to come awful badly...

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Fender 400, 6 pedals + a lever; Gibson Les Paul Signature, Gibson Ripper, Ampeg Gemini II, assorted boxes...<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Aaron Harms on 22 June 2006 at 08:58 AM.]</p></FONT>

Would there be funny hats? Hall hockey? I have a 2000 with 10 on the floor, still waiting for some knees -- it's really hard to find the E and F pedals, even if I look (and they are hard to see in the dark). I probably should put them right next to my volume pedal, for now. I like the sound of my Sho-Bud and my Williams, but there's something really, well, exciting in the sound of that Fender! Everyone seems to hear it. If only I had roadies....

BTW, since the Fender crowd will all be looking at this thread, maybe I can find someone with a spare 2000 frame to sell me. Or I would consider trading my pretty immaculate 2000 for a fully-functional but more cosmetically challenged one (plus some $). I have some things in mind that I just can't bear to inflict on the 2000 I have now....

Hey Man, this really makes me wanna go out and buy myself a Fender Cable Pedal Steel.
I once had a S-10 Fender-Shobud,

and now I've got my wife playin a D-8 Stringmaster.


This is a great idea Fred, and you guys could really have a picnic with this thing. In fact, why not have "Sneeky Pete" & "Jody Carver" as the mainstays. WOW! I love it already. Count me in whether I can get a 800 before the event or not. This is gonna be great!

Nick
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Nick Reed on 22 June 2006 at 04:46 PM.]</p></FONT>

That's one sweet looking S-10 Fender-Sho-Bud

I wish I could find one of those. How did it compare to other pedal steels? It sure is a great looking guitar. Did it have the good ol' Fender tone or more of a Sho-Bud tone to it???

Gotta get me one of those things!!!



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Known Coast to Coast as
"The Man with The Plan"

Carter-Starter, Fender Pedal 800, Fender Champion, Guyatone Double-neck, a cheap Artisan & a Homemade Double-neck!

I'm sure that everyone knows that there are Fender 400s and 1000s on Ebay regularly and occasionally 800s and 2000s.

Keep the string going!