The Steel Guitar Forum

Do you have any favorite or least favorite fads that have swept the steel guitar world? Please share them!

These could involve anything from effects and accessories to technique and playing style. Maybe it's footwear from a certain era or cowboy hat size. Are there any trends where you are happy they are gone... anything you'd like to see come back. This topic is wide open, let's reminisce and have some fun!

Phasers.

Gone. Hopefully forgotten.

haha I love my phaser. one of Big E's trademarks, though I don't use it very often. didn't some Peavey amps even have the phaser built in for awhile?

I'm not a fan of some of the other effects that may or may not be considered fads. chorus and obvious delay, just not my thing.

fuzztone was really overdone when it first hit, and just sounds bad to my ears.

Pete Drake's "talking" steel was a fad I suppose, though nobody else really did it. I always thought it sounded creepy.

I guess Boo Wahs could be considered a fad since rarely any players use them anymore. This is one though that I always liked.

Unison splitting.

I confess that I do it myself now and then, but for a while it seemed like it was on every record. Sounds gimmicky if you use it a lot.

Back in the 90's it was a Peavey Pro Fex II and the Peavey DPC 750 with the Newman pre sets. Was playing the Peavey Classic 115 E's back then. Great stereo system at the time. I miss it but I don't miss hauling the extra gear. NV112 is enough for me now with no effect other than a little reverb and a Steel Guitar Black Box.

My trouble with those fads is trying to keep up with the latest trends in equipment used by the pros. I would go to shows, stare at the user's equipment, then think I had to have that gear. Session and Nashville amps, Peavey Profex II, Lexicon mpx1, Boss DD2, Boss RV3, Goodrich Steel Driver, Sarno Black Box, Sarno Revelation, etc.Then the volume pedal wars. Now its speakers and Telonics amps, Quilter amps, Fender Tonemaster, Little Walter, Milkman, etc. Is there no end to this madness? I hope not.

Least favorite? These things:

Jack, those are going for 200+ on ebay these days. Just sayin'

There's a conservative trend with pedal steel guitar that I don't love. Play the same licks and the same music- all other peoples' licks and music.
The other piece that bothers me is some notion of 'pure tone' you read about- as in anything more than a guitar into a VP and an amp is too much.
The people that made these instruments, these tunings and these sounds were risk takers, especially the pros, when the market would allow.
I'd love to see a decent tone control on modern steels- little makes a crowd and your band mates smile like a well timed boo-wah- trust me no one will miss a touch of your highs on this instrument.

The current fad that I find annoying is the constant use of the A pedal drenched in reverb and delay used by new players that think they are being adventurous and avant-garde. I hereby challenge all the Facebook and you-tube heroes, ambiance, and drone music players to not use there A pedal and maybe even drop the reverb and see what they have left. There is a world of expression available with just a little bit of imagination.

I dunno about fads. I think it's just the way the ball rolls over time. People are basically bored with nearly everything after a while. Most of us follow the trendsetters who are the professionals that we hear on recordings.

Paul Franklin made the Franklin pedal popular and I believe the 1,2 whole tone raise as well.

Buddy Emmons was one of the most innovative with electronics experimentation and who could argue with him?

Pros like these who must come up with something new for a lot of sessions must surely get tired of doing the same things and naturally look for different ways to complement the current music.

I think the guitars, the styles and techniques are pretty much driven by those players' wants and needs.
Guys like me are obviously looking to cover these tunes best we can so follow suit trying to emulate the tones and techniques.

I would prefer to think of it as just natural change that comes with almost everything with time.

Well said Jerry. If we never heard the new sounds we would still be beating on hollow logs. The wah pedal was a thing for a while and faded back into obscurity much like the talk box. However distortion is still widely used with guitarist, although boring to me. I still have an E-Bow and use it occasionally.

Larry Dering wrote:However distortion is still widely used with guitarist, although boring to me. I still have an E-Bow and use it occasionally.

I hope distortion becomes a fad and people stop using it because I'd rather not hear it anymore...nothing beats super clean guitar sounds.

I use an E-Bow too. It is easier to use with distortion, but harder with to play it with a clean tone. it helps if you increase Volume pedal a bit, or as much as needed .

If all these “fads” could be thrown together in a single night of playing, you would have a very interesting gig indeed.

The “organ” tone is my favorite - that Leslie speaker sound with variable tremolo. I’ve so far been afraid to touch it for fear of becoming addicted and od’ing myself, my band, and anyone suffering through listening to it ad infinitum.

And whatever the hell you call this tone and playing style. Rusty is the Forever King.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ICJ7trWV4fY

I know from playing steel guitar on a four hour gig, peoples ears get tired. One way to wake em up is to try changing your delivery with effects. In fact I did this on a live trio cord back in the 90s and concluded it was very effective. The record holds up.
But lately, I don't give a damn. Either you like straight PSG tone or you don't. I get some great feedback from people who do.

What about George L instrument cables sounding better? I won’t classify this as an actual fad, but does that belief have merit? I would believe they are nicely constructed so it wouldn’t hurt your tone, so you can’t go wrong in using them.

Having played in mostly 4 piece bands, hearing a whiny steel guitar, even a well played one, all night long is very fatiguing to the ears. Used occasionally I was able to offer a lot more sounds and value to the band with a Leslie cabinet, phaser sounds, octave boxes, auto wahs (Elvira!), organ sounds and a few others I pry left out. One picker in the MSA room used an Eventide H9 Max with may of these sounds and it was awesome. Not just the audience but other pro pickers ears perked up. I get that playing with a phaser or chorus on al night is also fatiguing!

Diamond horseshoe pinky rings.

Ken Boi wrote:What about George L instrument cables sounding better? I won’t classify this as an actual fad, but does that belief have merit? I would believe they are nicely constructed so it wouldn’t hurt your tone, so you can’t go wrong in using them.

I've used them and others too. They are a good cable, they're easy to make at custom lengths, and easy to repair, but I never found them to be any different in sound than any other non-defective cable. I never use them anymore.

Jeff Garden wrote:Diamond horseshoe pinky rings.

Yes! Rings! Honestly, I really like wearing a couple rings, and I've definitely bought a couple new once since I started steel. For some shows I like to really lean in to the gaudy fashion of 1970s Las Vegas.

Jeff Garden wrote:Diamond horseshoe pinky rings.

Few are qualified to wear one.

You hardly ever saw pointy steels,even back in the '80s......

b0b wrote:

Jeff Garden wrote:Diamond horseshoe pinky rings.

Few are qualified to wear one.

Unwritten rules:
"you don't tug on Superman's cape
you don't spit into the wind
you don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
and you don't wear a derby and a diamond horseshoe pinky ring unless you're BE"

...or something like that