The Steel Guitar Forum

Dirt floor basement find , what is it ?

What do you mean, "What is it?"

It's a D-12 pedal steel guitar!



That's a cool find. I hope someone can identify the builder.

I know it’s a d12
I was looking for maybe a builder

Mid 50's to early 60's is my best guess? No idea who might have built it.
Looks like a kind of copy of a Sho~Bud permanent, but it's not that.
Look at the inside castings to see if maybe it's a Blankenship from Amarillo?
Better close up pictures of the underside would help to make an identification.
I'd bet it would sound great if restored.
Good luck,
Andy

Those yokes on the E9 pulls are superior to many and reminiscent of Kline or ZB.

I had a D10 of this period that just had crude fishplates to split the pulls, but being pull-release it sounded great. This one could be even better, all other things being equal.

I have no idea who built it, but those fret boards are way cool!

Ian Rae wrote:Those yokes on the E9 pulls are superior to many and reminiscent of Kline or ZB.

I had a D10 of this period that just had crude fishplates to split the pulls, but being pull-release it sounded great. This one could be even better, all other things being equal.

I think those yokes are on the C6 (assumed) neck. Looks like the pedals attach to the other neck, at the bottom of the pictures, which would make that the front neck. Of course, we don't really know what tunings were on the guitar, and on which neck.

Those fretboards make me think Asian design. Could it be from Fuzzy or another Japanese builder?

Some aspects of the guitar look like a Miller.

Dan Beller-McKenna wrote:I have no idea who built it, but those fret boards are way cool!

+1

I'm just here to say that that is a great basement find that would probably be a sweet guitar when it's cleaned up, and that I also very much enjoy those fretboards.

The changer fingers are interesting--the lowers tune vertically through a tab on the finger itself instead of horizontally through some type of crossbar (and pushing against the finger) as do most pull/release guitars. That could possibly be a clue.

Dave

This sure is interesting. Even if the builder cannot be identified, a restoration would be warranted. That does it look like from the front? Does it have legs, pedal bar, and pedals with it?

Ken Byng wrote:Some aspects of the guitar look like a Miller.

I am going to say definitely not a Miller! Not sure what it is, looks like some early Sho-Bud ideas but not a Bud either.

David Ball wrote:...the lowers tune vertically through a tab on the finger itself instead of horizontally through some type of crossbar (and pushing against the finger) as do most pull/release guitars...

I was thinking those vertical screws are actually the raise stops, with conventional lower stop screws below that we aren't able see in the posted pics. I experimented with something like that once. Would be cool to see some more detail pics of the changer end.

If there are better photos we'd be able to tell a lot of these details better.
Hope that Vic can get some close up pictures in sharp focus soon.
He sure did find a nice example of a steel from that period of time when pedal guitars were still an exciting new thing to be developed.

Andy reminds us that during that period a bunch of people joined the craze but few will have taken it beyond one or two attempts.

Not everyone who built a radio set 100 years ago became a corporation

Ian Worley wrote:

David Ball wrote:...the lowers tune vertically through a tab on the finger itself instead of horizontally through some type of crossbar (and pushing against the finger) as do most pull/release guitars...

I was thinking those vertical screws are actually the raise stops, with conventional lower stop screws below that we aren't able see in the posted pics. I experimented with something like that once. Would be cool to see some more detail pics of the changer end.

Looking at it again, you've got to be right. I must have been thinking backwards! Very interesting at any rate.

Dave

I love these old mystery steels. I ran across a homemade unmarked d-10 carcass....turned out to be one of the best sounding steels I’ve had.

Keep us updated if you’re restoring this. It looks really cool.

those four switches on the outside neck are interesting and different.

The changer is interesting. Looks like instead of holding the pedals down and tuning the raise. Then using the horizontal screws to adjust the open tuning. The open strings are tuned then the raises are tuned by the stop screws on the back of the fingers.

The fret boards are neat too, Looks like fallen stars,

Dave Zirbel wrote:I love these old mystery steels. I ran across a homemade unmarked d-10 carcass....turned out to be one of the best sounding steels I’ve had

My first instrument was a copy of a Permanent D10. It weighed a ton but it played well and sounded great. Frustratingly, there was a rectangle of glue on the front where the maker's name had fallen off!

I never did find out who built it, but they knew what they were doing.