First I am a guitarist (mainly Strats and Teles) but my left (fretting) hand is not as strong as was when I was 40 years younger (hell what part of me is lol)....I have a touch of arthritis and nerve damage caused by a bad beak to my left hand....and even though I cannot play as quickly as I once did (although I might be slower I'm smarter and play more efficiently)....but I know I cannot play hurt either as much as I'd like to....so I decided to switch over in part at least to the lap steel.
Luckily I have a good friend who has helped guide me through the beginning steps I've taken....and sometimes I have a habit of running instead of walking....so my first lap steel was a 1956 National student model (a Princess I believe it is called) bought only a while ago....same friend turned me onto the Steel Guitar Forum....and I started reading through not only recent posts but past ones too.
I used to build wood canvas and birch bark canoes....so I know quality in craftmanship when I see it....and the work involved. I love great looking as well as unique instruments to play, such as my custom built birch bark Telecaster:
So as I went through the Steel Guitar Forum posts, I came across the name of the late Tom Pettingill....and saw photos of his work....especially on his still up Facebook page. I was entirely blown away by Tom's work....and really wanted one if I could get one. So I posted in Wanted To Buy that I was looking for a Tom Pettingill lap steel. I got a response and was able to purchase one of Tom's steels....which is my absolute favourite lap steel. And this steel has had an interesting history as I have found out from further research just on this forum.
In a thread about Your favourite Lap steel Is....Tom wrote this about this steel that I am now the custodian of: "Man ... hard for me to pick one, but I'd have to go with this one. Its the second steel I ever made and one I still own and play regularly. I definitely should get some better updated pics taken as it has aged nicely and has a different pickup than in the pic." These are the photos Tom posted with that comment (the one was used in his profile here and on Facebook):
Needless to say I was shocked to find out not only did I have one of Tom's steels....but the second one he made.
I know this steel was owned by Paul Smith at one point. In the thread he had when he was selling it, he described it as such:
"I am the proud owner of 2 Pettengill lapsteel guitars. As some of you know we lost Tom a few years back, which was a HUGE loss to our steel guitar community. Tom was a fine builder of lap steel guitars.
This guitar I have up for sale, is a gorgeous Maple, and Walnut, 25" scale. This has a hand wound pickup made by pickup builder BG pups, its the Hellabucker model pickup, and sounds GREAT.
This comes with a softshell well made Gator case.
The picture shown does not have Tone/volume knobs However it does have Nickel Tele style tone/vol knobs that I installed. This guitar needs nothing and plays and sounds fantastic."
Someone else said if you were looking for "a blues or rock monster, this one is it". I could not agree more.
I want to thank Tom for building such a great steel....for Paul for passing it on even if regretfully....and Aaron Johnson for letting some crazy Canuk newbie buy this amazing instrument even though he had once stated in a post on this steel that he would never let it go....I'm just honoured and happy he did.
So this is just another chapter in the life of an amazing gift from the late Tom Pettingill that just keeps giving so much.
