The Steel Guitar Forum

Thanks

You go, Mr. K.

Thanks!

And they are worth every penny!

Seriously though, I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ll be offering. That’s a price point that can help a lot of new players get their foot in the door. Kudos!

Thanks Collin.

Admirable to introduce an inexpensive starter guitar but calling an E9 OR C6 pedal guitar with anything less than 3+3 "professional" is not realistic.

I can't wait to see this. I am new to the forum and the steel guitar and I can attest to the prices of a pedal steel. It is just to high for the working man like me. I would definitely love to see this.

Dave Grafe wrote:...calling an E9 OR C6 pedal guitar with anything less than 3+3 is not realistic.

I once felt the same way, but not any more. Nowadaze, my main pedal guitar is a '73 Gee Ess Ten "bowlin' ball" with 3 x 1. I could get along without a C pedal if I had to. Russ Pahl doesn't use one, and he seems to do okay for himself.

Thanks!

Not a Carter Far-Tehr?

Jack Hanson wrote:Russ Pahl doesn't use one, and he seems to do okay for himself.

If Russ Paul played anything but rock and roll he would be looking for a more complete set of musical changes, and for a lot of his work he still picks up a Telecaster.

Yes one can make great music and cool slidey effects with a limited instrument, but if one wishes to play all genres of MUSIC and does not have the name cachet and associated stylistic liberties of a Russ Paul or a David Lindley or a Pete Kleinow one needs to have a complete instrument at hand. There are no "luxury" changes in the classic Emmons copedant, every one is there for a meaningful, necessary purpose in the musical galaxy.

I played a 3+0 Maverick for fifteen years because I could not afford anything else. I played it professionally but nobody ever tried to tell me it was a "professional" axe, and there were definitely songs I could not play and gigs I could not get with it. The foundation was incredibly useful, but I knew better than to take it to a jazz jam, never mind transcribing and recording a piano sonata.

A 10-string 2+1 steel can be a quality student guitar, and if it sounds good and plays in tune lots of good things may be done with it professionally, but it is not a complete, modern professional pedal steel in the tradition of Buddy Emmons or Paul Franklin. Just call it what it is, a good learning step or guitarist's side axe.

Thanks!.

Thanks!

Thanks

In the beginning, when I had six strings and no pedals, I was painfully aware of what could not be done because of the limitations of the instrument. When I got a 10 string 3+0 Maverick, and later a 3+2 Pro I, the problem remained the limitations of the instrument. With 3+5 the limitations at last became those of the person playing it, and still there are pieces that call for a C6 neck with 5+2 to be executed properly.

With all due respect to Mr. Scruggs and all the 8-stringers and no-pedalers out there, if anybody can play this Schumann piece without 3+5 I want to hear it. It takes a complete instrument to play music completely. No shortcuts, no tricks, just the basic Emmons system, and all of it.

https://youtu.be/udo8RgKaJNU

I applaud your efforts and intentions, and agree that it can provide a solution for some aspiring steelers. Just remember a piano with no black keys would be less expensive and easier to learn on, but one can only do so much with it, and mobody will call it a professional piano. Add the black keys and immediately the limitations are with the player not the axe.

Different people have different needs.

Or, as we used to say in the 70s, different strokes for different folks.

~Lee

David I listen too your steel playing the Schumann piece.
An it is hauntingly beautiful !!

Congratulations

Dave Grafe wrote: With all due respect to Mr. Scruggs and all the 8-stringers and no-pedalers out there, if anybody can play this Schumann piece without 3+5 I want to hear it.

Played masterfully - on 4 strings, no pedals, no levers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpZO6EVzQI

Thanks Johnie, I appreciate that.

I had no intention of hijacking your worthy thread here, my apologies on that count. I am aware of a number of poor habits formed during my years playing lesser guitars, and I am still - 45 years later - working diligently to retrain myself on a number of fronts, it's quite a bit harder than if I had learned better in the first place. Part of that is the guitar, part of it learning in a vacuum, there was no steel guitar forum to refer to in those days, I spent half and hour with Weldon Myrick on the Maverick at Arlington Giant Music where I worked, bought the guitar from my boss and took it from there on my own. Not even 1 knee, only years later did I begin to begin to discover the rest of what Mr. Emmons and friends had in mind when they created this thing.

Certainly there are plenty of folks with no interest in playing jazz or classical music who might find the limited changes you are suggesting perfectly acceptable, I'm the freak who grew up with Beethoven and Basie so for me the concept of "music" goes beyond fills around vocals and special effects. On the other hand Duane Allman left a sizeable, permanent mark with a bottleneck and three strings on the Les Paul hanging on his shoulder.

You go ahead on

Donny Hinson wrote: Played masterfully - on 4 strings, no pedals, no levers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpZO6EVzQI

Exactly to my point, with those 4 strings no pedals are necessary to achieve an infinite variety of changes on that fingerboard, but entirely limited to a maximum of two notes at any time. A 3+5 pedal steel can cover the entire string section and more.

Thanks !

Dave Grafe wrote:
Exactly to my point, with those 4 strings no pedals are necessary to achieve an infinite variety of changes on that fingerboard, but entirely limited to a maximum of two notes at any time. A 3+5 pedal steel can cover the entire string section and more.

I'm sure the violinist could have have done more if he wanted, adding double-stops and even 3-string chords. The Jerry Byrd technique of simultaneously barring strings 2 and 3 at the 6th fret and string 4 at the 5th or 4th fret is a lost art. Pedals evolved to eliminate such difficult slants. Each of us wants something different, but what we want and what we need are not always the same thing. While it's true that a 3+5 E9th setup will allow us to play the melody line in most every song with full 3 and 4 note chords, the instrument is seldom played that way, even by the most skilled players.

Thanks