The Steel Guitar Forum

Just got my new Melobar Super Steel. I had Ted build be a custom 8 string model (I play left handed). It's just beautiful! The body is black with cream yellow on the neck. It has dual Duncan pickups and black Grover machines. The strings are well balanced and it's got lots of bite! I'm waiting for a stand which will allow me to play standing up. I play Dobro in an "old time" country/bluegrass Gospel band and It'll be a real neat addition.The price was right and the Melobar folks are the BEST to work with. I highly recommend them! p.s. The Melobar is replacing my Gibson (see Buy and Sell)! <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 08 February 2000 at 10:50 AM.]</p></FONT>

Just got my Supersteel 8-string with "stringmaster" pickup. Great! Highly recommend this instrument. Much better than paying the current Stringmaster prices!

Gordon, Mikel: I think many people would like more information on these instruments. A few questions: how close do the Melobar "Stringmaster" pickups come to the original Fender sound? What's the string spacing? (I found the spacing on the CC8 a bit narrow for my taste). What sort of case do these instruments come with? What's the total price, for two necks, stand/legs and case?
Thanks for any info. you can offer.

Well I'm sure that Ted Smith could answer these questions better...but...
The pickups sound extremely close to the original stringmasters...only an audiophile could tell the difference.
The string spacing is on the narrow side.

As for the rest...send email to Ted Smith:
ted@melobar.com...he is usually very responsive.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 08 February 2000 at 10:49 AM.]</p></FONT>

Heard we had some questions to answer.
On the bridge spacing and nut spacing, remember these are custom guitars and you can get whatever you want.
We did make the Supersteel so it could interchange from the Single coil Stringmaster pickups to the Lawrence humbucking pickups. So the spacing had to match both pickups pole pieces. The widest we can go on the humbucker is 68mm or about 2 & 5/8ths which is what the CC-8 and the above Supersteels have. If you went with the Stringmaster magnets your maximum is 70mm or about 2 & 3/4 inches. When I asked for spacings on the forum they quoted 2 & 7/16ths which sounded very tight to me.
The Nut has some to do with the maximum spacing, and we are at 2 & 3/16ths, which is fairly standard.

Mikel if that spacing feels tight, we can interchange the bridge "saddle" with a wider spacing very easily. That is one of the nice things about using the Melobar WES patented saddle of dad's, is two stainless steel pins and we can interchange the saddle with any spacing you want. That's a freeby with an exchange.

As far as Stringmaster type pickups, we have 3 sources and I know they too will set the pickups to your spec's. I feel the sound is very Fender but with a little warmer edge.

The set up is; each neck is independent so you can buy "A" 8 string neck(about $400), and use it as a lap steel.
Then buy a stand if you want down the road for $165.
Then another neck to add on, and even another neck for a triple if you want. However the thing I like is you can still pull one neck, and use it as a lap steel whenever you want. And of course that is with all new componants like Grover keys etc.

The stand will go to standing height for a 6'2" person.

We have a free video showing them Ian, so just drop us a line. And any questions, or if I didn't cover everything, let me know and we'll give you any other measurements etc.

Thank you for your comments Gordon and Mikel! Keep in touch and let me know how those girls are doing.

Ted<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by MELOBAR GUITARS INC on 08 February 2000 at 05:02 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by MELOBAR GUITARS INC on 08 February 2000 at 05:08 PM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks for all the great information, Ted. Sounds mighty tempting. Now comes the tough part. Which instruments do I want to part with to help finance a purchase?