The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone waiting for one of these is in for a delightful treat - Just received my black RayBay model Friday (a year in the making), and the wait was well worth it - The look, finish & sound are incredible. Thanks to Ted for honing the design & manufacuring process to a level where this fiberglass beauty can really sing. (Note that beginning this year Ted is limiting the number of orders on most models he makes so that he can have "off" a couple of hours per week!)

I will agree 100% with you. I waited the same amount of time. I had ordered the original Melobro with 8 strings and when Ted went to his improved designs,he made the Royale for me instead,and DID NOT charge me a penny more even though the price tag on the new ones were more. Every time I spoke with Ted,he was finding more ways to improve and refine it. My Royale is the best sounding acoustic that I own. Well worth the wait.

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Congratulations Gary. I hope Ted keeps making them, because I want to order one after he has had a breather. Somehow, I never see a Melobro on ebay...humm, I wonder why? Could it have to do with pleased customers? BTW, the Rob Ickes tapes are great! Not my type of music at all, but I am learning so much good technique from them. They are #2 on my list after the Cindy Cashdollar tapes.

Thanks for the comments Howard, Gary, we just sent 4 more out and are starting to see some day light in the process. Taking over the molding and having to re-design the shop to handle it was an ordeal and a half.
The internal wood sound boards are just amazing, really able to manipulate and control the tone, I'm using a lot of Indian Rosewood and Walnut right now. I will install this system in the Melobros out there now, just contact me through the web site.
We are sold out on this years custom lap steels and starting to book up September, I'll try and get fresh information on the web site as I know more.
I'm really wanting to focus on 7 and 8 string Melobros. We did get the new necks in for the 3 on order now. I am going to continue building the Melobros all through the summer since they are the R&D focus too. And the Rattlers will still be available so someone just getting into it doesn't have to wait till next year.

Ted

Melobro is the item! Just got back from our
Pac NW Wintergrass last week. Got stopped a lot carrying my Midnight Navy 6 string around jamming with folks who thought the tone,volume and sustain were just great. They really liked it's looks,too. Even non-players were interested. It IS the
first cool, different looking reso in a long
time. More congrats Ted! When I order my custom lap, I'll be happy whenever it comes.
You do great work.
Dave Stehman

Can anyone point me to a site that has some sound files for the Melobros? I'm in the market for a roundneck, and I'd really like to check these out. I visited the website..that black RayBay is just about the coolest lookin thing I've seen in a long time. I want to play, or at least hear these things. Guys, I'm droolin on my keyboard here...fill me on the sound..please. Good lord, they have Quarterman's in em. I want details..details! Thank you

Great idea, GEOFF.

How about it, Ted?

I was thinking the same thing this weekend.

I'd love to hear the difference in tone with and without the new wood inserts.

I really like the sound without them. I'm sure many think the wood inserts are an improvement, too. But I'd sure like to hear that for myself. To answer the question: do the wood inserts take too much of the "uniquessness" of the sound away?

PS, Ted

You've said you can install these new inserts into older Melobro's, too. Is this something you prefer to do in the summer, or during the building season? Any idea on costs?

I'll email if you'd like, but I'm sure others are curious, too.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

I recently purchased a Deering banjo, at the recommendation of someone I contacted online who knows a lot more about them than I. I went to the Deering site, and was able to d.load a clip of the model I was looking at.Even tho it was only a brief 15 sec clip, and even tho it's not the same as sitting down and playing one in a store, it made a big impact on my decision to buy it. In contrast, a visit to the Carter psg site helped me little to get info about a psg I was checking out. They had sound clips, but only for a more expensive model. That doesn't help me. They were quick to respond to email, but said they had no plans at the moment to offer a sound sample for the lower-priced model I was looking at.Hmm...
Ted, if you're reading this..I've never spoken with you, but from your posts and what others have said, I have no doubt that I'd like you. You care a lot about your customers, and your product. Now I'm no e-commerce guru or computer geek. I'm just a guy who likes to play nice instruments, like we all do. So, you can put my comments/suggestions out at the curb with the trash if you wish, and I won't be offended
Looking at the website, I like it. But I wonder if more couldn't be done with it that may help ease your burden.If that website were a human working for you, my guess is that he/she would be working about half as hard as the rest of you. I think the update file that you have available is a great idea. Should definitely help to satisfy your panting customers and allow you to focus on what you do best. Myself.. I like the idea of having an order # that I just type in to get a status report. I think that updates.. maybe 2 or 3 a week would be fine. Kinda like tracking a UPS shipment. Keeps itchy folks off the phone, but still in the loop.
I hear there's a VHS available from you that gives folks an idea of what goes on out there in that barn in Idaho(I hope to get a copy soon). That might be a great tool for your website. Still images, or some streaming video..that would make a really nice online brochure, and satisfy customers' thirst for info. Since your instruments are so hard to find, detailed info would be great to have available at the click of a mouse.
I guess my point is that if you have hi traffic coming to you at the barn, there may be ways to divert it to a place that will address questions/concerns, while letting you maximize your time building guitars. I wish I were a website designer or a system administrator. I'd donate time to help you out, and get the most out of that website. I think it could be a great buffer between you and some of your customers, without compromising the great service that you obviously take great pride in.
The Carter psg site http://www.steelguitar.com/index.html
might be worth looking at if you haven't already done so. While weak on audio clips, they do have a lot of other cool things there...historic as well as technical data about their instruments. Something for everyone, really.
Of course, the flipside to all this is that you see an increase in orders that overshoots any benefit you gain from streamlining a little..ugh. I'll shuttup now.
Hang in there Ted. A lot of biz owners would love to have your problems

I know the web site is not up to snuff at all, my original web designer has moved on and we are looking for someone. I'm talking to two local people but I've just been too busy with building to have the time to get it worked out.

Creating a Web site like that would be great, but being in the Web business myself I also know that creating an interactive Web site (even something as easy as entering your order number to see how your order is doing) means you have to have a database on the backend, your ISP has to have your Web site set up to allow database access AND allow ASP coding, you have to have someone who knows ASP (or some other language which enables the database access), plus have your site updated. All of these things cost extra $$$ and easily become cost prohibitive.