The Steel Guitar Forum

I searched the forum for info on a Neil Russell weis copy and found a few posts. Any additional comments would be welcomed.

For $925 US, it looks like a pretty good deal, but I've never seen (or heard) one. I torn between the Russell, which I'll have to wait 6 months for, and a Superior, which is available now.

Thanks.

I owned a Superior, and thought it was a tremendous value -- very good quality and tone at a reasonable price. And I've seen and heard unanimous praise for Neil Russell's guitars (although I've never actually seen or heard one!)

Make sure that you ask about the string spacing/nut and saddle width on both -- the Superior is pretty wide compared to a real Weissenborn.

But how do you like that Oahu squareneck that you bought instead of the MasterTone?

I'll give you a full review this autumn

I have Russ' old Superior and have also ordered one of Neil Russell's.
The Suprior sounds great, but as Russ said,- beware of that exaggerated string spacing.
Mine measured 70mm at the bridge, so I ended up having a new bridge made for it with a 'regular' Weissenborn spacing (62mm).

I've been in touch with a few of Neil's customers and they all have high praises for his guitars, one of them also had a Superior and claimed Neil's guitar were 'head and shoulders' above the Superior.

He also makes them in mahogany (unless you insist on Koa) and claims that Koa is 'overrated'.

-Steinar

PS - go here http://www.zubotanddawson.com/ and listen to Steve Dawson, one of neil's VERY happy customers (and a truly great player). Just enter the site, click 'music' and enjoy. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 17 April 2003 at 06:38 AM.]</p></FONT>

Russ, the Oahu is no better or worse than the MasterTone which is good, I guess, because it cost half of what the MasterTone did. In all, it's a quiet instrument without a lot of sustain. It has its' own unique voice, however, and for that reason I think I'll keep it.

It has not, however, satisfied my search for a loud, sustaining instrument. Hence I'm back in the search for a Weis copy. BTW, my budget has been drastically cut because my wife decided she needed a Lowden . Oh well, at least she lets me play it sometimes .

I put my order after visiting toronto last year and talking to Steve Dawson before a show. Mine will have 8 strings.
My advice would be to try and find a used Superior while the Russell is on order and then sell it before he finishes. That'll get you started. Of course there's nothing wrong with just buying the superior and playing that altogether. It's a decent sounding instrument.

Dwight

Dwight;

That 8 string sounds cool!

All you guys that've ordered a guitar from Neil are in good company as Neil emailed last week and mentioned that both Kelly Joe Phelps and Martin Simpson have ordered guitars recently.

Have you seen Doug Cox's doubleneck Weissenborn? Should be pics on his website somewhere

I'm glad the word is spreading on Neil's stuff, I love mine
http://www.telusplanet.net/~gsimmons/weissenborn/

------------------
Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website

Best pic of the doubleneck is on Neil's own website; http://hem.passagen.se/cittern/celtic/pages/weissenborn_2.html

Well, it will be 7 regular strings and the 8th will have a sitar bridge underneath it so I can do little sitar runs on it.
I also have a friend/luthier who added a 7th string to an Oahu style squareneck, and I bought a bunch of sitar bridge material, and we're trying to figure out a way to add 5 sympathetic sitar strings that can also be strummed for droning. I hope the top doesn't cave in! Anyway, going for something like the Harry Manx thing...

I tune down to open C now, so the 7th string is an E.

Dwight

Sounds interesting. I've had a sitar for 25 years, and unfortunately it hasn't survived all those Norwegian winters so now it only serves as a 'conversation piece'.
Maybe I should butcher both the sitar and an old 'useless' acoustic I have lying around and see what I can come up with....