The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi guys,

Has anyone documented how Speedy west set up his Fender 1000 (two 8 string becks, 6 pedals, no levers).

I have one of these that I am planning to set up properly and would love to duplicate his config.

Mr. Mead,
There is a Fender Pedal Sttel site (on-line) that has the setup for Fender 1000 steels ( it's A6th tuning). I don't know what tuning S.West used.
Tom Brasshaw might have some data on this player as well.
Good luck....PS I have a D-8, 6-pedal Fender as well.
JohnO

Somewhere (you may have to keep bugging me because of the many places it could be) I have a xerox of a thermo-fax of Speedy West's set-up on Fender/Tulsa letterhead. It came in the case of an Fender that Mike Fried owned...maybe still does own. (Mike wondered if it could have been Speedy's own steel. When I went back home to Oklahoma for a visit just after he showed it to me (this was probably mid-1990s, I got in touch with him through Speedy Jr. West Sr. told me that he and Fender sent hundreds of those sheets out--all requests from players. He added that the guitar wasn't his as it had the tall top-mounted volume and tone knobs. Speedy's own instrument was custom made with the knobs on the side so he could manipulate them with his right hand and little finger.)<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Ben Elder on 16 June 2006 at 02:32 PM.]</p></FONT>

As many of you know Speedy West was my first real steel guitar hero. I first met Speedy in 1960 when he was working for Fender in Tulsa, OK. I made several trips to visit him and he showed me licks and songs in his spare time. I still have an old reel to reel recording I made of him showing me licks on his guitar. I would bring my old tape recorder and set it up in the show room at Fender. Speedy had the Fender 1000 set up there and he would let me play it. By the way, my first pedal steel was also a Fender 1000 which came through the Tulsa warehouse that my parents bought me in 1960. Now as to his tunings, at that time his outside neck was tuned to F# 9th tuning. His 4th and 8th strings were tuned to Bb and his 1st pedal raised them to B. The tuning then became E6th. His back neck was tuned to a variation of an E 13th tuning and he moved I think 6 strings with 2 pedals to change the open tuning to A6th. The pedals on the 1000 normally only moved 2 strings at a time, but he had one of the pedals modified to move 4 strings. The guitar had 8 pedals and 2 8 string necks. I think the 2nd pedal also raised the 2nd and 3rd strings on the F# 9th tuning, but I can't remember what the other 4 pedals did.

I hope this helps a little.

Herby Wallace

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It's been awhile since I've seen it, but I think the feature Guitar Player mag did on Speedy in the late 60's or early 70's had his F#9th and E13th pedal guitar tunings listed. Maybe someone out in Forum Land has a copy they could check.

Thank you Herby
You have Speedy's tuning down to a "T" I have copies as he gave them to me while I was at thre warehouse at West Skelley Drive.
Tulsa Oklahoma. This was back in the 60's.

Hi Jody,

Could you possibly post the setup in full to fill in the fine details missing from Herby's reply?

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread so far.

Many, many years ago y worte about the same question to Scotty and got an extensive response, including how to use the tunings.
I still got it somewhere in a box because I am moving out of Europe. So I am sorry but I can't help you much further right now.
But maybe you can contact Scotty(?).

... J-D.

Jody, you gonna tease us?.
Im itchin to see, Speedys 1000 copedant.
Lee

I'd be interested, too. Hey Lee, are you gonna be with Big Sandy at Gold Hill Inn (CO) tomorrow? Heard you were back on the road with the band. Looking forward to it.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Tim Whitlock on 03 July 2006 at 09:42 AM.]</p></FONT>

Come on Jody,whats the skinny,on the Speedy copedant, failling that, what was your set up?.
Lee

In 1959 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, there was a trade show similar to what has become NAMM today.
Each manufacturer had their own room with their star. Fender had Speedy West on his 1000 and Roy Lanham on his JazzMaster.
When Roy excused himself for a few, I picked up his guitar. A man and his young son entered the room and asked Speedy to play Steel Guitar Rag and he asked me to play rhythm to it and I was playing along with my first Steel Hero and what a buzz it was. He still had his pedals covered with the front board with his name similar to the Bigsby days. Needless to say, I had no idea how many pedals and what he used, as it was supposed to be a secret. No matter, I still consider it a lifetime thrill.

Lee
I'm still looking for Speedys setup. Im in process of moving and have so many boxes of memories, but I will find them. I spoke to Speedy just a short time before he passed and his wife Mary sent me a thank you e mail
which I will treasure for the rest of my life

Perhaps I can have Rick Alexander put it on my website plus a nice letter from Speedy to me, he was one heck of a man and I miss him more every day.

Thanks, Jody if you dig it up, i know a lot of people would apreciate it.
Good luck with move.
Lee

Lee
I am surrounded by cartons, but I'm looking through each one for Fender memorablia I'll find it not to worry

Jody Carver wrote:Lee
I am surrounded by cartons, but I'm looking through each one for Fender memorablia I'll find it not to worry

I am starting to get worried, Jody. Did you find anything?

I was also wondering if anybody had an idea as to what happened to Speedy's Fender(?) Was it and early one or the later version with the direct changer? Was it really only a D8 (1000) and did he ever go to a D10 before playing the Marlen?


I toying with the idea to get me a double neck and set it up to Speedy's tuning and setup.

... J-D.

Wow - this thread is a couple years old, really! I'm sure Jody just forgot, as he gets so many requests for info it's probably overwhelming. He's moved at least one other time since then, so the stuff may be really buried...from what he told me, he has a virtual Fender history museum, but has been trying to get some consistent help collating it, in addition to working on his book (he had been thinking of moving back to southern California, and if it happens I told him I was at his disposal)....so the Speedy stuff is there....somewhere!

I owe him phone call - I'll see if I can jog his memory as to the location of the paperwork or see if he has it locked in his memory banks - it's amazing how much information he can dish out about the early days at Fender - my buddy Jody is not a spring chicken, but he's sharp as a tack. Heck, he has a better memory than I do, that's for sure!

Edited to add - I was just thinking, I swear I saw that posted on the old forum once...or it may have ben sent to me in an email when I was debating what to do with my "spare" 1000 neck (one is in my "normal" B6). I may have printed it off, so I'll go through my stuff today...which is ALSO not exactly collated...

J D,
Here is possibly the tuning SW use on his D10 Marlin. ( circa 1980 )

Thanks a lot for posting this, Bill. I dearly appreciate. It seem, albeit a few variations, to collaborate what I have so far.

Thanks again! ... J-D.

Here is some info from Winnie Winston's book
its not a D-8 but interesting --F#9th

Thanks Bob... I love Raccoons too

We seem to get a consensus.

Now the question is, where did he add string when he went from 8 to 10 strings.
And more of a historical nature: When did he add that E9th neck?


Thanks! ... J-D.

On the PSG Forum Dave Zirbel opened a new thread (Interesting tunings from a 1968 PSG newsletter) posting tuning sheets of 1968. Among these Speedy West's D8 PSG tuning. I am posting this here for reference.







... J-D.