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| Other Guitars, other instruments Use this forum to discuss all guitars and other instruments that are not Teles or Strats -- Fender, Gibson, PRS, you name it. If it's a Tele or a Strat see the appropriate Tele and Strat Forums here. |
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July 11th, 2012, 03:02 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
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Lap Steel Guitar -- The Dark Side beckons...
My bandmate Jamie (blargfromspace) has lent me his 8 string lap steel.
I fooled around with it a little (C6 tuning is seriously unusual for a Mongolian stringbender guitarist...) and got nowhere until last night. I plugged in my Vox Amplug, dialled in some "screamin' Lindley", jacked in my mp3 player and was tooling along with Alejandro Escovedo's "It About This Love" when it began to make sense-- where the minor 3rd is in relation to the major triads etc. I could even make some coherent little improv bits, as I began to "see" where the next note was. It was pretty loose and messy, but when it sounded good it was goosebump-y good. Then I began to get my head around how I have to slant the steel... Hmmm... A pedal-steel playing friend said it was a 15 year trip. 5 years to learn the instrument, 5 years to make it sound sweet, and 5 years to get out of the institution. I'm a little concerned. Is this the end of normality for me?
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My old Dad used to say------------- "People- they're not worth the paper they're printed on." |
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July 11th, 2012, 03:24 AM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Southern California
Age: 62
Posts: 250
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One-time Saturday Night Live guitarist G.E. Smith has a new Youtube video out about his new signature Tele, and he makes a great case for a direct relationship between Teles and early Fender lap steels--via the bridge pickup. Very interesting.
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July 11th, 2012, 08:42 AM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: New Mexico
Age: 29
Posts: 266
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I used to be like you. A few months ago I had a friend's pedal steel for the weekend, considered buying it. I was looking at myself in the mirror, going, AM I A STEELER!?!?!?!
.. then, last sunday, I went to a brunch gig where there was a pedal steeler and his VERY softly singing girlfriend... It was three hours of basically solo pedal steel, and I forced myself to stay for all of it. Now I'm cured of the steel sickness! Of course he'd probably only been playing for about 10 years! |
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July 11th, 2012, 08:58 AM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: SW AZ
Posts: 1,061
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I've made some changes since this first one... but the idea is still the same.
Abe said where ya' want this killin' done, God said out on hwy 61.
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If all else fails... buy more tools Last edited by PapaLion; July 11th, 2012 at 09:34 AM. |
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July 11th, 2012, 01:07 PM
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#6 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Holic
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Homesick Texan in Maryland
Age: 68
Posts: 775
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Quote:
 Other recent steel guitar discussions in this forum: The Steel Guitar Thread thinking about trying to learn to play pedal steel. Where to begin? best lap steel slide Aaaand there's a Steel Guitar Club thread in the Guitar Owners Clubs forum.
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John Pictures of musical instruments are very much like sculptures of food. |
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July 11th, 2012, 05:44 PM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: California
Posts: 478
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Welcome to the fun! Lapsteel is a kick!
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Some misc pics of lap steels I've built |
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July 11th, 2012, 07:55 PM
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#11 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: SW AZ
Posts: 1,061
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jmiles is that last one a New Yorker model of some kind? Looks so great.
The first one I ever bought was in an antique store long ago. It didn't play, and used the old screw on type plug which was unsoldered... $20 later I had it at home and it got me going. No net then so it took awhile to figure out zactlee what I had. The Dlx 8 is pretty nifty but the Supros and Nat'ls scream.
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If all else fails... buy more tools |
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July 11th, 2012, 09:49 PM
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#12 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: ohio
Posts: 1,835
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The first guitar is a Tele with a Lapdancer square neck conversion.
The second is an Orpheum, which has light bulbs inside that light up the fingerboard. The third is a very special custom-ordered Gibson D-7. Probably a '39. The fourth is a Monkey/Wards Airline Rocket/ Valco product. I'd get studio calls for pedal steel, but I always took the Rocket. Artists. producers, and engineers always said, "We gotta hear that thing!." Used a lot! |
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July 12th, 2012, 08:11 AM
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#14 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southeast Florida
Age: 62
Posts: 1,068
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I'm working on a lap steel design and template right now for my next project, but I get so intimidated every time I look at anything built by Tom Pettingill!!! What a true artist!
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July 12th, 2012, 05:36 PM
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#16 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: California
Posts: 478
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Quote:
 Here is a fun one from a while back, a Teardrop in black walnut and quilt maple. .  
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Some misc pics of lap steels I've built |
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IMPORTANT:Treat everyone here with respect, no matter how difficult! No sex, drug, political, religion or hate discussion permitted here.
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