Pedal Steel Guitar Roll Call

[hotraman]

After reading a comment about people who play pedal steel ( or try to in my case) got me wondering how many players are here.
Do you still play?
Or gave it up and moved on?
Any pictures?
Influences or who motivated you to play?

Al Perkins is one of my motivators and love all of his work.
Here in Portland Oregon we have a strong pedal steel community.
I don't play out as much as I would like to, but I keep it set up in my music room.
Here is my Rittenbery SD 10 with my FM9.

 

[jayyj]

I have one, an old ZB Custom 11 string.

I bought it because the band I was in had started trying to bring in pedal steel players for recordings and although the guys we found were great players, what I really wanted was incredibly simple ambient swooshes with very occasional lazy fills, and consequently I found myself in an endless battle to get the steel player to leave out notes and not noise dive into every possible gap between vocals - eventually it seemed easier to buy one and figure out how to play what I wanted myself.

I can't really claim to play properly and I certainly couldn't sit in with a country bands but I like the results I get out of it for my own music.

Here's a very old song of mine that I played steel on - comes in on the second verse along with the violin.

 

['64 Tele]

Gave it up and moved on back in working country band days.
I spent about a year trying to get the hang of it.
Worked up a couple songs, dragged it along on a few dates, finally gave up.
The more time I spent on it, the worse my 6 string playing got.
I am in awe of those that can really play one.

 

[hotraman]

Gave it up and moved on back in working country band days.
I spent about a year trying to get the hang of it.
Worked up a couple songs, dragged it along on a few dates, finally gave up.
The more time I spent on it, the worse my 6 string playing got.
I am in awe of those that can really play one.

Me too. One of my music mentors plays pedal steel really well, in addition to fiddle and electric banjo.

 

[WireLine]

I do, some. Mine is an old Shobud once owned by Jimmy Day, who named it Blue Darling III.

 

[Skyhook]

Yeah, I wish...

Point me to a place where I can buy one that's factory new(that is,
not something used from between 1965-1970) and sold within the borders
of the EU(I don't feel like doubling an already prohibitive price tag by
paying out-of-EU-taxes-and-custom's-fees)... then I'm in!

I'll get back to my substitute now.
At least you can get budget Lap Steel:s around here.

 

[WireLine]

Guitar has an…interesting… history. I’m told this was willed to Day’s bass player/opening act steel man. Jimmy eventually returned to Emmons and this Shobud was placed into storage, where it sat for many years. Previous owner finally got hold of the Day family and arranged for transfer.

When my friend/ex band mate Shady finally got possession it needed a lot of work. Eventually Bob Rains (of Rains Steel Guitars) and Shady started renovations, Bob fell ill and shortly thereafter passed away. Shady has been playing Rains, Emmons, and GFI for quite a while, so he needed to sell it, to me as I had bugged him for years to let go of Darling III.

 

[hotraman]

Guitar has an…interesting… history. I’m told this was willed to Day’s bass player/opening act steel man. Jimmy eventually returned to Emmons and this Shobud was placed into storage, where it sat for many years. Previous owner finally got hold of the Day family and arranged for transfer.

When my friend/ex band mate Shady finally got possession it needed a lot of work. Eventually Bob Rains (of Rains Steel Guitars) and Shady started renovations, Bob fell ill and shortly thereafter passed away. Shady has been playing Rains, Emmons, and GFI for quite a while, so he needed to sell it, to me as I had bugged him for years to let go of Darling III.

Great story !! Glad you have it, and know the history of the guitar.

 

[sloppychops]

No activity in this club in almost a year. There have to be more steel players on the forum than the handful that posted here!

I'm new to pedal steel, but have been playing lap steel for about a year. Finally decided I wanted to try pedal steel and went for something simple and affordable, a Hudson 6-string. It's a great beginner guitar, but after just a few weeks with it I'm wanting more strings, more pedals, and more levers!

Lap steel and pedal steel have taken up almost all of my practice time for a few months now. I got into lap steel because of David Lindley, Western swing, and sacred steel. I got into pedal steel from players like Ralph Mooney and Buddy Cage.

Hope some more steelers chime in here!

 

[hotraman]

Me, too.

No activity in this club in almost a year. There have to be more steel players on the forum than the handful that posted here!

I'm new to pedal steel, but have been playing lap steel for about a year. Finally decided I wanted to try pedal steel and went for something simple and affordable, a Hudson 6-string. It's a great beginner guitar, but after just a few weeks with it I'm wanting more strings, more pedals, and more levers!

Lap steel and pedal steel have taken up almost all of my practice time for a few months now. I got into lap steel because of David Lindley, Western swing, and sacred steel. I got into pedal steel from players like Ralph Mooney and Buddy Cage.

Hope some more steelers chime in here!

View attachment 1284111

How do you like playing a six string ? Two floor pedals and two knee levers ? What strings do they bend?

 

[sloppychops]

Yep, 2 pedals and 2 levers. A pedal bends the third and sixth string from a B to C#, B pedal bends the first string from G# to A. LKL raises the second and fourth strings from E to F, LKR lowers the second and fourth strings from E to E flat. It is setup in E9, replicating 6 of the inner strings of a 10-string.

Your Rittenbery looks gorgeous!

 

[hotraman]

Yep, 2 pedals and 2 levers. A pedal bends the third and sixth string from a B to C#, B pedal bends the first string from G# to A. LKL raises the second and fourth strings from E to F, LKR lowers the second and fourth strings from E to E flat. It is setup in E9, replicating 6 of the inner strings of a 10-string.

Your Rittenbery looks gorgeous!

Thank you.
Its #0006 when Gary Rittenberry still owned the company. He sold off to a good younger builder, who is carrying on his approach to building pedal steel.
I'm glad I jumped into 10 string when I did.
I think you may find the same.
Enjoy the awesome journey of playing pedal steel.

 

[HaWE]

Yeah, I wish...

Point me to a place where I can buy one that's factory new(that is,
not something used from between 1965-1970) and sold within the borders
of the EU(I don't feel like doubling an already prohibitive price tag by
paying out-of-EU-taxes-and-custom's-fees)... then I'm in!

I'll get back to my substitute now.
At least you can get budget Lap Steel:s around here.

WBS STEELGUITARS

Handgefertige Steelgitarren aus Deutschland - Custom made for you

wbssteelguitars.com

Hi, these are at least built in Germany.

 

[sloppychops]

WBS STEELGUITARS

Handgefertige Steelgitarren aus Deutschland - Custom made for you

wbssteelguitars.com

Hi, these are at least built in Germany.

That WBS Economy model looks and sounds great. Couldn't find a price anywhere on their site, though.

 

[HaWE]

That WBS Economy model looks and sounds great. Couldn't find a price anywhere on their site, though.

WBS STEELGUITARS

Handgefertige Steelgitarren aus Deutschland - Custom made for you

www.wbssteelguitars.com

Hi,I hope I can help you - I just found this on the wbs website ( Bestellung --> Preisliste ) .
The price is from end of 2023.



By the way, I don't know how often I watched this video - but in the end I stayed with my "poor man's pedal steel substitude", a six string lap steel with a Duesenberg multibender

 

[sloppychops]

WBS STEELGUITARS

Handgefertige Steelgitarren aus Deutschland - Custom made for you

www.wbssteelguitars.com

View attachment 1284614
Hi,I hope I can help you - I just found this on the wbs website ( Bestellung --> Preisliste ) .
The price is from end of 2023.



By the way, I don't know how often I watched this video - but in the end I stayed with my "poor man's pedal steel substitude", a six string lap steel with a Duesenberg multibender

Thanks for digging that up, HaWe. That's kind of pricey for what it is, although it looks and sounds great. A similar Hudson 6-string in the US goes for around $1300.

 

[Tom Grattan]

I tried play pedal and worked at it for a couple of years but realized if I wanted to really play I'd have to devote some serious time to the instrument. I play a Weissenborn and have been playing a lap with benders. Sounds just like a steel, can't do as much but is perfect for what I'm doing.

 

[rasr1]

Here's mine.
I don't play as much as I should to stay proficient, but I get by.

 

[telemaster03]

I'm in. I played steel while doubling on guitar in the eighties and last year when a band project was coming to a close I decided to get myself up to speed and find a steel gig. The gig came before the up to speed part but I do OK, I joined a country/red dirt band over the summer. I'm starting to get calls about fill in gigs with other bands when my regular band is off, I'm doing a show next Saturday with a local family band. That was my goal with pedal steel, there are a lot of guitar players in this area but few steel players.

I have a first year Sho-Bud 1973 LDG that is my pride and joy, my wife gifted the guitar to me a couple years ago on my 60th birthday. Lloyd Green's guitar was made in May 1973 and mine was made in October of that same year. I also have an early nineties Mullen D-10 that previously belonged to a musician friend who passed a couple years ago. I'm fairly proficient on the top E9 neck but want to get some level of proficiency on the C6 neck.

 

[sloppychops]

I'm in. I played steel while doubling on guitar in the eighties and last year when a band project was coming to a close I decided to get myself up to speed and find a steel gig. The gig came before the up to speed part but I do OK, I joined a country/red dirt band over the summer. I'm starting to get calls about fill in gigs with other bands when my regular band is off, I'm doing a show next Saturday with a local family band. That was my goal with pedal steel, there are a lot of guitar players in this area but few steel players.

I have a first year Sho-Bud 1973 LDG that is my pride and joy, my wife gifted the guitar to me a couple years ago on my 60th birthday. Lloyd Green's guitar was made in May 1973 and mine was made in October of that same year. I also have an early nineties Mullen D-10 that previously belonged to a musician friend who passed a couple years ago. I'm fairly proficient on the top E9 neck but want to get some level of proficiency on the C6 neck.

View attachment 1284700View attachment 1284699

Those are both seriously nice guitars. The Sho Bud and Jackson sound is, for me, just the biggest, best steel sound. (Mullens no slouch, either!)