Pedal Steel Music

Hello fans and fellow players,

I’d like to start this newsletter off by thanking all our disc jockey friends that play the kind of music we love. Country music can be pretty well found anywhere, but western swing is pretty hard to dig up. Steel players everywhere have a friend in deejay Mike Gross in the northeast United States that has a country western internet music show that everyone can enjoy.

Mike is an extremely steel guitar conscious guy that MCs steel guitar shows wherever he gets close enough to one to do so. I really like to pick on Mike because he has a real hard New England accent and I’m very used to hearing southwestern accents in the western swing field. Mike does a wonderful job and I would highly advise that you listen to his show.

While watching RFD out of Branson, Missouri, a young steel guitar playing friend of mine took a nice solo on a song called Diggy Diggy Low. His name is Tyler Hall and he is a freakishly wonderful young player. Tyler has a wonderful career ahead of him and I’m wishing him well, however I’m not sure he’s going to be needing my well wishing the way he plays.

A few minutes later I called my store from my easy chair at home and heard steel guitar in the background, so I asked my secretary who was playing. She said, “Oh, it’s that Tyler Hall again.”

I thought to myself, boy I just can’t get away from this guy, but after hearing a little more, I decided I didn’t want to get away from him. He’s a wonderful player and even nicer person. It’s nice to see Tyler and Eddie Dunlap hanging around together. It reminds me of Jimmy Day and Buddy Emmons and their friendship fifty five years ago.

It seems to be easier to learn steel guitar if you have someone there to compete with at every turn because every time one of you learns something, the other one can learn it as well.

It’s pretty nice having this store as I catch myself learning from others and having them learn from me. I remember back when steel guitar was first becoming a popular instrument. Players didn’t do this. They hoarded their knowledge which hurt everybody.

I remember I could always ask the great pros any questions and have them answered immediately. It was the fellow amateurs that were very tight with their limited knowledge that had the attitude “I’m not going to help anybody.” I can see today that the future of steel guitar could be very bleak if we don’t do a better job of playing and sharing knowledge about it.

I’ve heard several bandleaders say, “I don’t need one of those whiny effects machines in my band. If I don’t hire one, it leaves me more room to hire a musical instrument.” This really irks me because these guys don’t realize a good steel player can play parts, instrumentals, great fills and intros and also great rhythm if asked to do so. Also remember, steel guitar has no limitations, the player does.

When somebody tells me they don’t want a steel guitar in their band, what they are really saying is they don’t want somebody that can’t play steel guitar in their band and unfortunately most of them don’t even know what a steel guitar is supposed to sound like. They don’t realize what an asset steel guitar can be in the hands of a talented player.

So if you’re having trouble getting a job, there might be a very good chance that some below average player has muddied the water up ahead of you. If you’re a good player, keep learning more. If you’re not, work harder. You can’t blame steel guitar for not working.

Sometimes it’s a band leader that doesn’t realize how good the steel player is because he’s never even heard a good player. That’s when they make remarks like “I don’t want one of these whiny things in my band.”

If he had a player like Curly Chalker blow him off the bandstand one night with big chords and playing any song that was ever written and then turn around and play a fast single string solo that’s fast enough to show the lead player up badly, there would be no excuse not to hire a steel player.

As most of you realize, there are many bands today that are on television that have steel players with very questionable talent. These guys are not doing much to forward the name of steel guitar. The best thing we can do as players is get to where we play much better and root them out of their cushy jobs. This can be done with good personality and great playing.

We cannot expect to work and make good money and be that famous guy like we all look up to if we don’t buckle down and learn what the three Ts are. Taste, tone and timbre. Remember the three Ts, play the right thing at the right time, don’t pump your volume pedal and make everybody proud of you.

Even though a lot of this week’s newsletter has been aimed at the professional players, it applies to everyone that plays in a band and takes money for what he or she is doing. Being nice to everyone in the band including the band leader and club owner is as important as what you play.

Even though you may have to grit your teeth real hard to do it at times, every one of you are important to me as is your job and overall career behind steel guitar. Count on me for anything I can do for you.

We have free shipping within the continental United States on any guitar you buy between now and the end of February.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend of all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Hello fellow players,

Well here we go rapidly coming up on anniversary number thirty. Going back through all our records and probing the dusty corners of my memory, it seems as though May first of this year will be our thirtieth anniversary. Where does time go?

I remember how I got started. I’ll have to thank or blame the Emmons Company for getting me stopped and aimed in the right direction. I had been walking down the street in Goodlettsville, a close suburb on Nashville, getting my car repaired and while just wandering down the street and waiting for my car to be fixed, I walked by a beautiful little space for rent with a great big picture window and a Dairy Queen next door.

There was a guy watching me come up the street and when I got to him he asked me if I’d be interested in renting the building. I had just sold my 1963 Shelby Cobra roadster and had a pocket full of money so I said, “Sure. I’ll rent your building.”

He said, “What are you going to do with it?”

I replied I didn’t know, however it would be legal and fun. I gave him the first and last month’s rent. He gave me the keys and I wandered on down the street not knowing what I was really going to do. That quandary was soon answered by a phone call from Ron Lashley who said he was coming to visit and wanted to borrow a car to get around town.

After asking him where he was going to go in town, he replied he was looking for someone to be a dealer for the Emmons guitar. I said, “Great. I’m your dealer. Come up and get your car and some money.”

A month later I had twelve new Emmons guitars on the floor. He promised me that I could never sell them as fast as he could build them. We all know that wasn’t true. However, I sold a lot of Emmons guitars in the next two years. I then took in the Sho-Bud line in addition to Emmons and Steel Guitar World which it was called then never looked back.

I hired a good crew including several employees from the Sho-Bud Company. They ran the business while I toured around the United States with the famous hillbillies of the era.

Over the years there have been many changes but the craziness has pretty well settled down to a calm, dependable world including a name change and some other changes. Probably this has been the best move I’ve ever made in the world of steel guitar. It has been a dangerous move at times according to my bank account fluctuations, but I always had my playing life to keep pumping into the business.

I got much help from competitors in the beginning. Shot Jackson and his sons, Ron Lashley and his sons and other dealers helped me in many ways to keep my doors open. Many people have been very good and I will always appreciate my friends around the United States and in Nashville itself.

Steel guitar people are about as good as it gets. Anyway, we’ll probably be throwing a big anniversary deal around the first of May. So get ready for big sales and big parties.

With much grief, we received an email from the president of our local union, Dave Pomeroy. Larry Butler died early Friday morning in his sleep. He was 69. In 1975, he won a Grammy songwriting award for “Hey, Won’t You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” which was a hit for B.J. Thomas. Butler co-wrote the song with Chips Moman.

In 1980, Larry won the Grammy for Producer of the Year, the only Nashville producer to win the award for his studio work with artists ranging from longtime friend Kenny Rogers to Johnny Cash. He also became Johnny Cash’s in-house producer, pianist and musical director. His closest Nashville relationship was with Kenny Rogers and the two remained close throughout his life.

We also lost Larry Nutter. Larry played lead guitar for Kitty Wells, Jack Greene, Jean Shepard, Jeannie Seely and was an in demand session player.

One of the greatest selling items we have amongst professionals and other players that maybe have not spent as much time, is the Bobro that makes your steel guitar sound like a Dobro. These items have sold very well over the past years. We have the Bobro on special now with free shipping and a free nylon bar that makes it sound even more like a Dobro than ever. See it here: www.steelguitar.net/bobro

I’d also like to remind everybody that for the rest of this month and for all of February we have free shipping on any guitar.

See our monthly specials at … www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Hello fans and fellow players,

As we were closing the last newsletter that you should have received by now, I was answering questions about tube amplifiers versus transistor amplifiers. Either can be made to sound very good by the designer or either can be horrible. Now days, if an amplifier is made to be a lead guitar amp, you’d better forget about trying to use it with steel.

These usually don’t have a lot of power and they start distorting at a pretty low volume which is what guitar players seem to love, want and need. I remember once when I was in the Air Force, I played through a very small old Gibson tube amp that had the most beautiful, rich sound I had ever heard.

For some reason, the owner wouldn’t sell it to me, but it made me think that when it comes to amplifiers, if you’re buying something you’re not really familiar with, you’d better try it before you lay the bucks on it. Of course, this is not necessary if you’re buying a famous well-known amp with a brand name like Peavey, Fender or the like.

Buying from a store that has professional musicians working in it in the daytime and getting their opinions is probably the most valuable service a store can offer. Once you trust them, you will find that even though they are sales people, the incredible knowledge that they will part with can save you much worry in making your choice.

I remember as a youngster going into stores in my hometown where the local professional players were working their day job. If I’d say something to them like, “Boy that Premier is a beautiful looking amplifier.” Many times they would give me a helpful nod “yes”, but if they looked the other direction and cleared their throat, I knew I should leave it alone.

One of the biggest, greatest amplifier companies in the United States today makes the world’s best steel amp, but don’t do very well on their guitar amplifier. Then there’s another company that we all know well that makes very good guitar amps, but don’t do very well in the steel guitar area.

Of course I’m not talking about weird amps that have a way of coming across our shores like a Vox or possibly Marshall and so on. When it comes right down to it, between all of us having our tastes changing as we grow older and trade guitars and as the amplifier companies themselves are making continual changes, we will all have hard core opinions that may be hard to deviate from.

Remember of course, there are different amplifiers for studio and onstage equipment. Different styles can also dictate different equipment. Even guitar picks can be figured in here.

Another question that I am asked occasionally is who played certain parts on different instruments on albums I’ve recorded. On many of my albums, I’m playing the piano parts on steel guitar using a Proteus synthesizer triggering device. I even played Last Date with a piano setting using this method.

There are times in the studio when I’d be finishing up a mix and the piano player would have already gone home and it would have cost mega-bucks to get him back into the studio so I would do the piano fill or intro on steel.

And of course, horn parts and violin parts I’ve been doing for years by hooking up two Proteus units together. I can just about sound like a complete orchestra. And remember, on steel you can slide violin parts much easier than you can with a keyboard synthesizer. I got so adept at this at times that the musician’s union would threaten me with fines for putting musicians out of work.

Now that I’m not really an A team player anymore, I can talk about it. I would do many sessions for big name artists on major labels that would not give me credit because of fearing the union getting involved in disciplinary actions. I look back on this now and usually just laugh at it.

It’s a shame that people don’t understand that I did many albums in the late sixties to late seventies. I’d like to be able to brag about these now, but I really have no way of proving that I did them even though there are many producers and musicians in town that know I did.

I still get asked a lot about my equipment and how I hook things up and tricks I have like true stereo volume pedals that controlled my stereo signals going out to the board. And I had full control over my Proteus units with the setup that I had. There are a lot of great former number one hits that I still hear on the radio with big lush strings and horn sections where there may have only been four of us in the studio when it was done.

Producers loved me because they could save the money in hiring a lot of musicians, but yet could charge the record company for a whole bevy of strings and horns, put themselves down as leader and put the bucks directly in their pocket. Such is the life of a studio musician in Nashville, Tennessee.

Just a reminder that I’m giving you free shipping within the continental U.S. on any guitar you buy during the months of January and February.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend of all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Hello fellow players,

I’m still getting many technical questions from many players that need or want answers, some of which sound like the sooner they answers, the better. This is one from Wiz Feinberg from the Chicago area.

Subject: What should I do about my neck screws?

Bobbe;
How do you like the subject?

Seriously, my 1983 push pull, with 8 pedals and 9 knee levers is in need of a slight adjustment of the neck screws on both necks. I almost got them right, but no banana.

The problem

Harmonics don’t jump out any more like they used to; they are clunky and I have to be dead on to get a harmonic at all. When they sound, they don’t sustain very long. The 3rd string is thin sounding above the 12th fret; no sweetness at all. Sustain on plain strings is way down. Cabinet drop is noticeable on un-pedalled strings when 1st two pedals are mashed (E9). When strummed unplugged, the guitar does not “bloom” very much on the E9 neck, but does on the C6.

I believe that the guitar is fighting with me on harmonics and tone on the high strings. It now sounds more like my old Super~Pro than an Emmons push pull!

The decline has occurred gradually over the last half year or so. Temperature varies in the Eagles Club, where the steel lives until I take it out for the occasional one-nighter with another band.

What I have tried

I loosened all (aluminum) neck screws equally, then pushed down on the necks as I struck harmonics at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets (no bar). When I found places that improved the tone when pushed, I tightened the screws under that area. The screws at both ends are a bit tighter then those in the middle.

I have tried raising and lowering the Lawrence XLR-16 pickups and even tried tilting them with the bridge side higher. No improvement. Sustain sucks and harmonics are hard to hit and keep going.

All other screws are tight, including body to frame and bridge mounts. The anti-warp bar is in place across the front to back in the middle of the body.

Which way should I go with the neck screws? Tighter or looser all around? Tighter in the middle than the ends? If I start with the screws all the way tight, how much would you recommend loosening each pair?

I am trying to get back the classic push pull tone and harmonics like John Hughey or Buddy Emmons had. I play classic Country at a local Eagles club and outlaw Country with another band on Fridays when they can afford the extra man. Any recommendations for adjustments will be appreciated.

My amps are a Nashville 400 at the Flint Eagles and a lighter Nashville 112 on the one-nighters. I use Goodrich electronic volume pedals. One I bought from you, the other from Bob Moss. I have a buffer plugged into the end of the guitar, which I built, which provides 1 meg ohm in and 10k out. Nothing in the effects chain affects the tone directly. I go from the guitar to the volume pedal to the amp, then feed the effects using the first patch loop. They include the Bobro I got from you. I use it every night, on multiple songs.

Wiz Feinberg, Pedal Steel Guitarist Extraordinaire!
www.wiztunes.com

I am a firm believer in my answer in the fact that every screw and nut and bolt on a steel guitar has a purpose. The purpose is to hold something together or to make the guitar perform as well as it can under many different circumstances. Because of this I’ll say that almost every nut, bolt and screw on a steel guitar should be as tight as possible without being in danger of stripping or breaking.

Yes, there are some in the world that feel that different tensions on these things in different places will improve the tone if left loose. If it does affect the tone it will not be in a favorable way and I feel all these ideas should be discarded. Let these individuals that think they need to take your guitar, charge you $200 to loosen up various screws on the neck and so on should technically be put in jail as far as I’m concerned.

Put your guitar together the way it was designed to be put together. If you’re having trouble with sustain, try new Cobra Coil strings, check your cords and volume pedal and you should end up being okay.

Several people have called or asked me via email what they have to tear down, unplug or disconnect when they go on break after a set in a club or go home at night after the gig. My answer is turn off nothing when you go on break except anything that might cause the guitar to feedback when you’re in the middle of a cup of coffee seven tables.

As you know, many volume pedals work so easy that a good stomp by someone walking across the floor or someone tripping on your volume pedal cable can cause your volume pedal to go all the way down. When this happens I think you know what can go on from there. Of course, if you have a tube amp, put it on standby.

When you go home in the evening or leave the stage for long periods of time, it’s a very good idea to turn everything off and possibly even disconnect one of your cords and put it in the back of your amp. Even better yet, unplug the amplifier so the janitor in the club won’t be trying to play steel when you’re not there.

You tube amp players need to keep the smallest amount of time on your tubes as possible. Tubes are kind of like an old electric light bulb, they deteriorate over time and can be pretty expensive to replace. When it comes to tube amplifiers, steel players generally don’t really care for them because of the problems that can invite.

Some guys absolutely love them as I do myself if they sound good. There are some tube amps that sound absolutely horrible and some that are absolutely wonderful. Just like transistors, there are some transistor amps that are horrifyingly bad and there are some that just sound better than anything in the world. It’s not the tube or the transistor that is determining good or bad, but the total design concept of the amp.

The thing I don’t like about tubes are their undependability compared to transistors. The weight of the transformer in tube amps makes the amp very close to impossible to move around. A hundred watt tube amp will probably weight more than your car, but a hundred watt transistor amp will only weigh twenty to forty pounds.

Several people that I know love the Fender Twin 12 tube amp or the Peavey Delta Blues. I agree they are both good sounding vacuum tube amplifiers, but when you figure all the problems that a vacuum tube can give you, the transistor is probably the better choice for your rig.

Just a reminder that I’m giving you free shipping within the continental U.S. on any guitar you buy during the months of January and February.

See our monthly specials at … www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Hello fans and fellow players,

I just talked to the Jackson Guitar Company on the phone and the president, David Jackson said he’s excited about the new guitar they have coming out and to be looking for across the board great deals on any new Jackson guitars sold through dealers. The new guitar I’ve been talking to David about for several years now appears as though it’s going to be a genuine little monster. Light weight, inexpensive and very affordable with all the professional amenities.

Since I am a Mullen dealer also, this wonderful little company is also coming out with a new cable operated steel guitar. I’m very much looking forward to seeing all the differences in these two new steel guitars. Mullen has hardly ever done anything wrong, always designed and built great steel guitars. Between these two great builders and the very successful GFI company, we should have the entire gamut totally covered.

The good thing here is we are looking forward to our next big manufacturer’s party for the public which will be showing off these guitars for all you folks that are Nashville’s greatest friends. Anybody who is interested in new guitars and new designs and anything that is pushing our little world forward is welcome to attend. I’m sure there will be plenty of great food, astounding steel guitar players and elbow rubbing between all steel guitar players and the builders.

The last party we threw three years ago was extremely successful with Nashville star singers, players and many steel players from across the United States that helped us eat all the great food which unfortunately we had some left over at the end of the day. Be looking for a notice coming out on this soon.

Again I am being asked questions, some of the most common ones I’ll do my best to answer. These few questions that I would like to answer concern my first learning episodes. In the very beginning of course, I listened to a lot of the radio. I always had a quarter or so to listen to any good steel I found on the jukebox providing my Vespa motor scooter didn’t need a fill-up.

Remember the story I told you all once about Buddy Emmons having to loan me a 0.70 guitar string to use instead of a brake cable for me to be able to get home on my first visit to hearing him play? I needed this string desperately to operate the rear brakes on my scooter as I had about 25 miles of drive home through Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. It was extremely dangerous to do it with no brakes in heavy traffic.

But instead of putting the string on my scooter, I put it on my steel guitar when I got home. That shows you what a Buddy Emmons fan I was that first day. It’s amazing what a fourteen year old kid will do.

My father managed the music store in downtown Norfolk and that got me discounts on 45 rpm single records. So anything that was exceptionally good, I saved my school lunch money and bought it. When I was learning to play, there were no teaching CDs, tab books or DVDs.

Some of the great records that I bought in that era were everything Jerry Byrd had out on Mercury, Chet Atkins had out on RCA, Merle Travis on Capitol, Bud Isaacs on what Webb Pierce had out and of course, the incredible Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Steel guitar players didn’t really help each other back in those days. As a matter of fact, every steel player seemed to be totally jealous of anybody else learning anything and wouldn’t help a fellow player out to save his life. Nobody would even tell how they tuned their guitar. Looking back I can’t see how steel guitar got started at all.

I would try to play along with Johnny Sibert, Don Helms, Jerry Byrd and many of the other Nashville steel players. Wow! What fun! Then I started hearing a rash of great west coast players that were working with the 8 to 12 piece western swing bands.

Then I saw pictures of double and triple neck steel guitars and when I heard my first Webb Pierce recording with pedal guitar, the rest of my life was doomed. I knew I had been put here on Earth for steel guitar.

Jamming and playing in a band and joining little country bands around town definitely did me a world of good. Of course, when I put my first pedal on my guitar, that exposed me to harmonies, triads and the beginning of elementary chords. I was serious from day one and was familiar with about all the players and their styles. Even listening to lead guitar players such as Chet, Merle and Les helped my playing a lot.

I loved the great old Jerry Byrd style, then Bud Isaacs stole my heart and of course Walter Haines, then Buddy Emmons with their very fast C6th playing warped my head pretty seriously.

I always had a steel guitar that held me back in the beginning. This is one reason I have this steel guitar store now. I want to help everybody I can to get a good steel guitar that will make a good player out of them. I’m very serious about voicing opinions on guitars for all these reasons. If I don’t feel like I’ve sold you something that is going to help you and be good for you for a good while, I’d rather not sell it to you.

I see so many people that have made what I feel are serious mistakes in buying a guitar from Ebay, Craigslist or a neighbor. Some of these guitars are so bad that they will do nothing but discourage a new player totally.

Remember, steel guitar is not one of those instruments that falls under the old adage, “you get what you pay for”. This is not really true as sometimes it’s possible to get a great guitar for very little money and other times, no matter how many thousands you spend, you can end up with a piece of junk.

Why I’m here is reason enough to use me as I have been buying, building and playing steel guitar professionally for many years. Helping a new player or older player is my deal totally.

There are many methods to learn to play. Steel guitar is written out in many of them. What do I recommend? Tab? Notes? Just using my ear? Getting a personal instructor? Or what? The answer to these questions is, we are all different and we all learn in different ways.

I had a real good ear for picking things up when I was beginning. I would hear something I liked and look for it over and over until I found it on the neck of the guitar and then play it over and over. Some of my first songs were from Jerry Byrd’s instrumental albums.

I realize many learning players out there are doing the same thing with my CDs. If I get a phone call at the store and a newer player tells me that they are going to be using my CDs for learning, I would discount these CDs deeply as I do to most of the readers of my tips sheets.

The big message I’m trying to deliver to each and every one of you is I’m here for you. If I’m not helping somebody to learn to play in one way or another, I’m not doing what I was put here for. So call me, email me and I’ll do anything I can to help your playing and love for steel guitar.

Just a reminder that I’m giving you free shipping within the continental U.S. on any guitar you buy during the months of January and February.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend of all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Hello fellow players,

Here we are the 9th of the new year. Where has time gone? The year is flying by. I’m looking for this year to be another good one, being a little shocked at how good last year was. A lot of the nay-sayers have said how they thought it was definitely going to be a very poor year.

Now we are facing all the fatalists that say December 21st of this year is going to be the end of civilization on this planet. How long have we been hearing that? If it’s the end it doesn’t matter, but don’t quit your playing job because I’ll probably be writing to you in January of 2013.

We were mentioning food in the last newsletter. There is a place where the steel guitar club of northern Tennessee meets on the second Tuesday of every month. It’s called Steamboat Bill’s. It is owned by a true Cajun from the south coast. Many people in this area like it very much.

I can speak highly of the gumbo, either shrimp or pork and chicken. However, the crayfish is probably great too. I don’t know as I will never eat anything that much uglier than I am. It would be a good place for you to try if you come to Hendersonville to eat. It’s on the water about a mile from the store here and has great ambiance and atmosphere.

I have a friend from Ashtabula, Ohio that won’t come within 400 miles of Nashville without eating there. Stan Cosper is a dear friend from his Navy days in Norfolk, Virginia and is quite a connessoir of oceanic food.

I still have some big plans to have an open house here at the store and invite some steel guitar builders to meet and see Nashville’s new players eye to eye and talk about new ideas and things that are coming down the chute.

Speaking of new ideas, I mentioned David Jackson doing a new steel guitar using cables and I’m all for it, however I am also for something I’ve learned from the automobile companies in this country and that is the more parts a company can make their products have in common, the easier it will be to find parts for certain guitars as time goes by.

For instance, if we had at least four or five companies that used the same bell cranks, tuning keys, pickups, same scale fretboards etc. then the easier it would be to keep our guitars perfectly playable. Plus the manufacturers could benefit from mass buying and make guitars less expensively.

You will notice that pretty well all steel guitars use the same style and thread size steel guitar legs these days. There aren’t but about three different styles of tuning keys so many of these items already being standardized among brands. You can see where manufacturers can save some money.

Did you realize that there is only one manufacturer making door handles for automobiles coming out of Detroit? And the Ford glass plant manufactures windows and windshields for about every brand of car made in this country. Of course, we all know how universal tires are.

So just think about how wonderful it would be if steel guitar manufacturers would get together and make their guitars a little bit more uniform. We could still have uniqueness in many ways.

The Camaro and the Mustang are two different cars regardless of door handles being made by the same company, tires being made by only three or four companies, all headlights being made by three or four companies.

Strings, fretboards, tuning keys. So the next time you hear about a revolutionary new steel guitar made in the outback of Pago-Pago, don’t run right out and buy one, then call me in three months for parts.

I’m seeing many people today buy weird, off brand guitars off eBay that barely work. They call me for parts that they would have no chance of ever finding. Everything will have to be custom machined and when I tell them this, their reply usually is, “Yeah, but look how much money I saved.”

Remember, the harder a steel guitar is to build, the harder it’s going to be to find parts for them. The same with the more rare a steel guitar is, the less use it will have in being a professional workhorse. You don’t have to have an Emmons pushpull, however there are several guitars today that sound very good that have good parts interchangeability.

Of course, how many guitars a company has sold can have a big bearing on easy serviceability to all. If you’d like to have a list of which guitars have sold the most, let me know. It can make you a happy steel guitar owner in the future.

Yes, there I was worrying about steel guitar becoming obsolete and extinct and seeing the piano stores in town doing what I think is a great business. But I’m seeing now that this isn’t true. A couple of letters ago I touched on new piano sales being so bad. Upright pianos, spinets and not selling as well as the big grand pianos.

In this strange world of music, we are witnessing the staple of all music, the piano, going through hard times and the change that no one would have ever thought possible a few years ago. I found this video on YouTube to be interesting

Mott Music – Doc Talk

And here is steel guitar still being manufactured and fresh thinkers like the Jackson family still moving upward and onward. Let’s hope that steel guitar has got the future that I think it has. It seems pretty obvious that it has as even I am seeing steel guitar players come from the ranks of pianists.

The world of music is not a contest between piano and steel guitar but how well each are played. Piano has been around longer and it has developed incredible players. Steel guitar only having been moving forward since the 1950′s but having made some tremendous jumps lately, will be nipping at the heels of great music very soon. The pros and cons of both can be debated for years, but at least steel guitar is getting into the contest.

As we all know, this can be a terrible shame, but I’m glad to see steel guitar doing well in the middle of the downswing of other instruments. Gibson standard guitar company seems to be doing very well and I’m hoping always will. I will be touching more in the future on different musical instruments and how they are faring in this world of tough economic times.

For now let me give you free shipping within the continental U.S. on any guitar you buy during the months of January and February. Outside of the lower 48, we’ll figure the difference and save you whatever we can. And during these long, cold winter evenings ahead of us, I encourage you to sit down behind your steel guitar and practice, practice, practice.

See our monthly specials at … www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

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Hendersonville, TN. 37075
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