Hello fellow players,
Well here we go. Another year, a brand new one ahead of it and a worn out one behind it. Let me start off by apologizing about my statement concerning there being a rumor that Red Rhodes was involved in Mesa Boogie in the beginning.
The early Fender amplifiers were a very straight ahead standard design which was used by many companies. It was very easy to use, build and modify. As a matter of fact, I’ve done several myself so I just assumed that what I had heard was true, but Randy Smith should be getting all the credit it seems.
I do know for sure that the Standel amplifiers were of a totally different design and used horizontal stabilizer tubes from the television sets of the day for amplification. There seems to be many ways to skin a cat, referring to Caterpillar tractors of course.
My appreciation for all of you players and especially Steve Hinson knows no bounds. I am very aware that we have some very brilliant guitar amplifier builders on my newsletter list. This impresses me very much. I just wish all of you lived here in Hendersonville.
As far as brand new steel guitar companies coming or going, the only news that I have is that Jackson is planning to do some major expansion and may possibly come out with the long rumored cable steel guitar which I certainly hope is true since cables are very quiet, very strong and inexpensive to build and I know they do their job perfectly as long as it is a well designed system. The day of the rattlely old rods may be over.
I remember as a little kid my father pulling our Cessna 140 up into a stall and hearing the cable rattling and banging against the fuselage and the airplane started buffeting just before it broke into the nose down attitude, but no matter what happened, the cables always worked perfectly.
I love the rod system on the Bigsby and Domeland, however the way they were put together on the Fenders left a lot to be desired. I can hardly wait to see what David Jackson is doing for us on his new guitars.
Looking forward to hearing from you all this coming year and I sure hope you don’t mind hearing from me. I love you all and let’s make this a really good year coming. I’m wishing you all a very great 2012 and I hope it doesn’t end as badly as some of the great philosophers are anticipating.
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The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
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Thanks for the correction, Bobbe. I worked in Mesa’s amp factory for 5 years (1980-85) and never met Red Rhodes. Wish that I had – he was a fascinating player, always experimenting with new copedents and electronic ideas. As far as I know, he never even tried a Boogie amp.
Randall Smith invented the channel-switching concept as a Fender modification at first. It was so popular among rock players that he decided to build amps from scratch, and the legendary Boogie amp was born. He opened the Petaluma, CA, factory in the summer of 1980. I was one of the first employees hired for that location. Some Boogies are excellent steel amps. I still use one on stage to this day, for almost every gig I play.