Pedal Width and Pedal Spacing

The internet in general, because of YouTube, Facebook and computer technology in general is really giving us a place to showcase the talent and abilities we all have. I have gotten messages from people whom I have heard are really great players and then I contact them and ask them what they have done with their great playing talent, they tell me, “I just play in church or just play and record myself around the house.” The internet allows you to share your talent with the world instead of just your dog.

This is wonderfully fascinating to me because it shows me what I have suspected all along. That is that many of you are truly great players but have devoted yourselves to a great family life instead of life on the road and are using your versatile abilities to make a good living in another field.

All this computer and video steel guitar madness has proved to me in recent months that there is incredible talent from the world that we would never otherwise been aware of.

It took me a long time to warm up to computer technology, but because of the friends that I have heard play steel guitar and strangers alike, along with the vast amount of friends that I have met because of this technology, I not only have warmed up to it, but am finally embracing it whole-heartedly.

All this silly electronic weirdness has brought the great family of steel guitar much closer together and is still continuing to do so.

A subject that’s very important that has not come up very often is pedal width and pedal spacing. As most of you know, in many guitars over the years as “improvements” were made by the manufacturers, pedal widths and pedal spacing have changed. These things are governed by how many pedals you have, shoe width and the shape of the end of the pedal whether flat or rounded.

Generally speaking, the wider the pedal at the business end where you push it down, the wider the spacing between the pedals should be. Bigsby pedals are very wide and are a pretty large distance apart. The Emmons LeGrandes are narrower pedals and closer together than the older original Emmons guitars.

A big factor in how comfortable a guitar is to you when you sit down behind it is how these pedal dimensions pertain to you, your style and your foot size. I am not comfortable at all personally on a guitar with very narrow spacing. Two and a half inches apart is too close for me. Two and three quarters to three inches is much more comfortable.

I have seen Sho-Buds with the narrow pedals with wide spacing and my foot will almost go between the pedals. Most of the narrow pedal Sho-Bud guitars are very comfortable to me.

I personally really love the Emmons guitars built from ’64 to ’72. They have quarter inch wider pedal spacing and quarter inch wider pedals. These guitars are very comfortable.

I have had several guitars in the past that had pedal spacing that was too narrow. By trimming the sides of the pedal generously, I have made the guitars very playable and comfortable.

There are many little things that add up to make a steel guitar feel comfortable and feel like it’s part of you. Anytime you have a steel guitar that feels like it’s an extension of your body, you have a good guitar.

We have a new Standel boutique steel guitar amplifier for sale. This is the type that was used by such players as Maurice Anderson, Buddy Emmons, Buddy Charlton, the whole Hank Thompson band with the steel players that worked for him.

These are extremely high quality, military-grade hand-wired point to point amplifiers. This is two colored amplifier in beige and sea foam with a D-130 JB Lancing speaker. Controls panels on the front and back like the dashboard in an automobile. Has separate single input jack for.

This is the top of the line Standel amp using four 6L6GT tubes. This amplifier retails for $7900. Wholesale is $3900 and we are selling this amp at wholesale. It has the full warranty just the way it came out of the shipping crate. This is today’s finest amplifier available for steel guitar. Just like all other amplifiers, the price will always be going up. You can’t make a finer investment in the quality of your sound.

Bobbe Seymour

www.steelguitar.net
info@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

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