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Topic: Bigsby,Sho-Bud,Emmons |
Michael Dulin
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2009 1:54 pm |
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| Bigsby,Sho-Bud,Emmons P/P...the great ones. Please tell if they are so great, why aren't the great players still playing one of them? |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 12 Mar 2009 2:09 pm
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Some do. (I suppose that depends on your definition of great)
I consider guys like JayDee and others great, but I'll leave you to your own short list.
I'm certainly not a 'great' but I prefer a newer guitar with more sophisticated mechanics for most gigs. I've always got a push-pull and a Sho-Bud in reserve. The vintage vibe is great but comes with some compromises, mechanically speaking. I suspect that most guys who earn their living with their guitars feel similarly.
_________________
Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
My CD's: 'I've Got Friends in COLD Places' - 'Pedal Steel Guitar'
2021 Rittenberry S/D-12 8x7, 1976 Emmons S/D-12 7x6, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Quilter ToneBlock 202 TT-12 |
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Michael Dulin
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2009 12:30 pm Bigsby,Sho-Bud,Emmons
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| Yes Larry, I would agree that JayDee is one of the great ones. What I'm getting at is that I see so many posts about "tone to the bone" from this or that guitar,esp.Sho-Buds...that it makes think so many players are missing it. Almost all pro guitars being built today are capable of good tone, without the mechanical and tuning issues of the past. E for example, I've seen him in person many times playing many guitar brands. He always sounds like Buddy no matter what he's playing. Same goes for me, I sound like me. I improve by better technique not by buying a different guitar. You can't buy tone. If your steel has good resonance or 'sustain' you have what you need to get good tone. It's up to the player to develop it. I've owned 2 Buds and a friends I played occasionally...all 3 were dull in sustain. I understand the 'vintage vibe' thing but apart from that I think many ,new players esp.,are selling themselves short by paying so much money out for these 'greats' when there are so many great steels out there that are being built today with much more precision and consistency.MD |
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John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 14 Mar 2009 1:05 pm
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| Quote: |
Please tell if they are so great, why aren't the great players still playing one of them?
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I guess I'll say it one more time.
If 95% of people agree that home baked bread tastes better, then how come most people buy their bread at the store ?
-John |
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Cliff Kane
From:
the late great golden state
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Posted 14 Mar 2009 1:10 pm
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They don't make them any more. You can't order a new one. They are mechanically outdated for the "state-of-the-art" set-ups. Lots of people, including pros, love them and play them. I would guess that you see less of them than people actually have because of the risks of the road and performing. Do guitar players bring their choice and precious vintage guitars on the road when they also have access to perfectly good current model guitars that will work just as well?
I agree that the contemporary guitars are excellent, that they play great, and they surely are capable of great tone; but as great as the tone of the best of these new guitars, they still don't sound like the old guitars. Same thing with vintage amps. The best of the new amps will not sound like a great vintage amp, but who is going to risk his or her tweed Fender Pro or Standel when they can get by with a replacable contemporary amp? The cool guy with the Bigsby, that's who!  |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 15 Mar 2009 10:31 am
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| There's less than a hundred Bigsby steels in the world, that's why you don't see them played around much! |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064
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Posted 15 Mar 2009 1:09 pm
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One corrolary question might be, "if all the great players are now playing new and late model guitars, why aren't they here on the Forum talking about them?"
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2009 3:27 pm
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My late 74/early 75 Shobud S-10, 3 and 6 does everything I could ask for. No Franklin pedal, though I could put that change on a lever I suppose. It stays at home though. Brightman borrowed it to play the county fair, and I chewed my fingernails down waitin' to get it back!
Then, again,,,I'm kinda old fashioned when it comes to steel. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2009 1:03 pm
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Ya gotta love Herb Steiner! (And I do!)
| Quote: |
| One corrolary question might be, "if all the great players are now playing new and late model guitars, why aren't they here on the Forum talking about them?" |
AND I agree totally!
I also believe the folowing are more myth than fact.
1. "It is ALL in the hands,"
2. "A great player sounds the same on any guitar."
3. "A good player can make any guitar sound like any other guitar."
4. "ALL you need is 3 and 4!".
5. "It's ALL in the Pickups!"
6. "The sound of an un-amped guitar has no bearing on what comes out of the amp when it is turned on."
7. "Ya git a LOT more power when the guitar has NO tone control!"
8. "A match box makes a guitar sound a 1,000 times better."
9. "A Volume pedal with no active pot sounds MUCH better."
10. "If you match the control settings on an amp you own, with those on another amp (of the same model and make), it will sound the same.
11. "Those that say a P/P sounds better is ONLY an opinion and is purely subjective."
12. "A black guitar sounds better." 
14. "A lacquer guitar is prettier than a mica guitar." 
15. "It's ALL in the hands!" Oops I said that already, dint I?. Sorry 
I believe the following:
1. It is NOT all in the hands.
2. Different guitars do sound different, even with the same hands.
3. The tone control on a guitar has NO affect on the power whether is is switched in or out. It simply changes the tone.
4. Except for a tiny fall off in the highest of the highs (easily corrected with the treble control), the improvement in sound using "other" cables is minimal (or non existant) when subjected to triple blind tests, UNLESS the length is considerably different.
5. An Emmons' P/P DOES sound better than any other PSG ever built, by more than just a few "opinionated" players.
6. An All/Pull PSG has better mechanics than a P/P.
7. 14 hole bellcranks DO allow a guitar to have an almost infinite capability to "time" ALL the pulls on a given pedal or knee lever, which in turn causes all pulls to start and stop at the same time, which in turn does make the "feel" of those pedals and knee levers better.
8. An attaching point closer to the pivot point of a pedal (concerning its pull rod) DOES provide a longer, but easier, pull on that pedal. And vice versa.
9. Different PU's can make a decided difference in the tone of a given PSG, EVEN when played by the SAME hands.
and last but not least..............
10. All PSG makers that do not build a modern PSG where ALL strings are dead "co-planar" flat across the tops of the strings at the nut, "ought to be rounded up and shot like dawgs"! 
Oops I retract that last statement, for fear of....
Notice, I did say at the beginning, "I believe". And that means it is IMHO 
carl
_________________
A broken heart + † = a new heart. |
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John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 16 Mar 2009 2:52 pm
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Carl, 15 out of 15. Very good.
(of course, that's imho too)
-John |
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Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2009 11:12 am
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| Notice, I did say at the beginning, "I believe". And that means it is IMHO |
...without the humility:
I hereby assert, the list of statements by the one, Mr. Carl Dixon, are absolute; and they should be apparent to anyone who really pays attention. |
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Michael Dulin
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 18 Mar 2009 7:25 am
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| Thanks for the response. I agree and I'm glad it was stated...all guitars sound different,and it's not all in the hands,true. Old guitars have a different sound than most of the new ones today. Since tone is mostly subjective in the view of the player or listener it's a good thing it's 'adjustable' but it's still pretty hard to buy it.MD |
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