Emmons original (Johnny Sibert w/ Carl Smith on Opry 1968)

Dave Burr · From: League City, TX

edited to complete subject line (original was truncated); it should have read: Emmons "original" (Johnny Sibert w/ Carl Smith on Opry 1968)

Take a look at the close up at 2:22 into this video... Looks like a '65(?) lacquer (rope binding) wraparound with metal necks... I don't think I've seen one like it. Am I off on the year or type of changer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Rdulu6kOk

_________________
Respectfully,
david burr

John Cadeau · From: Surrey,B.C. Canada

Carl looks very happy to have Johnny playing steel with him. And I can understand why. The Carl Smith tv show was one of my favorites, for just that reason.
John

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I'm not enough of an expert on the early Emmons mechanics to say for sure, but that's what it looks like to me too. I suppose it would be possible to use the rope marquetry with mica, though.

Either way, it sure is a great sounding steel, and a great clip of Carl and Johnny. Carl Smith rocks. Smile

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

interesting that he's playing on the back neck on a d10 with four pedals. maybe he didn't use pedals on the 6th neck.

you can see where carlene carter got her spunk, style and looks from....carl and june actually!

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

funky website activity caused me to double post...

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

There was at least one blonde lacquer Emmons D-10 Wraparound with metal necks made in 1965. Buddy Emmons is photographed playing the blonde guitar in a posed setting. The photo was used in the ad introducing the New Emmons -- the Bolt-on. There is no evidence that Buddy Emmons actually played the lacquer guitar, but he did sit behind it for a photo. It looks like there are 24 frets on the black video Emmons, Emmons had 50 of those, and thanks to Herb Steiner research it is safe to guess Emmons made its 25th D-10 by June 1965.

I know of two other lacquer D-10s with metal Wraparound necks, but I am not sure they are real Emmons guitars as they have some Ron Lashley features, such as exposed neck mounting screws, screws through the endplates through the aprons, etc. One of the guitars was purchased from Ron Lashley directly in 1966 and he stamped an invoice number in the endplate at that time.

Cartwright Thompson · Posted 10 Nov 2009 3:16 pm

Carl's Super 400 is pretty cool too. Notice the wacky double pickguards and blocked-out Gibson logo.
That tiny Emmons logo is pretty cool too.

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

That clip is killer!!! You just can't get more country than that! Cool

Doug Palmer · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Great clip. Looks like the original decal from that era. The guitar looks like black mica to me. That binding was probably a stick on added later and not at the factory. Carl looks alot like a young Bill Clinton!

Doug
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Emmons D-10, ST-10,LD-10 III, NV-112,Fender Deluxe Reverb. Authorized wholesale dealer musicorp.com!

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

Doug, stuck on to what?

Emmons painted necks with black gloss lacquer from as early as November 1964 -- in both Wraparound and Wraparound-Bolt-on configuration. Three of the first ten guitars had black lacquer necks. Emmons, or at least Ron Lashley, also made top decks out of lacquer. Why couldn't they have made an entirely black lacquer cabinet?

Here are two, one blonde and the other blonde and black, though, and both with 24 frets.

As strange as it may sound, both are guitars that I do not have.

These are different guitars. The one in the shrubbery has black lacquer top decks and is a Wraparound Bolt-on as they were made in 1964 and 1965.

Doug Palmer · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Chris, I looked at the clip again. It could be black lacquer. I have seen one, a clear black birdseye maple that Tim Carey made while working there. It actually looked grey though. That era formica wasn't as glossy as some of the newer guitars. I tried to get Ron Sr. to make a guitar with a gloss black polyester finish like on a high end grand piano, but he didn't seem interested.

Doug
_________________
Emmons D-10, ST-10,LD-10 III, NV-112,Fender Deluxe Reverb. Authorized wholesale dealer musicorp.com!

Dave Burr · From: League City, TX

Chris, What year would you place on the black wrap in the video? It looks to be a "pre" bolt on wrap. Would that make it a late '64 early '65?

Thanks for sharing the detailed info and history, you and others have worked so hard to archive, on this most important cog in the wheel of pedal steel guitar development. Smile

_________________
Respectfully,
david burr

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

Doug
I have a lot of 1964 and 1965 Emmons guitars, some with original mica, and some are glossy, and some are semi glossy. If you polish the semi glossy guitars the old mica gets glossy. It does not tun milky like the newer Formica.

It is a mistake to say that all Wraparounds are pre-Bolt-on. Emmons made Bolt-ons in the first ten guitars. I am guessing they made 36 to 40 D-10 Wraparounds but some of those were Bolt-ons on Wraparound necks.

Emmons made a number of single necks. I have three of those and just found one the other day at Al Brisco's. There seems to be a lot of single neck Wraparounds in Canada. But every single neck Wraparound I have seen uses the third Emmons numbering system -- the invoice numbers -- o they are late Wraparound. Thanks to folks like Herb Steiner we know that Emmons made 23 guitars From January 1964 through May 1965, because the second numbering system Emmons used includes the month, year and guitar number, and also a designation whether the guitar had a wood neck.

The guitars I try to collect have 24 fret fretboards. Buddy Emmons only had fifty of those made. I cannot say that Lashley put 24 fret fretboards on the first 25 guitars. I cannot say he did not damage some fretboards so they could not be used. I cannot say that before the 24 fret fretboards were depleted Lashley did not switch to 26 fret fretboards. But, 24 fret fretboards likely means 1964 to the first half of 1965.

Even if it has 26 fret fretboards, I think the Emmons in the video is a lacquer Emmons from 1965 but probably no later than October 1965. I have what is a "normal" Bolt-on from October 1965. Normal means that the neck is a Bolt-on neck with the ledge milled out to accept the axle supports. The other features of this guitar, however, or pretty much Wraparound features.

I think this video was made in 1968, which I believe is the year that Buddy Emmons' Wraparound #17 called the Blade went to Stu Basore and Buddy Emmons probably got the Rosewood Cut Tail that became the new Blade. Does that sound right, to those that have more information?

Rick Collins · From: Claremont , CA USA

Interesting!

I met Johnny Sibert when I was a boy. I was surprised he would spend so much time talking to me.
I'm reasonably certain he recorded the original "Hey Joe" with a Fender Dual Pro.
Of course, he played the 26" scale triple Fender on most of Carl Smith's later songs, now in the SGHOF.
"Hey Joe" was the first tune I learned to play in the A-6th tuning.

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