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Topic: Speedy West on video |
Guy Cundell
From:
More idle ramblings from South Australia
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 12 Dec 2009 11:00 pm Now we know what YOU do in your spare time! |
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THANKS for sharing this discovery......with the rest of us.
A great performance! Was that one of those Electra-Harps or what?
Did his Bigsby come before or after this guitar? |
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Russ Wever
From:
Kansas City
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Posted 12 Dec 2009 11:29 pm
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| Quote: |
| Was that one of those Electra-Harps or what? |
It was an "or what" -
a Fender 1000 -
after his Bigsby. |
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Walter Stettner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Cartwright Thompson
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John Lacey
From:
Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 13 Dec 2009 4:48 am
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| That's a great clip! Now I know where Kayton Roberts got some of his licks! |
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 13 Dec 2009 10:03 am
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Speedy achieved his Mellow Tone by picking the strings quite far from the pickup. 
ROGER |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 13 Dec 2009 9:35 pm
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| Well I'm going to get Hell for this ! This was Speedy playing a nice solo without his signature special effects. Without the special effects Speedy was in the same category as many Steel Players of this era. But, Speedy had personality and knew how to sell whatever he was playing. I doubt if Kayton Roberts picked any of his licks from Speedy, Kayton was his own man with his own style from which many of us picked up in our own playing. It sounded like Speedy played his solo on an A6th neck on his Fender 1000. After Speedy started representing the Fender Company he changed to playing Fender Steels. A lot of us back in this era picked down the neck from the pickups to get a better tone than resting your hand in back of the pickups. O.K, I will take my lumps ! |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 13 Dec 2009 9:58 pm
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No lumps for you, Billy.
Your tone was the best!
I have enjoyed your work since the 78 rpm days.
Blake |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 13 Dec 2009 11:12 pm
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Love Speedy....also, I'm a fan of ALVINO REY (r.i.p). I loved his version of HINDUSTAN which you can find on that YouTUBE page. Alvino was a master of harmonics. I seem to recall there was a discussion on the Forum about how he did his talking guitar routine on songs like St.Louis Blues....was that ever resolved ?  |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Andrew Roblin
From:
Various places
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 2:53 am
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Great clip, Guy...
Great discussion, guys.
Thanks. |
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Cartwright Thompson
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 3:12 am
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| Speedy learned a lot from Alvino. Check out the bar slams and boo-wahs in the St.Louis Blues clip from 1944. |
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Rich Peterson
From:
Moorhead, MN
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 9:09 am
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| Actually, Alvino used a "throat speaker," held against her neck and vibrating like vocal cords, while she mouthed the words into a vocal mic. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 9:36 am
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| Quote: |
| ...a "throat speaker," held against her neck and vibrating like vocal cords, while she mouthed the words into a vocal mic. |
...so the sound came through the PA? ...not through Alvino's amp? I'm curious to know how it all worked, but I guess we'll never know for sure.
Here's a clip of Alvino's talking steel guitar. The good stuff starts around 1:52 ---> Click
There's an edit in the clip when Alvino switches over to "normal" steel guitar sounds (2:34) which leads me to believe that the talking steel sections required a different setup. Evidently the two sections (talking steel and normal tone) were recorded separately and edited together. Maybe he used his amp for normal tones and the PA/mic for the talk effect. Maybe the talking steel section was been prerecorded in a studio w/band and singer and they "lip-synced" that entire section. We'll never know. It sure sounds good though. Alvino's boo-wah tone control technique is awesome.
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 10:08 am
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| Billy Tonnesen wrote: |
| Well I'm going to get Hell for this ! This was Speedy playing a nice solo without his signature special effects. Without the special effects Speedy was in the same category as many Steel Players of this era. But, Speedy had personality and knew how to sell whatever he was playing. |
Here's Speedy some special fx from the same show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D-KCCmefws
_________________
Primitive Utility Steel |
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Bill Ladd
From:
Wilmington, NC, USA
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 12:36 pm
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| Guess that answers that about what knob is on the side of Speedy's guitar!! |
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Guy Cundell
From:
More idle ramblings from South Australia
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 14 Dec 2009 3:40 pm
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| The knob on the end of Speedy's Guitar was a Tone Control with a fast taper from Bass to Treble. The "knob" was an elongated fender knob with a rough finish where your hand could not easily slide off in the middle of a doo-wah. Pretty much all of us Steel players in this era had such a control but did not use it as much as Speedy did. |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:09 pm About Speedy's TONE knob.......................
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Are you guys saying, that after all the debate here on the Forum, (both pro and con), that the question of what that knob on the end of Speedy's guitar actually is.....
is OVER!!!!????
You mean that after I've changed all of my old timer thinking, (giving up on the tone control theory like I used on the BIGSBY for decades.......)
.....that the button actually IS NOT AN ELECTRONIC CUT-OFF SWITCH as many of the more knowledgeable, self-proclaimed experts have heretofore convinced this audience????
I never cease to be amazed! |
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Bill Ladd
From:
Wilmington, NC, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:56 pm
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 2:22 pm
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Right on Ray Montee:
The trouble is, after wer'e gone everyone will still swear it was an off and on switch. I watched Speedy use this technique too many times and know it was in his hand, not a switch. |
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Gary Walker
From:
Morro Bay, CA
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Posted 20 Dec 2009 5:47 pm
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| I saw Speedy some time later than this clip and he was playing the Fender 1000 after years of Bigsby. He and Roy Lanham were at the Ambassador Hotel in the Fender room. When Roy took a break, I got to play rhythm on Roy's Jazzmaster to Speedy's Steel Guitar Rag for a man and his son. Of course, Speedy still covered his pedals with that panel so you couldn't see what and how many he was using. He was my first steel hero and still ranks at near the top of my list. |
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Rich Peterson
From:
Moorhead, MN
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Posted 20 Dec 2009 5:59 pm
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| Oooh! Roy Lanham. Wish I could have seen him live. Awesome guitarist. |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 21 Dec 2009 3:47 pm
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Roy Lanham should be a whole separate topic under "Music". I got to know Roy when he arrived in So. Calif. with a group called the "Whiporills". Later on he became one of the "Sons of the Pioneers".
r |
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