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Topic: Converting a pedal steel to a console steel? |
Hal Braun
From:
Eustis, Florida, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 9:32 am |
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I have been looking for a single neck 8 - 10 string console steel, and they are either hard to find, vintage, or new/expensive.
In that search, I notice a lot of "starter" pedal steels in the $500 range (or less) and was wondering if there is any disadvantage to taking one of the starter pedal steels and turning it into just a console steel with no pedals or knee levers?
My search of that topic on the forums did not turn up much..
Thanks for your ideas/opinions.. |
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Abe Levy
From:
California, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 9:44 am
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| I happened to be watching a documentary on Pink Floyd this morning and I noticed that David Gilmour plays an old fender 800 (I think - double eight pedal steel) but without the pedals hooked up. Sounds pretty good on Dark Side of the moon. Of course that's probably not the sound you're looking for - but I think works pretty well. I have a fender 400 that I often play without the pedals as well - c6th. Hope that helps. |
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Hal Braun
From:
Eustis, Florida, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 11:53 am
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Actually.. I LOVE that sound.. and I have a 1951 Dual 8 with the trapezoid pickups.. but when looking for a single neck, people are looking for a premium for those Fender 400's, etc (plus I kind of hate to mess up a "relic").
I was thinking in terms of like a Carter Starter, a Shobud Maverick, the MSA starter.. things like that.. in other words a "cabinet" built type pedal steel that would gutted without bothering my conscience (or wallet) at all  |
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Tom Franke
From:
Arizona, USA
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 12:28 pm
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A Sho-Bud Maverick makes an excellent non-pedal steel. The legs are just aluminum tubing, so you can easily replace them with longer ones from the hardware store for stand-up playing. I used to play in a rack-a-billy band with one. I tuned it E G# B D E G# B C# E G# and it worked great.
The Maverick is inferior as a pedal steel, so converting it for non-pedal playing makes a lot of sense.
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-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 21 May 2011 12:31 pm
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| I saw Jerry Byrd playing in Hawaii in 1987. He was standing up, playing a double neck Shobud, no Pedals, no Knee levers. You just have to adapt to non-pedal tunings and understand Slants. |
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Hal Braun
From:
Eustis, Florida, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 12:47 pm
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Tom, thanks for the link.. some interesting thoughts there.. did you ever move forward with the idea? I would think it would be a simple thing to drill a stainless plate mounted under the top to turn the pedal steel to a "through the body" stringing (thus "connecting" it to the body if you thought you needed more "sustain", but hey.. thats what compressor pedals and amp gain are for .
Not sure how the Maverick strings up, but there are a boatload of them out on Craigslist for $500 or so.. (none on the forum at the moment)
Thanks for all the ideas! |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 1:22 pm
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FYI, Jerry Byrd's Sho-Bud was custom made for him. It wasn't ever a pedal steel.
A Maverick has plenty of sustain. The changer fingers are 1-piece, and they have body contact.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Ryan Barwin
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 21 May 2011 4:26 pm
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I have a short-scale Fender 400 that I turned into a console. It was in pretty rough shape, so I refinished it in red and took off the cable mechanism...now it's a nice non-pedal steel. I'm not concerned about devaluing it, or ruining a vintage instrument since there's lots of 400's around and it wasn't in that great shape to begin with.
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www.pedalsteel.ca |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 21 May 2011 4:58 pm
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| b0b wrote: |
A Sho-Bud Maverick makes an excellent non-pedal steel. The legs are just aluminum tubing, so you can easily replace them with longer ones from the hardware store for stand-up playing...
The Maverick is inferior as a pedal steel, so converting it for non-pedal playing makes a lot of sense. |
I bet that the earlier pre-Baldwin Mavericks would be really nice (I had one of the later models with the "contact paper" cabinet).
Thanks for the suggestion!
Steve Ahola
P.S. So how did the Maverick string spacing work out for non-pedal? If I had another Maverick I think I would make a custom bridge, tailpiece and nut to match up to Jason Lollar's 8 string Console Grande pickup... |
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Tom Franke
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 6:17 pm
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| Hal, I haven't followed through with a project yet, but I haven't completely abandoned the idea. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 21 May 2011 10:05 pm
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| Steve Ahola wrote: |
| So how did the Maverick string spacing work out for non-pedal? If I had another Maverick I think I would make a custom bridge, tailpiece and nut to match up to Jason Lollar's 8 string Console Grande pickup... |
Bar slants on adjacent strings were hard to do. We weren't playing real sensitive music - it was high energy rock-a-billy. I had a few skip-grip slants but most of the stuff was right on the fret lines.
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-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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