Pushpull encounter

Mark Tomeo · Posted 7 Oct 2002 6:28 am

I played a show this weekend with the Philadelphia-area band Redd i Ramblers, who do an eclectic mix of bluegrass, old-timey flatpicking and Celtic music. The meeting point was the guitar player's house where he took a moment to show me his newest acquisition, the Emmons original pictured below which may have an interesting player association.
It's all wood with wooden necks, flat-back, bolt-on changers, 9 pedal & 7 knee, wide cast pedals and black knee levers, tobacco sunburst (brown to black) lacquer finish with light-and-dark wood marquetry inlay, Lawrence blade humbuckers, Kluson button tuners, brown and white screw-on logo badge, black flocking, and white-lined fretboards. The serial number, if that's what it is, is 1965D stamped into the extrusion below the C6 changer. I could find no other numbers and there's nothing else with it to indicate the age or previous owner.
Its condition is extremely used, to say the least - this guitar has some serious mileage and was clearly heavily played and traveled. The lacquer is chipped along all the leading edges, the metal is cloudy, one pedal rod is missing, there are numerous bar dings and chips between the necks, the E9 fretboard is warped and scotch taped at the changer end, the logo sticker on the front of the pedal rack is clear plastic - the word "Emmons" and the chevron have completely worn away - and it's filthy, filthy, filthy, with several thick circular dirt spots that I suspect started out as beer drops. At the same time, the C6 neck and pedals do not appear to have been played very much at all. The three E9 pedals are shiny and worn; the six C6 pedals exhibit almost no wear.

Mystery axe:

The Redd i guitarist works in the financial industry with an accountant who was formerly employed by a Nashville firm that did bookkeeping for country music acts. A client gave the accountant this guitar before he left Nashville for Pennsylvania, telling him that it had once belonged to a professional steeler. Between the 9 & 7 setup and the wear and tear, I have no problem believing this was once a pro's guitar. The accountant played it for four or five years before getting married and starting a family. The steel has been packed away in his attic for about the last 10 years.
The E9 neck sounds great and plays OK despite the fact that the strings are at least a decade old and it hasn't been adjusted or lubricated in all that time and probably longer. The pedals are set up Emmons style and the knee levers are not particularly exotic - Es to Eb, Es to F, G# to G, F# to G#, D to C#, Eb to D. I think the E to Ebs are split, with LKR lowering the 4th and RKL lowering the 8th. What I know about C6 isn't worth mentioning, but the tuning is different from what's on my LeGrande. Maybe it has the G on top instead of the D, and the pedal action seemed really stiff on the C6 side.

Bolt-on changers with Lawrence blade humbuckers:

Despite its condition, it has the clear ringing sound and high sustain that is characteristic of these guitars. It didn't seem to have that razor sharp string separation when I played 4 and 8, and 5 and 10 as pairs, but probably a fresh set of strings would fix that.

It's a flatback:

Then there is the question of what to do with it. At this point, it's on open-ended loan to the Redd i guitarist. He has done nothing except set it up and tune the E9 neck and pedals. He expects at some point that the owner will tell him just to keep it, perhaps in exchange for a nominal sum.
I wasn't sure what to advise him to do. A full-blown overhaul and cleanup by one of the pushpull experts would restore it to peak performance level and close to its original beauty. But if this turns out to be a famous player's guitar, would that be a desecration? This steel is in the precise scummy condition that it was in when it came off the road. That beer could be from Tootsies and the dust from the rafters of the Ryman. You'd never scrub a vintage tele, (those might be Merle's sweat drops!!) but the debate's never been settled as to whether old steels are vintage guitars or machines that require maintenance and repair, and are actually more valuable for having been restored.
So, suggestions are welcome. And if anyone has an idea who this steel belonged to based on the description and photos, we're interested in knowing.

Jim Eaton · From: Santa Susana, Ca

If you sent it to Mike Cass, he'll run screaming into the night because it looks just like my 75 that he restored last year and to say we had some problems getting good weather to spray the new finish is still not saying enough! LOL.
But if you do send it to Mike, you'll get back a "better-that-brand-new" guitar.
JE:-)>

Mark Tomeo · Posted 8 Oct 2002 8:31 am

Update:
I received e-mail from the gentleman who owns this guitar. It originally belonged to a player named Julian Waldman who played for Johhny Rodriguez under the name Dave Burns or Rojo. Apparently Buddy Emmons knew this guitar well...
>>>>>>>>>>>
The axe belonged to Julian Waldman a/k/a Dave Burns a/k/a "Rojo". Dave played w/ Johnny Rodriquez for about eight or nine years during the seventies and into the early eighties. He worked as Johnny Rod's band leader and played steel and guitar both live and in the studio. Dave and I grew up together in southeastern PA along w/ Ray Benson and Ruben Gosfield a/k/a "Lucky Oceans". Dave moved to Nashville in the early seventies. Dave is an excellent musician. He was classically trained on the cello but reverted to playing steel and electric guitar. He and the Big E were pretty close friends.

Ray and Ruben moved to Paw Paw, WVa w/ the rest of the Wheel. After leaving the road, Dave took a position w/ Lawrence Sound Research heading up artist relations. I moved to Nashville in 1981 and began working w/ Dave and Bill as an expert witness in Bill's lawsuit against George L. Dave left Bill and went to work for George Gruhn in 1982. Dave then moved to Hopewell, NJ in 1983 and he gave me the guitar while he was moving (as a present for helping him move). I believe that he played this axe and a red colored Sho-Bud on most of his gigs. The guitar was ordered from the factory according to Dave's specifications (hence the wood necks as Dave was primarily a Sho-Bud player) as an artist endorsement deal and I believe he and I were the only "owners" of the instrument. However, I really don't consider myself an owner as I never really played the guitar much. The pickups were hand wound by Bill Lawrence (real name Willi Stich for those trivia buffs) for that specific guitar. (Another trivia fact: Nona Emmons, Buddy's son Larry's wife actually did the majority of the winding. She worked at Bill's Mt. Juliet factory and of course Larry played bass for John Anderson.) The guitar has been in the case since I moved away from Nashville in 1987. I left it "as is" and never even cleaned it up.

The last time I spoke w/ Dave was in NYC in 1996. He was a VP w/ SONY/CBS and had just gotten a promotion to head up a technology area. I believe he and his wife Jeanie still live in Hopewell and I know he was doing some side work with Maria Muldaur who was his neighbor. Dave and I used to drive to the St. Louis convention together every year and he was one of my real good friends. Through Dave, I came to know and spend time with many great players. I am a big fan of the steel, but never mastered it. I learned just enough to switch off from guitar and make the band sound country. I have owned four instruments in addition to this one: a green single neck MSA, a student model single neck Emmons, a white Marlen double neck and a blue single neck Emmons push-pull w/ an aluminum neck. I was primarily a Tele player and my favorite axe is a '53 (s/n 2134) that I got from Gruhn's while Dave worked there.
>>>>>>>>>
So there it is...I think I'll advise my friend the Redd i guitarist to get it overhauled and get practicing.

Jeremy Steele · From: Princeton, NJ USA

Hey Mark,

I jammed with Dave Waldman a couple of summers ago in Skillman, NJ.. he was playing a Franklin S-10 thru a Music Man amp...great guy, and a great player.

Glenn Austin · From: Montreal, Canada

Interesting story! Thank you.

Drew Howard · From: 48854

Mark,

Wow! Thanks for sharing the story and pictures. A great read, and for all the weathering it had the Emmons was still easy on the eyes!

cheers,

Drew

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www.newslinkassociates.com
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Robert Rogers · From: Manchester,TN

That guitar reminds me of one that Weldon had In the mid to early 1980's.Beautiful guitar Mark!I always wanted one like that.You guys remember the guitar that Im talking about..dont you?
Robert

[This message was edited by Robert Rogers on 08 October 2002 at 10:47 PM.]

John Lacey · From: Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada

Hey Mark, I also ran into Dave when we opened up for George Jones at the Cave in Vancouver about 1980. He was playing a red Sho-Bud at the time. Nice cat.

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