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Topic: Double-strung steels? |
Gary C. Dygert
From:
Frankfort, NY, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2004 9:45 am |
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I seem to remember reading a catalog in the 60's that described double-string steels, strung like a standard 12-string guitar. This seems like a tuning nightmare, with pedal changes. Am I nuts, or were there such beasts?
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No-name lap steel and reso in E6 and E7
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2004 10:34 am
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| Yes, I saw a 16 string Sho-Bud about 30 years ago. I thnk it was a double 16 but not sure anymore. It was in a Poco rehearsal room. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 30 Jun 2004 1:20 pm
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Yes, Earnest is correct. Sho~Bud made a few of these, both single and double-necked, back in the early '60s. As you suspected, Gary, they were a real bear to tune and play. Still, the somewhat dissonant sound (remember, this was long before digital tuners) could only be described as hauntingly beautiful to me, or somewhat out of tune to others, depending on your perspective.
Buddy Charleton did a few recordings w/Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn using one of these 16-string guitars. For those interested, seek out these two songs..."We're Not Kids Anymore" (probably the best), or "Our Hearts Are Holding Hands".
Especially striking on these guitars was the famous "shark-fin" tuning head, because it was almost a foot long! (Due to the 8 per side tuning keys.)
Though nothing quite duplicates the sound of these old double-strung guitars, I often use expanded octave chord harmonies (3,6,10 and 5,6,10 grips) to kind of "simulate" that sound. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2004 1:47 pm
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I saw a picture of one of those babies in Shot's place on broadway years ago. I asked about it and David told me that Buddy had played that one.
Later I got the first Shot and Buddy record album. In that album there are two songs where I believe Buddy (not sure) just might be using one of those 16 string Sho-Buds. I seem to recall that one of the songs was "On the old Ponchatrain".
The two songs in question, have a very unusual "drone" sound below the melody note. I am just wondering IF indeed those two songs on that album was done using that guitar?
Buddy?
carl |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 1 Jul 2004 4:37 pm
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REMOVED
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 26 Feb 2011 12:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 1 Jul 2004 5:13 pm
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| ...seems like there's a song on"Western Strings"with that sound...is it"Maiden's Prayer"? |
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Paul Warnik
From:
Illinois,USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2004 6:33 pm
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| Chas Smith is the current owner of the Sho-Bud nicknamed "Mothra" it is a triple neck cabinet end 16-11-11 with 11 pedals and 1 knee-the top neck is dual strung (like a mandolin) in the E9th tuning-probably the most famous useage of this was by Buddy Emmons on the tune called "Lilly Dale" |
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Tracy Sheehan
From:
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 12:35 am
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| I remember one time at the DJ convention at the Andrew Jackson hotel i believe it was around 1964 or so.I may be a few years off.Any ways a group of steel players were sitting in a circle jamming and Jimmy Day had a 20 string steel i believe it was and he wasn't playing.He was waiting for some one to bring his regular steel.He told me,i can't blow dis horn man as i had it made to do one recording and it's going to drive steel players nuts trying to figure out how i got the sound.I can only play that one song on it.LOL.Maybe B.E.will read this and remember what it was and the song he recorded with it.I realize that was a long time ago.Tracy |
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Ed Naylor
From:
portsmouth.ohio usa, R.I.P.
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 9:12 am
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| In my personal collection of Sho-Bud items I have a 16 string keyhead.I don't know how many were built, but there are lots of Sho- Bud items that were never mass produced. I also have a prototype Maverick .Ed Naylor Steel Guitar Works. |
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Fred Jack
From:
Bastrop, Texas 78602
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Posted 5 Jul 2004 3:42 pm
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| April 1,1963 Ralph Mooney recorded a song called "Slightly Used" with Wynn Stewart. On it he played a Fender that he himself had "modified".He bolted a board onto the right end of the guitar and placed four tuners on it.He went to the left end and drilled four holes and placed strings making his top four strings double.He told me he tuned them in harmony but doesn't recall exactly what.He also said that it was the last Fender that he got because it upset someone in the factory. Regards, Fred [This message was edited by Fred Jack on 05 July 2004 at 05:58 PM.] |
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