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Topic: The Turchetti Project |
Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 29 Mar 2019 11:45 am |
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With much trepidation I have accepted the task of getting one of Rico Turchetti’s guitars in at least partially playable condition.
He will be inducted—posthumously—into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame. We’d like to have the guitar there to be “played†and then put on display. I believe Chris Turchetti, one of Rico’s sons, will attend.
The guitar is a much-modified 8-string Epiphone Electra Zephyr. Right now we—an electronics guy and I—are trouble-shooting the electrics. We have replaced one pot and are trying to trace a bad ground. The instrument has volume and tone, and a conventional phone plug as an output.
By the way, The tone pot looks like a double pot . . . one pot on top of the other.
What we could really use is some kind of schematic for the electrics on the Electra. Now, the instrument may well be modified, so I’d take any diagram with a grain of salt! But maybe one of my steel guitar brothers or sisters will provide some place to start.
And I would welcome any other information about the guitar that you all could contribute, with the goal again of getting it into “strummable†condition. I’ll be attacking the foot pedals soon.
The late Eddie Cunningham wrote that the tuning was an E 6 tuning. OK: but what would the actual notes be? In other words, would the highest string be an E? Or a B: the 5th.
Jody Carver, any ideas? Herb Steiner? You guys know about this stuff; I don’t.
And I’ll be posting more photos.
Chris in Providence |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2019 1:30 pm
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That's a pedal steel? 
Erv |
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manny escobar
From:
portsmouth,r.i. usa
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Posted 30 Mar 2019 5:25 am
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| Hi Chris, I know nothing. However, Mario Depaulo(sp?) is 95 years old. He has stories/info about Rico Turchetti. I think he took lessons from him. If I see him this Sunday at the E. Greewwich, RI Am. Legion, I`ll try to pick his brain for you. |
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Steven Pearce
From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
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Steven Pearce
From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2019 7:55 am
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It looks like you have your work cut out for you, good luck! 
Erv |
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Lee Jeffriess
From:
Vallejo California
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Posted 31 Mar 2019 7:46 pm Rico's tuning
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If Eddie is correct in saying that its E6 ! then its ''more'' than likely Alvino Rey's tuning from the 40's, Rico was obviously influenced by him (as was everyone)
(Hi to lo) G# E C# B G# E C# B, Speedy West also used a version of this and was also a Rico fan ! |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2019 1:12 pm
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Hmmmm...two pots for a tone control?
I could envision accomplishing a sharper roll- off using two pots and two capacitors. A typical single RC provides 3db per octave. A carefully designed two RC combo could be designed to provide 6db per octave.
If you can provide me with a schematic showing all the connections and the values of the components, I could model it for ya and do a simulation to tell you what it does in terms of frequency response vs pot position. |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 2 Apr 2019 4:03 pm Don't see many
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Don't see many like that these days! 
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 3 Apr 2019 3:28 am
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That instrument is quite extraordinary! It's too far-fetched to be a joke and yet it's real. That doesn't make sense I know, but it's rendered me incoherent 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2019 7:35 am
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I have always known that tuning to be called C#m7th.
I had that tuning on one of the necks on my T-8 Stringmaster, except I had an E for the 1st string.
Erv |
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Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 4 Apr 2019 10:24 am
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Thanks for throwing some ideas in the mix, guys. Yes, if I can get it to make a sound and a couple of pedals work, I'll be happy. I am sort of "reverse engineering" the pedals.
Erv, I had to decide whether to put this in Pedal Steel . . . or Steel Without Pedals . . . apparently there is no category called "Frankensteels"!
Manny, thanks for the name Mario DePaulo. Did you manage to see him at Post 15??
Steven, thanks for the photos. Godfrey certainly liked Rico's playing immediately, the stories go.
Lee, thanks for the tuning. The guitar has the remnants of the 8 string tuning on it. I'll have to see if they jibe with what you have given me.
Jim Pitman, you are very generous and I will indeed get my electronics guy to rough out a schematic. He will appreciate your comments about the dual-pot tone control! Again, I am much obliged to you.
Ian: It's no joke. And it seems to me that the instrument represents a critical era in the history of our instrument when player-inventors were searching for something and coming up with all kinds of stuff. Sort of like the first fish poking his head out of the water and thinking about going onto land!
Stay tuned for further developments in . . . The Turchetti Project! Or as we might say in Italian, Il Progetto Turchettiano.
Chris |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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manny escobar
From:
portsmouth,r.i. usa
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Posted 5 Apr 2019 5:16 am
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| Hi Chris, Yes I did. I got some historical facts. I`ll have to call you. |
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