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Topic: Shot Jackson -Pedal Steel Guitar Pioneer |
Michael Greer
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 2:54 am |
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Sho Bud players around the world are grateful to Shot Jackson for his work and contribution to the development of the pedal steel guitar.
At a time when magazines like Popular Mechanics encouraged the "do it your selfer":::::guys were busy in the basement making their own pedal steels using rods,cables and coat hangers.
Shot Jackson in the early 50's was modifying Fender steel guitars in a professional manner.
The guitar has two pins that push up on the strings to achieve the 1 to 4 change.
Guitar has an extension rod so it could be played standing as well as .
It plays pretty well.
Love to hear from anyone that had one of Shots early creations.
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 4:03 am
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| Cool! Great photos, Mike. Thanks for sharing. |
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Eric Dahlhoff
From:
Point Arena, California
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 7:06 am
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Nice Mike!
I love the history stuff about these amazing instruments.
_________________
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan) |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 7:29 am
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deleted
_________________
A broken heart + † = a new heart.
Last edited by C Dixon on 5 Sep 2020 5:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 3:16 pm
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WOW!Mike,is that the same guitar Shot had?
SH |
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Michael Greer
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 4:37 pm
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Jack, Eric....thanks
Steve,
it has been confirmed for me that my guitar is one that Shot Jackson modified .
I don't believe there is any record of how many Fender guitars he added this modification to but I believe the number is relatively small.
Bobby Seymour in a forum post indicated he only saw a few come thru his Nashville shop in all the years he was there.
Like Eric, I enjoy the history of the early days.
An interesting tid bit of information I came across relates to the actual pedal on the guitar.
An early business partner of Shots was a man named Don Davis who built Dragster cars in Nashville.
The actual pedal used on the guitars were originally built for dragsters.....how cool is that?
How this guitar ended up in Northern Ontario will forever be a mystery.
The fellow I bought it from was not a steel player.
He told me he traded an old chainsaw for it because he thought it looked interesting. |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2020 9:03 pm
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| Michael Greer wrote: |
Jack, Eric....thanks
Steve,
it has been confirmed for me that my guitar is one that Shot Jackson modified .
I don't believe there is any record of how many Fender guitars he added this modification to but I believe the number is relatively small.
Bobby Seymour in a forum post indicated he only saw a few come thru his Nashville shop in all the years he was there.
Like Eric, I enjoy the history of the early days.
An interesting tid bit of information I came across relates to the actual pedal on the guitar.
An early business partner of Shots was a man named Don Davis who built Dragster cars in Nashville.
The actual pedal used on the guitars were originally built for dragsters.....how cool is that?
How this guitar ended up in Northern Ontario will forever be a mystery.
The fellow I bought it from was not a steel player.
He told me he traded an old chainsaw for it because he thought it looked interesting. |
Mike-I think that Don Davis was also a great steel player...https://www.alamhof.org/dondavis
SH |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 10 Sep 2020 12:33 am
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Don Davis and Hank Garland teamed up and built Daland pedal steels in the mid 50s. Only a handful were made, here's Don playing which I believe is the # 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_esNDABJ53s |
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 11 Sep 2020 5:28 pm
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I had that exact rig at 17. Somewhere in the clutter of my shop is the mechanism.
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LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
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Michael Greer
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 13 Sep 2020 3:28 am
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Clyde
Thanks for sharing....you must have been a happy young man to have one of the best guitars available at that time.
Shot Jackson can also be credited with encouraging others to become steel guitar builders.
Your experience at age 17 with Shots guitar no doubt influenced you to eventually build the Cherokee line of pedal steels .
I suspect other pedal steel builders were inspired by Shot. |
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