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Post new topic Buddy Cage's Guitar
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Author Topic:  Buddy Cage's Guitar
b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 10:02 am    
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Does anyone here know what's become of Buddy Cage's custom made pedal steel?


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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 10:36 am    
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I imagine you saw Buddy's Emmons that was auctioned off (and posted here). The seller was the Hilt estate whose name is on this guitar. Maybe they know where this one is?

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=363797
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John Haspert

 

From:
Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 1:56 pm     Buddy Cageā€™s Guitars ((plural)
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If Iā€™m not mistaken there are actually 2 different guitars. The most recent one that was auctioned by Skinner was an EMMONS and looked a lot like the Hilt that b0b is asking about. Turns out that I ended buying a ukulele that was in the lot with the EMMONS. After the auction, I tried to find out if it was Larryā€™s or Wayneā€™s. Confirmed it was not from the Hilts, but rather was in the same auction. When I contacted Skinner, they could not provide specifics due to confidentiality, but told me a few tidbits of its history. They wonā€™t likely be able to disclose buyer unless the buyer has already made it known on the forum or elsewhere. I also would be curious where the lost, then found Hilt ended up.[/i][/u]
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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:02 pm    
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Maybe I didn't word that well. That is exactly what I said or meant to say.
The Hilt family sold the Emmons guitar. The Hilt family might know the whereabouts of this Hilt guitar.
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:06 pm    
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I thought I had read that it was stolen in Japan several years ago and hasn't surfaced. I've got one of the Smith/Hilt Custom Dekleys that was built for Bill Stroud. I bought that from Steve Takacs a while back and have just gotten around to redoing the copedent. This one is almost identical in appearance to Buddy's. I'm just starting to get around on it--getting oriented with 12 strings and 9 pedals & 8 levers will take a while. Love the sound of this though. It seems practically new. Steve was out of the country and didn't play it much and Bill had said he only had it out on 1 gig. Heavy ain't the word for this one and I had a Dekley D10 in the past.

Last edited by Scott Denniston on 8 Feb 2021 2:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Dave Zirbel


From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:08 pm    
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The Emmons is here in the Bay Area with a friend of mine who purchased it. Not sure where the Dekley is...last year or so ago I attended a tribute for Buddy and a lady that was helping him out during his illness was in possession of it at that time....
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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:19 pm    
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Congrats to your friend. Being in the market for a 12 string Emmons with lots of levers, that guitar sure appealed to me.
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:21 pm    
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John Haspert; As I heard it Buddy traded the Emmons in to Larry Hilt a partial payment for the Dekley. Then later the dekley was stolen.
But of course this one in the photo was built for Bill Stroud.


Last edited by Scott Denniston on 8 Feb 2021 3:22 pm; edited 2 times in total
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:29 pm    
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Aside from the Emmons, were there 2 of those Hilt/Dekley guitars? Scott's picture shows a different front apron from the one I posted. Or maybe it's just the adornments.
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:32 pm    
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I think Buddy's was like this before he added the decals or whatever in the center. I don't know about the grain in the wood veneer. I've never seen a real clear photo of Buddy's.
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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:34 pm    
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b0b--Scott discusses buying this second one, above.
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:39 pm    
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It does look in your photo that there is another inlay in the center of the apron and a different grain pattern.

I'm now reminded that Bill's was built while Jim Smith was still at Dekley and I think Buddy's "Hilt" was built a little later.
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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 2:55 pm    
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Somewhere on the forum I think Jim discusses what he & Larry Hilt built for Buddy and in what ways it is different from a 'stock' Dekley and thus bears the Hilt nameplate.
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 3:12 pm    
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Yes Jon these were not stock Dekleys. I remember Jim I think referring to them as their Cadillac Custom Dekleys. They built one apiece for them (Jim and Larry), one for Bill Stroud, and then later Larry built one for Buddy. There might be more. I guess Jim would remember. Here is a quote from Jim on a past thread.

"Just to clarify, Larry Hilt and I designed the H&S (Hilt and Smith) Custom Signature model Dekley in the late 70's.

After I moved to Texas in 1980, and (I think) after Dekley went out of business in 83 or 84, Larry made a few guitars with some of the H&S parts plus some enhancements of his own. He called that guitar the Hilt. One of those is the guitar that Buddy Cage had, that got stolen.

I've only seen Larry's Hilt once when I went back for a visit. While they look the same to me, both he and Buddy swear that they are completely different guitars."

This was on a thread where they were discussing Bill Stroud's guitar.
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Jeff Garden


From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 3:40 pm    
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Here's a better photo of the cabinet on the Hilt. I saw Buddy several years ago in White River Junction VT playing it with the NRPS. What a beast: D-12, 10 pedals, and 14 knees!
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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 4:06 pm    
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Thanks Jeff. Definitely different wood veneer. The round inlays at the apron ends are exactly the same. Looks like same Sperzel tuners with something stamped on them. On Bill Stroud's they have "BJS" stamped on them. Those really narrow strips of inlay are the same as one they ran between the necks on mine (Bill's). There are several other upgrades from a stock Dekley that I've noticed having owned one in the past. Bill was of course an expert in a hard chrome process and had them do that with the fingers. They also chromed the levers which looks pretty cool. On my old Dek the axles were round as I remember and these have a flat side. Also it seems like the finish coating is a lot thicker than I remember.
In Bill Smith's quote below I read that there is not much difference in the build between the Hilt and the Custom H & S but the difference is probably the 6 more levers and one more pedal. That & the fairy dust!
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Tucker Jackson

 

From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 5:39 pm    
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The photo at the top of this thread -- and the one just above my post -- are of the day Buddy went down to the police station to get his recently-stolen guitar back. They took "reunion" photos out on the sidewalk in front of the precinct.
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Jeff Garden


From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 5:57 pm    
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I didn't take this photo but when I saw Buddy in VT he had more of the Samurai top knot thing going on Smile

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Scott Denniston


From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 6:08 pm    
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Tucker Jackson wrote:
The photo at the top of this thread -- and the one just above my post -- are of the day Buddy went down to the police station to get his recently-stolen guitar back. They took "reunion" photos out on the sidewalk in front of the precinct.

That's great to know he got it back. So the lady helping him out during his illness might still have it (to maybe answer bOb's original question.
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 8 Feb 2021 8:52 pm    
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So where is it now? Who has it?
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Dave Zirbel


From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
Post  Posted 9 Feb 2021 5:16 am    
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Quote:
So where is it now? Who has it?


IĆ¢ā‚¬ā„¢ll ask my friend who purchased BuddyĆ¢ā‚¬ā„¢s push/pull. He might know. He was friends with him and knew a lot of those guys from NRPS.. possibly managed them or ran a website for them at one point.
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Jon Light (deceased)


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 9 Feb 2021 5:29 am    
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Scott Denniston wrote:
I thought I had read that it was stolen in Japan several years ago ......


It's perfectly possible that there was a different Japan incident that I know nothing about but the two photos of its recovery are in NYC, same place where it had been stolen.
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Rich Upright


From:
Florida, USA
Post  Posted 9 Feb 2021 11:03 am    
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Last time I saw Buddy play was with NRPS at the Lone Star Cafe in NYC, or maybe Tommie Joe White. At that time it had 16 knee levers.
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Dave Zirbel


From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
Post  Posted 10 Feb 2021 1:04 pm    
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My friend told me that Buddy's daughter is in possession of his Dekley guitar that was stolen and later returned.
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