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Author Topic:  John David Call
Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 13 Mar 2024 3:42 pm    
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John came over to visit yesterday and dropped off this guitar for me to mess around with for a while. This was THE guitar used on all the PurePrairieLeague records.He plays Day setup but it has some custom changes. I’ll list
Pedal 1 lowers 6 a half
Pedal 2 raises 3-6 a half
Pedal 3 raises 5-10 a whole
LKL lowers 2 a half / whole 9 a half
Lkv lower 5 a half
Lkr raises 5 a whole
Rkl raises 4 a whole
Rkr lowers 4-8 a half
I was going to send a picture of it but it won’t load.


Last edited by Dave Morrison on 14 Mar 2024 1:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 1:38 am    
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Still has the tape on the pedal board from when new. Almost 50 years ago.
Interesting story; He said he had bought a new pro 3 but it sounded awful. He took it back to Sho Bud down on Broadway and Lloyd walked in while he was there. Lloyd told him he had just recorded Amy on his new project. He sat down behind the new guitar and said yeah you’ve got a lemon here. PPP were getting ready to do the Dolly Parton show the next day; so Paul Franklin Sr and Dwain Marrs stayed up all night and built this guitar for him. Just one of many stories he has to tell. Love these road stories!
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 3:43 am    
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Dave Morrison wrote:
Still has the tape on the pedal board from when new. Almost 50 years ago.
Interesting story; He said he had bought a new pro 3 but it sounded awful. He took it back to Sho Bud down on Broadway and Lloyd walked in while he was there. Lloyd told him he had just recorded Amy on his new project. He sat down behind the new guitar and said yeah you’ve got a lemon here. PPP were getting ready to do the Dolly Parton show the next day; so Paul Franklin Sr and Dwain Marrs stayed up all night and built this guitar for him. Just one of many stories he has to tell. Love these road stories!


Thats a cool story,, I had a ProIII for years.. I think it sounded pretty good.. It had real nice sustain, played well etc.. It just didn"t sound much like a sho bud....

John Call was big influence on me back in the late 70's early 80's... He was as good as any of the better known steel players during the all too short "country rock era". Glad to see he's still around.
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......
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Jon Light


From:
Saugerties, NY
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 3:48 am    
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What a great story about the 'lemon'.

I'm a low-level enough player that I do not trust that if something doesn't sound good, it's not just me or my ears having a bad day.
To have someone of Lloyd's stature tell me 'no no -- it's this guitar' is priceless.
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 5:33 am    
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Always good to hear anything about JD Call. Just a terrific tone and playing. When I first heard the Two Lane Highway LP, I was a goner. Along with a couple other LPs I knew I had to get one of these things and try to learn how to play it.

PPL's stack of records still gets a ton of play here.

It's so cool to see the actual guitar that I heard on those records many years ago. Amazing he still has that.

I hope he's doing well. Big influence here.


Last edited by Jerry Overstreet on 14 Mar 2024 7:17 am; edited 1 time in total
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Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 6:10 am    
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This guitar plays so smooth and the tone is awesome. Original Sho Bud single coils in it. I feel like a fish on dry land though trying to navigate the levers and pedals. He told me again the other day that always went straight into a Neive console and monitored with the studio speakers. Used the studio effects. Yeah he was a big influence on me too! So much so that I went out and bought a guitar just like this one with the exception of the copedent difference
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Gil James

 

From:
Louisiana, USA
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 6:43 am    
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Another fan here! Wore the grooves off 2 Lane Hwy!
Thanks for posting this. Too Cool!
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Tucker Jackson

 

From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
Post  Posted 14 Mar 2024 8:05 am    
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You're a lucky man, Dave. On several counts.

Is this a typo?:
Lkr raises 5 a whole

He already raises 5 on a the A-pedal. But maybe he wants to raise 5 without also raising 10 to get a deeper-voiced minor chord? I bet you know a guy who could answer that...
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Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 15 Mar 2024 1:55 am    
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Tucker you are right. That was a typo. That lever raises 5 a whole tone and a half. I’d like to add that change to my guitar. The 4 string whole tone change is what he uses a lot instead of reaching out to grab the first string.
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Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 16 Mar 2024 12:48 pm    
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I’m a little confused about this guitar. It says Pro 111 on it but it has a 2and 2 changer with nylon tuning nuts but it looks like old style undercarriage. Has narrow pedals also. Sn 12073. I know that’s how it came because John told me the whole story of its creation. Maybe it’s was a custom build?
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Dennis Ellerbee

 

From:
Jackson, Georgia US
Post  Posted 16 Mar 2024 1:13 pm     John
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John is a good friend of mine and a heck of a good steel player. He is such a good guy. He deserves to be in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. I was impressed with his playing from the first time I heard him. Stole many of the licks he played. I am so happy he is still out there playing after 50 plus years.
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Dave Morrison

 

From:
Whbg Ohio Usa
Post  Posted 16 Mar 2024 2:12 pm    
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Ditto to everything you said Dennis👍
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Kenny Davis


From:
Great State of Oklahoma
Post  Posted 16 Mar 2024 7:51 pm    
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Dave - You wrote that Lloyd told JDC that he had just recorded "Amie." Seems like I have that on a Lloyd record somewhere, but I tried to find it on YouTube and other places with no luck. Am I dreaming about that recording?

If Paul Sr. And Dewayne stayed up all night, they probably pieced it together! First Pro III's had wide pedals and 2/2.
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Best lyric in a country song: "...One more, Moon..."
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Jim Pitman

 

From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
Post  Posted 17 Mar 2024 7:30 am    
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That first PPL album was a benchmark for me. J Call's break on Harmony Song is iconic.
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 17 Mar 2024 9:57 am    
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“I’ll Change Your Flat Tire Merle” from Two-Lane Highway was not only a hilarious and long awaited response to Okie From Muskogee, but included one of John David’s best steel tracks. Perfect for the song indeed. That Sho-Bud is the stuff of legends.

I liked the first two albums better. Craig Fuller’s voice, songs, and guitar playing gave the group a unique character. They did okay in his absence though 😎
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