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Topic: Your first electric steel |
Jody Sanders
From:
Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 6:34 pm |
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| What was your first electric steel guitar. Mine was a plastic 6 string Supro. Came with an amp. Both for $59.95. (1947). Jody. |
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Bill Stafford
From:
Gulfport,Ms. USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 6:55 pm
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HI Jody, mine was in the same era. Silvertone six string with amp for basically the same price. Great tone-- and it was amazing that this steel taught me how to get the same tone with all the other steels I have had since then.. I got mine in 1945 right after WWII.
Bill Stafford |
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Ryan Giese
From:
Spokane, Washington, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 7:11 pm
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| I have a 1947 Supro. I got it a couple years ago from my Dad... I like it a lot. Then about 6 months later I got a GFI and then (my favorite) A Super-Pro. Is pretty cool. |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Bill R. Baker
From:
Clinton, MS USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 7:32 pm
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| My dad bought me a six string Electromuse in 1947. Still have it. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 7:46 pm
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Interestingly, my dad did the same for me in 1946. I sold it in 1952. As I recall it had a plexiglass fretboard with painted frets underneath it. Solid wooden body.
As I recall the sound was kinda klunky, But that was 50 yrs ago.
carl |
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 7:54 pm
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Mine was a Rickenbacker, 1946 Model, $31.85 paid out in lay-a-way. Sold a lot of soda pop bottles. 
It hangs in our den. The fretboard and mounting plate has been replaced and rechromed. Probably the wrong thing to do, but-------.
fred
------------------
The spirit be with you!
If it aint got a steel, it aint real
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 7:58 pm
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I jumped into the deep end of the pool without learning to swim first. My first steel guitar was my MSA U-12, which I still have and use. It had 7 pedals and 4 knee levers when I bought it.
It's a great guitar. I will never sell it as long as I live. |
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Billy Wilson
From:
El Cerrito, California, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2004 10:10 pm
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| Fisrst electric steel was a cheap old arch top standard guitar with a pencil over the nut and a Kent pickup which I attached. Late seventies. Worked fine. Then an Ohau Diana. Great guitar, wish I still had it. D8 Stringmaster after that....... |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 12:10 am
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mine was a Gibson BR6 i found in a pawn shop in 1969 for 50 $ (Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
kept it for 34 years
replaced it last year w: an EH150 |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 2:58 am
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My Mosrite Dobro had a pickup on it, so that counts. I inherited that from my dad's studio in 1970.
But my 1st strictly electric Steel was a 1960 Supro 6 also, white mother of toilet seat, I got in in NYC from blues player Big Ed Sullivan around 1991.
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Carl West
From:
La Habra, CA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 5:30 am
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Like Billy and Jody, my first was a flat body look-alike Martin with that pencil at he nut. Then the Silvertone and a borrowed amp that had to be kicked now and them to make it work.
Carl West
Emmons LeGrande |
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Jody Cameron
From:
Angleton, TX,, USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 5:51 am
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| Well JB, my first steel was a Blonde laquer Deckley D-10 with 8 & 4...my parents bought it for me from Clyde's Music in Clute, TX and YOU gave me lessons on it! Remember that? |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 7:53 am
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I did a repeat of CrowBear!
I started on an acoustic Oahu and then graduated up to a Gibson BR6 and Gibson amp. This was in about 1950 so Jody is maybe a little bit longer in the tooth than yours truly.
I also traded it off a few years ago for a mint, 7 string Gibson EH150 w/Charlie Christian pickups. I wish that I still had the BR6, but maybe some day???. So many guitars, so little time!
Erv |
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Robert Thomas
From:
Mehama, Oregon, USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 8:20 am
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My first electric steel guitar was a Gibson BR-9 with a Gibson Amp. The Guitar case and Amp case were matching as in a set. I believe the amp was 32 watts with an 8" speaker, if I remember correctly. I bought it new with my paper route money in 1948? and started playing for grange hall dances by myself when I was 15, using sheet music, cause I couldn't play without it yet, and my Mom and Dad transported me to the grange halls to play.
Sure does bring back a lot of good old memories. Thanks for letting me reminisce. |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 8:30 am
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What a thrill it was for me back in 1946 to receive this wonderful thing...an actual "electric" guitar! Wow, after 3 years of playing a flat-top round hole acoustic, I was in 7th heaven. This guitar was made by (the late) Bill Jantz of Winnipeg, (Manitoba, Canada). 6 strings with an amplifier for about $110.00 . It was a thrilling experience which I'll never forget.  |
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john buffington
From:
Owasso OK - USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 8:40 am
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6 - string lap steel, made by Gretch.
My dad gave $10.00 for it. Fret board was silk-screened onto the body. Cord was the old style cloth wrapped coming out of the body.
John Buffington |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 8:51 am
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In about 1944-46, my wonderful dad purchased a brand new Gibson 6-string w/matching amp. I don't recall the cost but it was expensive.
I have no idea what model it is but it can be seen on www.jerrybyrdfanclub.com site.
I sure wish I had it now.........it was a beautiful instrument; nothing tinny or plastic about it. |
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Gere Mullican
From:
LaVergne, Tennessee, USA (deceased)
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 8:57 am
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My first guitar was pawned to my Daddy for 7 dollars and he gave it to me. I had never seen a guitar of any kind. That was in 1944. It was an archtop strung left handed and totally out of tune. I have no idea why but I used a flashlight battery and tooth out of a comb for a pick. Since I had never seen any kind of guitar, why did I start playing it like a lap steel? Any way I learned to play it out of tune and strung backwards then some smart guy said it was wrong and restrung it right handed and I had to lear all over again. I could go on and on but to get to the question at hand, my Mother and Daddy soon bought me a Silvertone 6 and amp and I played on it for a while then we took it to L.C.Tiller Piano Co. in Nashville and traded it for a double neck 6 Supro with a sort of gray and white marble look. Played it for a long time and traded it to a guy for a 7 string Gibson that looked like the one Cousin Jody played except mine had 7 strings. In 1954 while stationed at the Naval Hospital in Charleston SC I saw a local band and the steel player made some kind of lick that I couldnt find and went and asked him about it. He asked if my guitar was rigged for it and I said I have 7 strings. So I took my steel to the machine shop where he had his modified and had the one pedal that raised the 2nd and 3rd strings from E to A and I was hooked on pedals. Later I found a Fender 400 and thought I was in hog heaven. Played that one for a long time then while visiting North Carolina met Leonard Stadler and got him to build me a S10 Marlen, and I played that for a few years. Then in 1974 Leonard built me a new SD-10 and I thought surely I was Lloyd Green. The only difference was Lloyd could pick. After the airline lost that Marlen I was without a steel for 5 or 6 years and finally my dear friend Bobby Hicks gave me a brand new GFI SD-10 for Christmas last year and thats where I am now. Didn't mean to bore you folks but wanted to spout it off. Thanks
Gere |
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Roger Edgington
From:
San Antonio, Texas USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 9:02 am
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| My first electric steel was a Fender 400 with 6 pedals. It was a very nice steel for it's day. Had it about a year and traded it for a Fender 1000. |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 9:18 am
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My dad built me a six string in 1963. Pickup was from an old Gibson guitar, upper nut was 1/4 cross section of an ACME threaded stainless steel stem from a large gate valve, lower bridge was an electrical contact block. Body was 3/4" oak, all bolted to a piece of 1/4" plate steel to eliminate cabinet drop (without the plate the oak body tended to curl up into a "U").
In 1970 I bought a 6 string Supro, still have it, no idea what year or model. It's black with white trim and has the black & white case. |
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 9:28 am
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| 1937Rick with 12 watt amp and a huge 8" speaker. My dad paid $52 for the rig. In 1935 he bought me a plain dobro sunburst for $65 that I still have today. |
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Gord Cole
From:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 11:41 am
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I have my first electric guitar from around 1949-50 collecting dust under the bed. A "Mason" 6-string. I got it from the Ontario Conservatory of Music when I took Hawaiian guitar lessons back then.
... Gord |
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John Bresler R.I.P.
From:
Thornton, Colorado
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Posted 31 Mar 2004 2:11 pm
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1952 Carvin D-6 complete with Carvin amp. The total was less than $100.00 which I had saved up from my paper route. This was around the time Bud Isaacs played "Slowly" and "Buds bounce" and I just about went crazy trying to figure out the tuning, only to find out it wasn't the tuning but pedals was that I needed.
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