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Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

Greetings to all in the pedal steel community. For a short introduction let me explain how I come to pedal steel, and where I’m at with it.

I began as a 6 string player in 12/66 and bought my first pedal steel just under two years ago (3/03). After many years of working as both a solo club act and recording with two different local bands with varying degrees of success, I took up pedal steel out of a long term interest and a genuine sense of “if I’m ever going to get into it, now is the time.”
I had originally planned to buy a Parsons B Bender Tele but changed my mind when I noticed Musician’s Friend offering Carter Starter S10 for under
$700. The Fender/Bender (or cost to modify my Les Paul copy would have been at least 300 more, so I went with the pedal steel. I think it was the best investment I could have made given the circumstances. Also I had gone out to a couple of concerts by the David Nelson Band with Barry Sless and after two nights watching him get into it, I decided it was something I really DID want to take up on a serious level.
My influences for the steel come primarily from Clarence White, Duane Allman, Buddy Cage & Pete Kleinow. I realize the first two AREN’T pedal players BUT, their sound was what attracted me most to playing slide to begin with- which is my first frame of reference for the pedal steel. (The other is an early history with 5 string banjo, which definitely helped with the fingerpicking side of things.) My other influences as a 6 string player are Richard Thompson & Jerry Garcia, and I can’t say enough about either, really. In the most positive way.
So, I am playing the Carter Starter and I do like the machine. It stays in tune, needs minimal maintenance, and I personally happen to like the single neck better than the double for arm/wrist comfort. I hope to remain OUTSIDE of all the various schools of argument about steels, ie: “Emmons vs. Sho-Bud”, “MSA vs Zum”, “Push vs. Pull”, etc; etc; and hope to keep quiet in most cases unless I find something I OUGHT to say. I found this forum through the Joe Wright website links, and think it is an excellent thing to have happening, and people really do seem quite supportive and full of all sorts of good ideas here.
My own goal is to be able to say with the steel what I have been able to with 6 string for years now- and Then I will still only be halfway there. The other is to form a band locally (which will be the next focus for me, since the Bay Area is full of a lot of great players of many different sorts, and the trick is meeting up with the right match). While I’m not playing out with the pedal steel yet, I definitely am heading that direction- as soon as I feel comfortable enough with my equipment & chops. I am now running it through a very new Fender Frontman 25 which is giving me some v. very small hassle- (the line out seems perfectly fine but maybe it has a loose speaker connection- Lots of scratch and pop when I play on the low end.) I figure once I can get it broken in, maybe some of this low end buzz will work itself out. And I will do something to make the speaker connection more secure. If nothing helps I’ll have it looked into. But -I do love Fender amps and at some point, hope to upgrade the entire setup.
I have definitely seen the wisdom in adding additional pedals but I hope to do this at a later point when I can afford to have a new Carter made. Someplace down the road. Elementary chops are the first priority for me, and I’m just now working my way past the tricky top four strings. I see the instrument as having unlimited possibilites and I am definitely learning al the time through listening to what is already out there- my general idea is, learn what’s out there and then do something original!
Once I can develop my own voice and say what I want to say, like I say, I’ll be halfway happy. I have about 30 original songs I’ve written since getting the steel and it is my hope to get to a studio & record them, maybe by year’s end. The band I want to form will have a focus on original material (mine & hopefully that of the others) but will definitely also feature a very “retro” cover list. My chagrin is to hear a lot of good bands focus on being cover bands when they definitely have the chops to be working on more original material, why don’t more people try to sound more like themselves instead of who they emulate? But this is a great instrument, it has a very young history, and there are few enough of us working at it that you can afford to be unique.
So greetings to everyone, I will be posting infrequently, like I say, hopefully when I feel I can make a contribution to the dialog.

Bill Ford · From: Graniteville SC Aiken

Mark,
Welcome to the club, lots of help, and info here.The pop in your system sounds like a loose connection,there is no "break in" on an amp, or PSG. They may season a little, but should be no snap,crackle,or pop.(Only in your cerial)I had a Fender super reverb that after a couple of years started what you describe,turned out it was a loose power transformer.Don't know if it was that way from the factory, or the viberation loosened it.

Bill

Hook Moore · From: South Charleston,West Virginia

Never to late to run but

welcome aboard.
Hook

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HookMoore.com
Allen Moore

Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

Thank you for the input... The lin out as I said works fine on the Fender- especially since after running phones into it, the regular speaker output buzz has diminished by about 80%, but is still there. I think the loose tranfroemr theroy might apply- but as the problem got a lot better just after
using phones (and decreased moreso just by moving the guitar a few feet further from the amp)- it might be a while yet before I take it to the shop. As it is, the buzz went down so much it's hardly noticeable now.

Anyway its great to be here and a big hello to everyone- reading people's posts makes for real food for thought...

Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

So... I have replaced the Fender completely.
Just one of those things, the luck of the draw- the new one works fine & perfectly, so it just must have been a lemon the first time.

Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Mark, what I find really cool is that some of the same sounds that influenced your decision to take up PSG (Clarence White, Buddy Cage, Sneaky) led me down the same road three decades ago. Welcome!

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Hi Mark welcome.
And GOOD ATTITUDE... you will needed it!
A wonderful and wonderfully difficult instrument.

I also agree with the cover band vs originals band thing.
I always prefer originals and a few classics.

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Mark,

Barry is a fine player, both on PSG and 6 string guitar. He was (when last I saw him) also working with the Flying Other Brothers so you may get a chance to get out and catch more of his pickin' when Nelson isn't playing. Sooner or later you will run into him on the forum, I'm sure he'd appreciate knowing that he helped you realize that the time for the PSG in your life is NOW!

It sounds like you have a realistic, professional attitude towards learning and practicing, we all hit the wall once in a while and it's good to have the presence of mind to keep pluggin' at it when that happens.

Have a ball --

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Dave Grafe - email: dg@pdxaudio.com
Production
Pickin', etc.

1978 ShoBud Pro I E9, 1960 Les Paul (SG) Deluxe, 1963 Precision Bass, 1954 Gibson LGO, 1897 Washburn Hawaiian Steel Conversion

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Duane Allman got me going too - but after 30 years of playing slide, I just had to have the pedals, no way around it. There's just too much you can't do without them. I find that using a graphic equalizer and splitting the signal with a Y-cord, then running one side with overdrive and one side clean gives me the closest approximation of that rich Les Paul/Marshall tone.

Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

Thanks for all the input folks- I was thinking maybe my posting was gone unnoticed for a while
Dave G: Yes, I have seen Barry with FOB. Both of the shows I went to a year or more ago wre a dual-gig, and yeh, it was quite a turn on watching him, and I found myself saying to myself, well, Jerry(Garcia)gave it up because he wanted/needed "another life" to be a steel player"- I figured, I only have THIS life and I may as well get on with it.
I should also mention I really happen to like Tom Brumley of the Buckaroos, LLoyd Green & JD Maness from the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions & Of course Pete Drake with Dylan & also Larry Campbell (with Dylan now).
I've sort of begun to see myself as being a primarily Rock & Roll steel player more than a strict Country player- But I am sensitized to the instrument now, and every time I hear it, I'm thinking, SO-Ok, how did that guy do THAT? I am still finding myself stumbling thorugh a lot of what Buddy Cage did- I realize part is the pedals, but, a LOT of his licks are in his hands. If I could just figure how some of That worked, I'd have (just a little)more of a running start towards where I want to take it-(and I am inteested in sounding like MYSELF as much as I can, rather than an echo) But I AM having a gas, going over the music I love and also going back over my own earlier 6 string work finding takes I will overdub on in the future.
I alsoi have a split channel graphic equalizer in my rack but I am primarily using it for re-recording my CD collection (cassettes>CD's); but when I have the bulk of that work done, I intend to add it to the set up as well as purchasing a Hilton Vol Ped in the coming few months ($ affording.)
I also have a MXR Dyna-Comp compressor but I use it less often- mostly the Gain channel on the Fender, for now. (it tends to kill batteries fairly quickly.)
So I will keep popping in & out & "lurking" a little bit myself; but I am really happy to have folks that are (& will be) interested in what I want to do with it. Anyone with any work of their own they want to send on is welcome to get in touch with me thru my email addr as well.

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