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Topic: Zane Beck |
Darrell Owens
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2004 11:40 pm |
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It was 1970 and I booked a session at a small studio in Russelville, Arkansas. It was in the back room of a music store. I am a fingerstyle guitar player and I was cutting a record and wanted some steel guitar on the album. The owner of the store said he knew a pretty good steel player. That afternoon, a guy walked in with a steel guitar with no tuning keys on the it and only a single neck. He did not have a case, he brought it in set up and ready to play. He said it was actually tuned to a B13th, or something like that. He played every chord and stayed right with us on every tune. Some of the greatest sounds I ever heard on steel guitar. The tone was fantastic. We cut 6 songs together - steel and guitar. We played twin and traded licks. Then he played steel on the other six songs we did vocals on. At the end of the session we were friends. Those were the days when you cut an entire album on a four track recorder in one day.
He got me interested in playing steel and later built a couple of steel guitars for me. His name was Zane Beck, one of the greatest. I sold all the albums years ago, but I still take out one now and then and remember I had an opportunity to play with one of the innovators of the pedal steel guitar and one of the finest gentlemen I ever knew.
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Darrell Owens
www.darrellowens.com |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 26 Dec 2004 3:21 am
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Well Darrel, you REALLY should run this onto your computer and then a CD.
I am SURE many forumites would love to hear some LOST Zane Beck recordings.
Lucky day for you too. |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 26 Dec 2004 12:26 pm
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| A genious and a gem of an individual from what I understand. The inventor of the incredible sounding ZB Custom steel guitar. Wish I had known him. |
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Darrell Owens
From:
California, USA
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Posted 26 Dec 2004 7:33 pm
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| David - That's a good idea. Maybe I will do that. |
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Graham Griffith
From:
Tempe, N.S.W., Australia
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Posted 27 Dec 2004 12:27 am
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Darrell,
I spent 3 and a bit months with Zane at the end of '78 & January '79. I would love to hear your work together. Zane was a great man and a genius innovator.
Graham |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 1 Jan 2005 4:22 am
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| I still rate Zane Beck meets Bobby Caldwell as one of my all time great steel albums. Superb player and excellent engineer. |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 23 Jan 2005 1:45 am
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I have the "factory sessions" CD.
Not enough time to hear it all, so far, but there is some nice picking on it.
A bit of time in the protools would clean up the roecording some, but it is musical a fun recording. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 8:11 am
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I just heard the album "Zane Beck Plays the ZB Student Model Pedal Steel." I was amazed by how much he got out of that little guitar. He sure new his stuff!
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Dave Zirbel-
ZB Custom D-10 8 x 5, S-12U Kline 7 x6, Dobro Cyclops reissue, 1967 Fender Telecaster, Webb 6-14E, Fender Super Reverb
The Mother Truckers
The Cowlicks
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Carl Williams
From:
Oklahoma
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 2:13 pm
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Dave,
I have this album and got it from Zane at his house in Scranton, Arkansas in 1974! Your comment about how he got the great sound out of this little student model makes a good point---even though he was in a recording studio, it has been said many times throughout this great forum that it's 99.9% in the hands and mind of the player! Carl
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Darrell Owens
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2005 11:17 pm
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Dave,
I owned that student model guitar for several years. I got it from Zane right after he used it on that album. The only thing "student" about that guitar was me! It was a full on BMI in a student frame. All the mechanism as well as pickup was the same as the regular BMI. That particular guitar had Zane's setup on it which was extreme - to put it mildly. I later sold that guitar to a friend who recently sold it to someone else. Maybe someone knows who has it now. It really is a piece of history. |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 25 Jan 2005 11:54 pm
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| Darrel can you post that extreme set up? |
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Wayne Cox
From:
Chatham, Louisiana, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 10:37 am
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Search the forum archives and you will find quite a bit on Zane's tuning and setup. It may not be "conventional" but it is very logical and versatile.
~~W.C.~~ |
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