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Topic: Howard Steels |
Roual Ranes
From: Atlanta, Texas, USA
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Posted 27 Nov 2008 10:46 am
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Anybody remember these.
The first pedal steel I had was a Howard. |
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Stu Schulman
From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 27 Nov 2008 12:17 pm
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Roual,When I lived in Dallas in the early 70's I had a day job planting trees in Grand Prairie...The same job that I wacked the guy in the head with a shovel with accidentally"from Bill Hankey's shovel thread"I used to visit Tom McCormick on my lunch breaks,sometimes he would hang a sign "Gone Fishin"in the window...he knew how to live just a great guy,One time he a guitar that was Julian Thorpes in the shop it had a whole bunch of pedals long,and short I think that some of the pedals would stay down after you pressed them?I remember the Howard's also had really long springs under them.Another time Tom sat down and played "Rose City Chimes" for me what a treat on my lunch hour. _________________ Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Roger Shackelton
From: MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 27 Nov 2008 12:36 pm
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I remember the HOWARD PSGs being displayed at Scotty's Convention in St.Louis in the mid 1970s. They were big guitars and looked quite heavy.
ROGER |
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Charley Adair
From: Maxwell, Texas, USA
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Posted 30 Nov 2008 4:18 pm
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In 1990 I bought a Howard S-10 from a music store in Grove, Ok. The knee levers were not hooked up on it. I took it to Herb Remmington to have it fixed. A day later I found a 1985 Sho Bud Pro II Custom with 8 & 2, hardly used, with a deckly low boy volume pedal, for $650. Herb kept the Howard to sell for what he had in it. I really don't remember much about the Howard, other than it was black. The Pro II was red bird's eye maple. I later traded it for my Pro I that I still have.
Charley |
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joe long
From: San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 30 Nov 2008 4:22 pm
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Grew up not to far from Grand Prairie and was in his shop several times during the late 60's. |
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Roual Ranes
From: Atlanta, Texas, USA
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Posted 1 Dec 2008 6:08 am
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Joe,
Thanks. Who made them? I never knew. I had mine about a year them got an MSA. My Howard was a U12. |
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Stu Schulman
From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 1 Dec 2008 10:18 am
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Roual,Tom "Howard" McCormick made them in Grand Prairie. ![Laughing](images/smiles/icon_lol.gif) _________________ Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Drew Howard
From: 48854
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Ulf Edlund
From: UmeƄ, Sweden
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Posted 2 Dec 2008 1:38 am
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I also started on a Howard .
It was a s-10 full of odd technical details.
Aluminum body, 2+2 copedant, the pedals and levers were tuned with allen screws on the bellcranks.
The return springs ran the whole length of the body.
It was very sensitive to temerature changes but it sounded good, with an Emmons p/p kinda sound.
A fun guitar. _________________ 1983 Emmons D10 SKH, Carter SD10, Nashville 112, Session 500, ProfexII, Lapsteels, GT-Beard reso, guitars of all kinds...
http://www.myspace.com/ulfedlund |
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Edward Barnes
From: Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 11 Dec 2012 1:51 pm
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I just recently got a Howard PSG. I was wondering if anyone had any history of the company, or person, that built it. Any information about it would be appreceated. It is an S-10 withpad, and yes the springs go the full length of the body. Has George L. pickup on it and sounds great. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From: Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 11 Dec 2012 3:11 pm
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Deleted
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 21 May 2018 8:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill L. Wilson
From: Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 12 Dec 2012 12:44 am
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I use to go in the Howard shop and look around. Ended up with one of their cast aluminum volume pedals, that weighed in what seemed like 5lbs. Didn't care much for the Howard steels, the cheap tuning keys, and overall build quality, just didn't cut the mustard. So I bought an MSA semi classic 3and1, from McCord Music in downtown Dallas, and I was off to the races. Except now, I race on an Emmons LeGrande II. |
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joe long
From: San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 12 Dec 2012 9:44 pm
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McCord Music Store brings back a lot of memories especially when they were located Elm Street. Seems like they were at two different locations on Elm at different times. All the local musicians hung out at McCords. My first steel guitars were purchased from them and they were Fenders. |
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Bill L. Wilson
From: Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 12 Dec 2012 11:16 pm
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McCord was at 1916 Elm, till the building was torn down, and they moved to far North Dallas. I bought a lot of guitars and amps from him in the '60's and '70's. Saw Mr. McCord at the Dallas guitar show a few years ago, and he hadn't changed at all. Wearing a high dollar suit, gold ring, and fancy shoes, just a class act, and cool old man. |
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Fred Jack
From: Bastrop, Texas 78602
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Posted 13 Dec 2012 8:45 am Howard
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Anyone remember the Howard Amp? |
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Michael Lee Allen
From: Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 13 Dec 2012 10:08 am
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Deleted
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 21 May 2018 8:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Fred Jack
From: Bastrop, Texas 78602
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Posted 13 Dec 2012 10:17 am amp
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I was working with Whit Taylor in Colo Springs when he purchased one of these.Durnest thing you ever heard. It may have been a first for distortion. They called it "splatter tone". He took it into a repair shop in Des Moines Iowa one time and the guy just looked and scratched his head. Whit had to send it back to Dallas. It was built using modules. Everything put together and then encased in an epoxy type material.I believe it was a first and I've never seen anything like it since then. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From: Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 13 Dec 2012 10:29 am
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Deleted
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 21 May 2018 8:48 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Fred Jack
From: Bastrop, Texas 78602
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Posted 13 Dec 2012 10:33 am amp
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Thanks for that info! I never knew why they did that. That is interesting. Fred |
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Gary Sullivan
From: Texas, USA
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Posted 26 May 2013 7:39 am I spent a lot of time in Tom's shop
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When I was in Junior High and High School in the late 60's I would walk to Grand Prairie Music several times a week and just hang out. I was a drummer at the time, that's where I bought the Gretsch round badge drum set that I wish I still had. I don't remember any more who was who, I just recall a tallish younger guy and a shorter older guy in there, and they both spent a lot of time in the shop building the Howard pedal steels. They were nice guys, and they let me just hang around and talk or galk at the instruments. I seldom bought anything. But I remember the machine shop equipment and all the parts. About 8 or 9 years ago I was at a guitar show in Dallas and I found one of their steels. Just two pedals and two knee levers, and I don't even play steel but I had to have it, it is a piece of my musical beginnings. I have kept it stored, but recently set it back up and I am ready to learn to play (at least I have fingerstyle guitar chops now and 20 years of guitar playing). I just joined the forum, so hi y'all! |
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Bill L. Wilson
From: Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 26 May 2013 6:29 pm Howard steels.
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Welcome Gary, and keep on pickin'. Now you've started a journey that never ends, but man is it ever fun. Fire that Howard up, and figure it out!!!! |
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