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Topic: Question For Steel Guitar Manufacturers |
Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 11:43 am |
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Is it possible to build a right-handed steel guitar with left-footed pedals? Or, modify an existing right-handed guitar to be left-footed like the mock-up image below?
The reason I ask is because, since my stroke and corresponding spinal nerve damage, I have a permanent condition in which I can use my left foot in an up and down dorsi-motion, but cannot rock right or left or side to side; which means I could use it effectively for volume pedal control, but not E9th pedals. My right foot, however, is fully functional.
Since I've been giving my nephew steel guitar lessons, I've been sitting cock-eyed at my guitar to use my right foot on my E9th pedals and have been adapting to that quite easily. It occurs to me that if my E9th pedals were in the position for my right foot to operate them, I'd be back to playing again in short order ... but there's the matter of a guitar customized as in the mock-up photo.
My question is: can that type of setup be done, or would the cross rods, pedal rods and pull levers be too close to the changer for this to work?
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 11:55 am
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Looking at a couple of my steels, I think that either this, exactly, or a compromise of moving everything over one pedal's space should work. My Fess has a hole for a cross shaft aligned right at the left edge of the pickup (as you sit at the guitar).
Worst case scenario would be shifting them even a little farther away from the changer and adjusting your sitting position a bit more toward center. But your idea seems quite workable. |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 12:26 pm
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It can be done. Longtime Austin steel player Patterson Barrett has been doing it on a modified Sho-Bud Pro 1 for 40 years. You will need to sit a little more centralized to the guitar, probably. And adjust your sight picture for the bar v. strings for best intonation.
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Dale Rottacker
From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 12:46 pm
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At this point I'm willing to make whatever concessions and adaptations that may be necessary to get back into playing. Two weeks ago if anyone had told me I'd be sitting cross-wise at my guitar and reaching over to my E9th pedals with my right foot to play that way, I'd have laughed them to scorn, but I'm doing it ... even more surprising is how dextrous my right foot is at managing the pedals!
If changing my seating position a little ends up necessary on a modified guitar, then so be it. Since 1976, steel has been the center of my life and my driving force. I'm determined to get back into it and play again, even though it might end up being done on a modified guitar that looks pretty unorthodox by "normal" steel guitar standards. 
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Jerry Fessenden
From:
Vermont, USA
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 1:05 pm question for manufacturors
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| I think the Willians had one similar at the AZ show .. Give them a call. JF |
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Joe Naylor
From:
Avondale, Arizona, USA
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 2:33 pm it was left handed
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Jerry the Williams at the show in Phoenix was a pure Left Handed pedal steel - I know that guy that bought it he is a great Canadian dobro player and is a snow bird down here in the winter.
Joe Naylor
www.steelseat.com
_________________
Joe Naylor, Avondale, AZ (Phoenix) Announcer/Emcee owner www.steelseat.com *** OFFERING SEATS AND Effects cases with or without legs and other stuff ****** -Desert Rose Guitar S-10, Life Member of the Arizona Carport Pickers Assoc., Southwest Steel Guitar Assoc., Texas Steel Guitar Assoc., GA Steel Guitar Assoc., KS Steel Guitar Assoc. (Asleep at the Steel) tag line willed to me by a close late friend RIP |
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Geoff Marshall
From:
North Lincolnshire U,K.
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 2:39 pm
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Weldon Myrick had Emmons build him a single ten with 3 pedals on the right in 1973 when he broke his ankle.
(Manual of style - Winnie Winston)
_________________
If 6 were 9 |
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Skip Edwards
From:
LA,CA
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 2:58 pm
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| I saw a guy playing with Little Jimmy Dickens around 1974 that played a blue Sho-Bud Professional set up exactly like that. |
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Skip Edwards
From:
LA,CA
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 2:59 pm
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| I saw a guy playing with Little Jimmy Dickens around 1974 that played a blue Sho-Bud Professional set up exactly like that. |
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Jack Wilson
From:
Marshfield, MO
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 6:17 pm pedals on the right
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| A GFI Ultra already has holes in the frame to put pedals on the right side. Right side knee lever cross rods may need to be moved to a different hole. I would call Bob at GFI and order one direct. |
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Roger Miller
From:
Cedar Falls, Ia.
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 7:06 pm
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| I worked with Billy Clark from Detroit and he had polio. ShoBud built him one with the pedals on the right side of the guitar. It was a strange looker but he played it really good. |
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Roger Miller
From:
Cedar Falls, Ia.
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 7:08 pm
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| Skip, that was the group I played with Billy Clark was with Tater. We took him right out of the hospital in Detroit to the gig. |
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Skip Edwards
From:
LA,CA
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Posted 27 Jan 2015 10:50 pm
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Yeah... I remember he told me that he had once had polio.
I sat at his steel and gave it a spin...very strange.
I forget the name of the club, but it was in Oxnard, CA.
I was in the opening band. |
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Roger Miller
From:
Cedar Falls, Ia.
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 7:34 am
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| Yeah, I was the guitarist. I played a couple places in Oxnard. |
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 7:37 am
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Thanks for all the responses, everyone. I think a guitar modified like the idea above is the route I'm going to try in order to get back into playing. The doctors say that I could eventually get back the full functionality in my left foot, but it's uncertain; it could take years or maybe never.
I'm not going to modify my current guitar (pictured below) because of the guitar's heritage and the sentimentality toward its original owner.
This was Gary Hogue's very first Mullen and his most favored guitar that he'd ever owned. Just about everyone who knew Gary well agrees that this is the "Holy Grail" of Gary Hogue guitars. To modify or change it in any way just feels wrong to me, so I'll be searching for another D-10 to modify and start working with.
The real trick is going to be finding someone who has an old beat up all-pull D-10 with 8 & 6 that they'd let go of real cheap (can't afford much because the VA is taking their sweet time getting my disability pension started). The days of used steels being sold for any kind of cheap price below $1,000 seems to be over with (judging from what I've seen in the For Sale section), but sooner or later I'm sure one will pop up.
My planned copedent for such a guitar is below:
There is method behind the madness of the left knee staggered knee lever arrangements and having the second string 1/2 and whole tone lowers split between two levers.
Just this morning, my nephew and I were looking at the mock-up image I'd done earlier and he made a wild suggestion ... since we'd be modifying a D-10 and would have the parts to spare, why not have some fun with the looks of the guitar and leave the E9th pedals and rods on the guitar (as non-functional "dummy" pedals) to give the guitar a more "interesting look"? I did a mock-up of how it might appear ...
I gotta say, that would be a funny look! My nephew laughed facetiously and said, "It'd sure drive some people wild trying to figure out what's up with that guitar!" LOL I hate to admit it, but I sorta like the idea of the three dummy pedals ... the more I look at the mock-up design, the more those three pedals seem to "balance" the look of the guitar.
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Mike Mantey
From:
Eastern Colorado, USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 7:49 am
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| It could easily be done and just use pedals 6-9 from the c6th for the E9th possibly??? |
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 8:06 am
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That's what I'm thinking, Mike. But, to keep the pedals in line with the right knee's knee lever arrangement, the pedals would need to start as far to the right as possible. If the guitar had 9 or 10 pedals, that would probably work using 6-9 or 7-10.
Otherwise, if you're talking about just converting the existing C6th pedals to E9th pulls on an 8-pedal guitar, having the knee between the knee levers and the foot cocked over to where the C6th pedals would normally begin might be awkward and uncomfortable.
By the way, I made a mistake in that copedent ... the first string raise should be a whole tone raise instead of a half tone.
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 8:13 am
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By the way, I know that if I ever do find and old all-pull D-10 extremely cheap, that beggars can't really be choosers ... but, I'm hoping Providence allows it to be an old Mullen ...  ... after all, if you're going dream (big grins here) ...
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 8:18 am
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| I modified an MSA for a friend and then Frank Carter built an Infinity with exactly that for him- all the pedals on the right hand side of the guitar. |
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Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From:
Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 9:30 am
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I really appreciate all the responses and input. When I started thinking of modifying a guitar to be left-footed (an old term that I and some other steel players used to use in the 70's to refer to a pedals-on-the-right, volume-pedal-on-the-left guitar), my one concern was that there might be issues having the cross-rods and pedals starting in such close proximity to the changer, but I see through all your responses it's quite doable. 
That's definitely the route I want to go ... now to find an old all-pull guitar really cheap to make the modifications to ... that's going to be the real issue (the words real cheap being the keywords to complicate things).
_________________
1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Jerry Roller
From:
Van Buren, Arkansas USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2015 6:02 pm
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Jim, if you can obtain a 10 pedal guitar it would not be a big problem to use 6 thru 10 as E9th, leave 1, 2 and 3 for some C6th changes that you could leave the volume pedal long enough to use either one or two of them with your left foot since no rocking would be required. I didn't know about the stroke and I am very sorry it happened. I hope you can get this project done. No doubt you can play it when you do get it.
Jerry
_________________
http://www.littleoprey.org/ |
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Dave Meis
From:
Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA
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Posted 31 May 2015 10:34 am
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| I'm a little late to the party, and don't know if you've solved your problem, but I have a Sierra S-10 that has the pedals in a channel and they can be located anywhere along the rail from farthest left to farthest right, and the cross-shafts go into an extrusion with a hole every inch and a half, allowing the cross-shafts to be mounted basically anywhere. You might look for one of those if you're still looking...I'd be happy to send pics if you need..hope all's well and you're back to playing!! |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 31 May 2015 10:53 am
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Don Warden's first ShoBud had two pedals at the changer end. Saw on the Porter Show. A week or so later, they were at the keyhead end.
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 31 May 2015 12:54 pm
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Jim Back in to 80s, a local player named Stan West also had a stroke and had his steel altered exactly the way you pictured it.
He played pretty good too.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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