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Topic: Cougar Pedal Steels |
Robert Shauger
From:
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Posted 20 Oct 2004 5:16 pm |
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I've seen several guitars for sale online, but I've never personally seen one.
Are they any good? |
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Danny Hullihen
From:
Harrison, Michigan
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Posted 21 Oct 2004 7:27 am
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Robert. The Cougar Steel guitars were built by Freeman Cowgar, here in Michigan. Freeman was in the steel guitar business all of his life, and he had a lot of knowledge about steel guitars, including building them.
Freeman is gone now, and so is the company, but if you happen to have any old issues of Steel Guitar World Magazine, you can probably find some pictures in there of his guitars. |
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Daniel J. Cormier
From:
Lake Charles, LA, USA
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Posted 21 Oct 2004 7:35 am
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Have had a couple Cougar Pedal Steel Guitar and found them to be a pretty good guitar.Only weakness I found was the Pickups were cheap. Fixed that with a new Bill Lawerance or Greoge L narrow mount pickup. Found the Sd-10 models to be an excellent guitar to travel with. The one we currently have for sale at www.cajunsteelguitar.com is in like new condition and has a BL 705 installed. Also has up graded floor pedals. Action is as smooth as my Mullen.A good all around super lightweight guitar. As a matter of fact the case weight is more than the guitar and the volume pedal put together.
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Daniel J. Cormier
MCI D-10 , Peavey Sessions 500 & 400 Limited ,Nashville 400
http://www.cajunsteelguitar.com email at djcormier@cox-internet.com
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Ed Naylor
From:
portsmouth.ohio usa, R.I.P.
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Posted 21 Oct 2004 10:11 am
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| Sadly Freeman is no longer with us, but he never received the credit he deserved as a Mfg and promoter of Steels. His guitars were affordable. Prior to the COUGAR he built the LITTLE BUDDY.I bought all the remaining stock after Freemans death so that I may be able to help anyone that may have an old Freeman guitar. Ed Naylor Steel Guitar Works. |
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William Peters
From:
Effort, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 21 Oct 2004 11:33 am
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Robert,
I own a Cougar SD-10 (model 1095) which I think is like the one Mr. Cormier has on his web site. Its certainly not an Emmons, or a Mullen, but it is quite serviceable. It stays in tune, the mechanics are pretty good, and mine had all the standard changes on it (Bob Shilling copedant). Its pretty easy to work on, and sounds decent with the stock pickup... probably better with a higher quality pickup. The stock pickup that came with mine was wound to 17k, and was quite 'hot'.
The model I have has painted end plates, I guess to keep down the cost. I would bet that they could be taken off and polished if one wanted to make it look a little more refined.
One downside, on mine at least is the legs, which have a less than perfect adjustment mechanism, causing them to occasionally slip. Not a show stopper, just an annoyance.
The other problem I have with mine is that the changer fingers are made out of very soft aluminum that required me to polish out the string grooves everytime I changed strings.
I bought mine as my first pedal steel, and I feel I got what I paid for. Since I bought my Mullen, it is collecting dust, but I learned a lot with that instrument.
Oh, Freeman also made some higher end models, I think he called them the 'Elite" models. They were very nice looking guitars though. As far as I know from his website, he only made E9 guitars.
Freeman Cowgar was a very nice gentleman to do business with, and its certainly a loss to the steel guitar community that he has passed away.
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Bill
http://www.wgpeters.com
Mullen RP SD12U, ART-SLA, Tubefex, Vamp-Pro |
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