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Topic: Concise history document? |
Josh Yenne
From:
Sonoma California
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Posted 6 Jul 2022 2:57 pm |
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Hello my friend! I’ve got hired to do kind of an interesting thing. Tomorrow night I am going to a community open mic and the guy who runs it wants to do some “Ted talk” kind of things. He wants to start out with having me there to talk about the pedal steel.
I want to talk about some of the history a lot of which I know rave off the top of my head but was just wondering if anyone could point me to a site or send me a document or anything like that it would have a good history all the way from Laps steel development to Bud Isaac‘s and all of that stuff. Just to make my life a little easier. Much appreciated! |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2022 5:05 pm
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| If he wants you to talk about pedal steel, I wouldn’t go to deep into the history of the non-pedal predecessor. And keep the name dropping to a minimum. The best Ted Talkers have a way of making their topic seem relevant and personal to the lives of listeners in the audience. You could tell the tale of how it all started with a Shot and a Bud in a garage in Madison Tennessee... |
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Andrew Goulet
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Posted 6 Jul 2022 6:34 pm
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That's a cool idea, and one that I could see working out here in western MA. Definitely a draw for an open mic.
I searched the forum and found this article that seems to have been vetted by the community: https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/pedal-to-the-metal-a-short-history-of-the-pedal-steel-guitar. It's in this thread: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=279778
Parts of pedal steel's evolutionary history are still debated, but I think that's an interesting aspect of the instrument to include in a talk.
I agree with Fred about not name-dropping (but handing out a single sheet of paper with recommended listening is an A+ touch).
Most people are familiar with how a six string guitar works, in the roughest physical sense. Biggest difference between one of those and steel guitar is using the bar. The bar gives you many sounds, but it restricts your voicing choices (compared to playing six-string Spanish guitar). Explaining that gets you to the point where you can actually explain why pedals were invented and added to straight steel and how they function as a part of the instrument.
More info than you asked for, I know. But I don't get to talk steel with many people so it's fun.
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Marlen S12 pedal steel
12 string Bill Hatcher lap steel
ZT Club and Lunchbox |
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Bud Angelotti
From:
Larryville, NJ, USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2022 6:45 pm
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Tell 'em about Adolf Richenbacher. HE invented the electric guitar, not that other guy, His was spanish, underarm style, and 10-15 years later.
And ... shrouded in mystery ...
http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp
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Just 'cause I look stupid, don't mean I'm not. |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 6 Jul 2022 10:02 pm
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Hope you get all the information you need for your talk.
My only suggestion came from my old 12th grade English Teacher.
"MAKE A TALK OR SPEACH LIKE A WOMAN'S DRESS, LONG ENOUGH TO COVER THE SUBJECT, AND SHORT ENOUGH TO MAKE IT INTERESTING".
Good Luck in this project, And Happy Steelin. |
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Josh Yenne
From:
Sonoma California
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Posted 7 Jul 2022 9:22 am
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Thanks y’all! I will check out that link. Well this is an open mic so everyone there is going to be basically a amateur musician. So it’s not like a Ted talk to just a random group of people these folks will actually want to know more than most folk on the intricacies. But yes I’m gonna try to keep it at about 10 minutes at longest.
Around here most people have never even laid eyes on one of the instruments |
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Chris Lucker
From:
Los Angeles, California USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2022 1:16 pm
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
| IYou could tell the tale of how it all started with a Shot and a Bud in a garage in Madison Tennessee... |
Heck, building pedal steels, as opposed to adding pedals to non-pedal guitars, didn't even start for Shot in a garage in Madison, T. That was Shot Jackson's second pedal steel guitar venture. His first venture, called DALAND, with Don DAvis and Hank garLAND, started in Summer 1954 and captured some the demand for Bigsby copies.
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Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 7 Jul 2022 2:03 pm
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
| If he wants you to talk about pedal steel... You could tell the tale of how it all started with a Shot and a Bud in a garage in Madison Tennessee... |
The Harlin, Gibson, Bigsby, and Wright pedal steels (in that order) all predated anything done by Shot and Buddy.  |
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Kelcey ONeil
From:
Sevierville, TN
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Posted 7 Jul 2022 6:26 pm
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| Fred Treece wrote: |
| If he wants you to talk about pedal steel... You could tell the tale of how it all started with a Shot and a Bud in a garage in Madison Tennessee... |
The Harlin, Gibson, Bigsby, and Wright pedal steels (in that order) all predated anything done by Shot and Buddy. |
If you want to take it from the perspective of how we got the modern instrument we have now, Shot and Buddy in the mid 50's is a great place to start. While there are certainly notable forbearers to the Sho-Bud, it is probably the easiest to recognize in terms of form and function in relation to the modern instrument, and definitely one of the most influential. Within 5 years(1957-1962), Buddy transformed the instrument from a D8 platform that was still essentially a console steel with a few pedal changes, into a D10 platform with full copedents that would be totally incomparable to what had preceded it just a few years before.
With the introduction of the Emmons Original in 1964 and its mechanical innovations, Buddy was able to establish what is now considered the standard E9 and C6 copedents; and with the parallel introduction of the Sho-Bud Fingertip and its all pull system into the mainstream, you pretty much have the foundation for everything since.
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Co-owner and operator: Emmons Guitar Co. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 8 Jul 2022 5:43 pm
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Kelcey, Fender also came out with their Model 1000 in 1957, and though it was was a D8, it was available with up to 10 pedals, so you could hardly call it "essentially a console steel with a few pedal changes". The Fender was just as revolutionary as the Sho~Bud or Early Emmons, but was sans two strings until 1963-1964. It allowed raises and lowers of the same string, and extremely quick and easy copedant changes with it's cables (though the limitations of cables proved to be it's eventual downfall). Every new model, even the Sho~Bud and Emmons guitars, had plusses and minuses. What Buddy did give us (along with Jimmy Day and Ralph Mooney) was the present E9th tuning and many of the changes and theory that are associated with it. His list of accomplishments is legendary, and his push/pull guitar design was an icon for many years, and was (in his words) his proudest accomplishment.  |
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Kelcey ONeil
From:
Sevierville, TN
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Posted 8 Jul 2022 6:23 pm
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Donny,
I agree with you about the Fenders, I have several of them and they indeed were a game changer at the time with a lot of great features. However, with Sho-Bud and Fender both getting going in 1957, what came prior were for the most part glorified console steels; and while the Bud's influence is clearly seen today, the Fender has little to no bearing on modern instruments. Plus, it seems for whatever reason the Nashville pros never cottoned up to Fender(Buddy loved his Stringmaster but hated the pedal steels) and chose to develop something of their own, which in turn continued to evolve into what we have now.
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Co-owner and operator: Emmons Guitar Co. |
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 9 Jul 2022 6:43 am
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| So Josh: how did it go? |
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