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Topic: That one great guitar -- early bolton |
Tom Quinn
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 11:53 am |
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Almost two years ago, I bought two D10 boltons. One was a black '67 in immaculate condition. Plays and sounds great. Vintage case was almost new. I sold it to a good picker in New Jersey who loves it, as did I.
The other one is an invoice-number guitar in mahogany Formica. Th price was right but it was unplayable when it arrived. Well last week, I took it to Ian Worley in Sacramento. Besides being a totally pro player who is seriously booked up, Ian fixes steel guitars. He also has a complete machine shop as well.
Ian ordered the necessary parts for the guitar from Mike in Texas, took out the Sho-Bud and other weird-alice parts hiding in the undercarriage, manufactured a few things and returned the guitar to me on Monday.
This guitar has a fractionally smaller body than my other bolton and has the black pickups that were installed on wraparounds. I got it back home and can tell you this is the best pedal steel I've ever owned. The black bolt I sold is a very close second but this guitar has a clarity I've never heard in any other steel. You can play a full grip and every note rings out clearly from the others while blending perfectly. There is no "mush" anywhere up or down the neck. The guitar has a lean tone, never bright or harsh. I've never heard another steel like it under my picks.
For me, I have to think these early invoice-numbered push pulls are the ones. YMMV and you won't hurt my feelings.
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I need an Emmons! |
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John McClung
From:
Olympia WA, USA
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 12:26 pm
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Cool testamonial, Tom.
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E9 INSTRUCTION
▪️ If you want to have an ongoing discussion, please email me, don't use the Forum messaging which I detest! steelguitarlessons@earthlink.net |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 3:46 pm
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What is the OHM's readings on the pickups?
Some one may have done some magic to the pickups and put some Pixie Dust in them. |
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Tom Quinn
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 3:50 pm
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14.5K as I recall.
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I need an Emmons! |
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Cody Stewart
From:
Traverse City Michigan, USA
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 5:13 pm
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Tom,
I’m glad you got it up and running. That’s certinally mahogany Formica! Same exact grain pattern that’s on my bolt on. Do you happen to know if the cabinet/body is made of maple planks? I was also wondering if you might tell us what the invoice number is?
All the best,
CS
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Bolt On’s: Red Belly, Brown Belly, 73 Sho~Bud Pro~II, Fender’s/Peavey’s. If it doesn't sound like 1968, then I probably won’t like it. |
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Tom Quinn
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 5:18 pm
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Serial number is inside on the end plate behind the C6th neck. The serial number is 2605. I would think the guitar is maple. Mahogany Formica sounds better. Ask anyone who owns a Martin D18. Smiles...
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I need an Emmons! |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 7:32 pm
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| Cody Stewart wrote: |
| ...Do you happen to know if the cabinet/body is made of maple planks? |
I tried to convince Tom we should saw the guitar in half to check out the wood when it was here but he was having none of that. It really is a sweet guitar, it just needed a little TLC.
And yes Bobby, I think it does have some pixie dust. It was all over the guitar actually, it has a remarkably similar look to years of cigarette smoke, but it's obviously more special. I do think pixies must prefer Camel non-filter though. In any case, Tom wouldn't let me clean anything off that wasn't necessary to get it playing well, so there's still a thin layer of good ol' honkytonk stories here and there. Or pixie stories? Something like that.
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All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
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Tom Quinn
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Posted 20 Jul 2022 7:51 pm
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I smoked three packs a day of Camels when I was living the honky tonk life so that guitar and I have bonded well. Ian is an absolute master at setting up a push pull. This guitar plays like butter and sounds unreal.
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I need an Emmons! |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 22 Jul 2022 5:01 am
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I had a rosewood body D10 bolt on like that years ago. It’s the one that got away !
I loaned it to a buddy that was just getting his session work rolling because he was trying figure out if it was him or his steel that sounded thin. That guitar was like Godzilla trashing Tokyo. If it sounded thin it was you . Another time I had on the road at a festival in Ireland and a great player in another band wanted to try it out during sound check because had only heard about them but he had never played a bolt on. I warned him not to play it because it would ruin him but he insisted. After one chord he looked up and said “it’s all true !”
Maybe the best and sweetest sounding solo I ever played was with that steel too. A tune called Lucky by the band Hem.
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Bob |
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Tomas Enguidanos
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2022 4:03 am Howdy cousin!
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 Hi, I am a second cousin from San Leandro, born in 1980 |
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