Buying my 1st pedal steel. Need advice.

David Guillory · From: Louisiana, USA

Hello, this is my first post in this community. Glad to be here and sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place.

I have been playing on a lap steel for a few months now and have been wanting to get into pedal steel. I found one locally for $650 the guy says is in working condition but needs to be set up for the individual player. When I inquired about this, I gathered that the pedals need to be set up. Being that I've never even seen a pedal steel in person before I would love to get yalls two cents on the matter before I go to meet him to look at it. Here are my questions:

1. Is it fairly easy to set up the pedals or do I need to seek out a professional for this? I've played guitars for 20 years and do all my own setups on them. I know it's not the same but wanted to give some reference on my experience in similar situations.

2. What should I be looking for when assessing the instrument? Any red flags that I should be aware of?

Any advice yall could give would be greatly appreciated. I am excited to start my journey into pedal steel but don't want to end up buying a heap of trash and my impulsiveness in buying instruments sometimes gets the best of me. I am willing to put in a little work to get it playing well but want to be aware of what I am getting myself into.

Here are some pics.

Thanks! Glad to be a part of this community.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Sorry, man, but I cannot recommend buying this without bringing an experienced steel player along to check it out. I don't feel that there's anything I could tell you to look for that would really mean anything to you, lacking any experience with pedal steel. It's like.....where too even begin?

A steel person could give you an assessment in under five minutes as to whether this is a viable instrument, an instrument that is not going to have more time spent on it trying to get it to play reasonably well and consistently than playing time, and can be set up to a fairly standard tuning without too much difficulty. The best you can do for yourself, even if a dozen people jump in here throwing advice and suggestions, is take a lucky or unlucky leap.

Photos of the undersides are essential to form even a tentative opinion, from where I sit here. I can't even tell if it has knee levers.

Will Brown · From: Oklahoma, USA

What Jon said if you get a steel that you have to work on all the time. It will hamper your learning and discourage you.And that happens to to many people just starting out.The best thing to do is take what,you are were going to spend on that steel and buy a more modern steel. I am not saying that steel isn't worth what that person is asking for it. But is it for you and what you need that's what you need to ask yourself good luck

Mitch Ellis · From: Collins, Mississippi USA

Hello David,
This steel may or may not be worth $650.00 but either way, my advise to you is not to buy it. I feel pretty sure that it will cause you a lot of mechanical frustration. You would be better off spending twice that amount if necessary on a newer one that would be in better mechanical condition. If you had experience working on pedal steels, it would be a different matter. But since you don't, my advise is not to buy it.

Mitch

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

Welcome to the Steel Guitar Forum.

I agree with Mr. Ellis, Mr. Brown and Mr. Light, Don't buy the guitar.
With no pictures of the Under Carriage, There is no way to tell how much work would be required to make the guitar set up and playable.

The body does not look factory built. The Key heads, With tiny nut rollers date the key heads to about 1965 era Sho-Bud key heads or copy. From the picture, The guitar is built on a Pull and Release type of changer, By the row of Stop Screws on the back of the Changer Housing.

David Guillory · From: Louisiana, USA

Thanks for the advice guys. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear but at least I’m better informed now. I’ve obtained some photos of the underside and was told that there is one knee lever on it and another one in the case. Here are some pics of the underside. Still a no go or everything look decent down there?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

That's a definite *pass*.
The best thing you can say is that a skilled steel guitar tech could maybe adjust it into playing reliably. Maybe. And then it maybe could sound good. Maybe. Would it then be a guitar that would play well enough that you could start learning on it? Maybe.

And maybe not, for each of those questions. It is very outdated 'technology', crudely executed.

David Guillory · From: Louisiana, USA

Well damn. That’s a bummer. Thank y’all so much for helping me with that. I would have bought it for sure. My rationalizing brain was doing backflips to not listen y’all’s advice. Thanks for saving me money and a bunch of headaches.

On that note, do y’all have good recommendations on what to look for in buying my first one and what I should expect to spend? This is a real difficult instrument to get into without having a buddy to guide me in the right direction.

Will Brown · From: Oklahoma, USA

What Jon is telling you is how it is. I am pretty desent on working on steels and I would not buy this as a player maybe as a piece to have as a vintage guitar and that's it. Your better off getting a steel you can play good luck.

Bob Sigafoos · From: San Clemente, Calif. , U.S.

Not a mechanical opinion but.... Are you a strongman body builder? This guitar probably weighs 60+ lbs, more in a case (15 to 30 lbs). If you intend to drag it around it could be challenging.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Well, you'll have to spend more than the asking price for that 'project guitar', maybe twice as much and upwards.

Don't ignore the advice already posted here. I know exactly what you're going through. You're drawn to the traditional look of this steel but, even if it were restored to original working condition (you'd need deep pockets for that, even if you can find an available tech), it would be a museum piece that couldn't compare to a modern all-pull guitar.

Look at the entry-level steels from Justice, GFI, Stage One, Mullen, etc.. They'll have modern setups and will work straight out of the case.

I was once tempted to look for Rolls-Royce from the '80s or '90s. They could - and can - be had for $20k but I read some wisdom in a motor magazine: "There's no such thing as a cheap Rolls-Royce". The guitar above reminds me of my narrowly-avoided folly. Smile

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

What's shown in the pictures may be a playable guitar. No, it's not anything like a new guitar, but it could be fine for you to learn the basics. Pedal steels of this type are not complicated, and use just basic mechanical principles to operate. But about all the have in common with a straight guitar is that they have strings and tuning keys; they're really a different animal than a standard 6-stringer, and they're crude compared to a modern pedal steel. But they can be fun and enlightening, nevertheless.

The guitar is probably "set up" (steeler's term for "what pedal does what") already in a playable configuration, and with a few drops of oil on the keys, nut rollers, and changer (and the addition of some new strings),. it could be ready to make music. The stated price probably isn't too far off in today's world of escalating prices, and I'd estimate it's worth around $400-$600.

A fellow steeler could be very helpful, so find one near you and do your best to elicit his help, should you decide to get the guitar...but resist the idea of restoring it to something far better. It is what it is, but that's not always a bad thing. Winking

Bryce Van Parys · From: Washington, USA

Avoid the newbie mistakes and get a decent playable guitar out of the gate. One set up with at least 3 pedals and 4 knees, Emmons set up, and one that you can get parts for still. If you buy it right, you can sell it right later. And as always, ask questions here first. I went through 3 before I got my first playable one, and then on to a new Mullen Royal Precision SD when I got serious. Carters are great for a solid value guitar. You'll want to double your budget at least. Ideally get closer to $2k and you'll avoid a lot of hassle. There's enough time needed to learn to play. You won't be happy constantly trying to fix and mod a guitar while you try to learn. I'm in about 1000 hours of playing over my first 14 months of Steeling, and gigging fairly regular now. It's possible, but there is no shortcut outside of good practice method and a playable guitar...
_________________
Bryce

Double bass, Mike Lull V4, G&L SB2 electric bass, Stratocaster, Telecaster, Les Paul, Martin D18GE,

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Thats doesn't look like a bad steel .. IF-
1-its been properly set up to play by someone that knows pedal steel guitars.
2-its got a modern usable tuning/copedent
3- its stable and stays in tune
4. the buyer isn't a beginner..

Thats not a student guitar, and to be honest, the price is really pretty good IF its mechanically sound and set up to play well. It looks pretty decent from here, and was properly designed with the undercarriage set into aluminum frames as opposed to just screwed into the wood.

If you can get a good very experienced pedal steel player to go with you, play it, look it over, tune it up, it may be a diamond in the rough. If not, you may be trying to ditch an unworkable mess for pennies on the dollar within a month or two.
This is a guitar that screams "proceed with caution"... Personally if that guitar were around here, I would surely go with $650 in my pocket and drive a couple hours to go check it out. However I'd be just as ready to walk away saying, "thanks but I'm gonna pass on this one". To me its looks like it might be a sleeper, or a nightmare, and only an experienced hand will know the difference... If you can't get anyone like that to give it a good look and feel, I would have to join the others and say you might want to keep looking, and be prepared to spend a lot more money,,,, bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Tom Watterson · From: Texas, USA

As an absolute pedal steel noob, I can tell you that the best advice I ever got was "buy once, cry once." Continual fussing with the internals of an instrument you don't know how to play is a recipe for quitting.

So plan to spend $1500 - $2000 for something good. If you end up not pursuing the instrument, you can pretty easily get back nearly what you paid for it.

That MSA S10 in the classifieds looks nice, or wait for a GFI Student Model or Zum Stage One to come available.

That's my .02 anyway. Happy holidays, and good luck!

Ken Morgan · From: Midland, Texas, USA

Agree with the notion of buying something that won’t become obsolete to you in a few weeks. Same for pretty much any instrument with strings: get something that will be usable for your anticipated needs, not immediate ones
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67 Shobud Blue Darling III, scads of pedals and such, more 6 strings than I got room for

Ken Morgan
Midland, TX

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