Rayline D10

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Just picked this up locally. It sounds great!

I bought this from one of Stompin' Tom Connors' steel players. This is NOT one he played with Tom though, it's one he got on a trade or something later. When I picked this up the C6 neck needed a string, and the whole thing hadn't been tuned in a while. The seller told me that the C6 neck had no knee levers on it, but when I got it home I realized that actually it has one. In the picture that's the tuning rod without a nylon nut on the end.

Unfortunately I have no extra nylon tuning nuts lying around. I assume that's a C->B lever (that's why there's a * on the copedent). Usually if you only have one knee on a C6, that's the one. I think if a nylon nut was added you could just tune it up and it would work, but of course I've been unable to check. The rest of the rods tuned up fine, according to the attached copedent.

I think this guitar would benefit from a thorough servicing. It has old rusty strings on it, so I've ordered some replacements, and plan to clean the wood and polish the metal when I have the strings off. I'll probably remove the keyheads so I can really get in there.

The changers need to be taken apart and cleaned and lubed up, I think. I've been playing a ton on the E9 neck, and the tuning stability is good. I was working on some Buddy Emmons stuff last night for a few hours and didn't tune at all. I had it in my living room all night with the window open the previous night too, and didn't tune before I started playing. So the mechanics seems good to me. However the C6 neck has clearly not been played as often, and currently the pedals which change the low C string tend to throw it out of tune (p5 and p8 ). The strings on there are total junk, so it may be that new strings will go a long way to improving that, but I think the real answer is to clean and lube the changer properly. I do think it'll work just as well as the E9 if that's done though. A guitar doesn't get this much wear because it wasn't useable!

Unfortunately I live in a small apartment so it's not an ideal place to get into a job like that, so I was planning on cleaning it up and selling it as it is.

I do really like this guitar. The tone is what hit me the most. I have been impressed with the sound of it from the second I started playing it. It's got a bunch of scuffs and stuff but so do I and I still work fine haha.

Bill Fisher · From: Oklahoma, USA

I believe the person that made it, also made the Sho-Bud Guitars, at one time. This was during a period of transition, I do believe. I may be wrong about this, but I believe this was the case.

Bill

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Thank you Bill. That fits with what I found online

Damir Besic · From: Nashville,TN.

very early Rayline, very nice …
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https://steelguitarsonline.com/

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Ivan Funk · From: Hamburg Pennsylvania, USA

Very cool. I always thought these Raylines were great looking. Post some pictures after you get it all cleaned up.

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Here are some pre-string change examples. Warning: intonation problems are my fault haha.

Shenandoah on E9 (I find this really difficult to get right):
https://youtu.be/euOe-i1p7Og

That's Life on C6 (I don't play C6):
https://youtu.be/04f4P535o70

Both are a little rough but I wanted a record of how it sounded with rusty strings so I banged these out. They're just recorded straight into my computer with a little reverb and compression. The plan is to re-record the same tunes once I've cleaned it up and changed strings, etc, with exactly the same recording settings.

edit: No volume pedal on these so the sustain of the guitar is more obvious.

Ivan Funk · From: Hamburg Pennsylvania, USA

Sounds nice.

Look forward to hearing it with new strings and pictures of it all cleaned and shiny.

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

The idea of using wingnuts on studs threaded into the crossrods is really unique! It's simple and gives continuous adjustability, although I'd be wary of the screws breaking off if the wingnuts were adjusted too far out. Confused

That's one of the few brands I've never seen up close.

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

bar dings:

Rayline logo scuff under E, hard to see in the picture:

scrape:

missing nylon tuner end for C6 knee:

C6 fretboard scrape:

Pedal rod 8 (bottom) should have a lock nut like the one on top:

E9 neck scrape:

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

All cleaned up!
before:

after:

Ivan Funk · From: Hamburg Pennsylvania, USA

Nice!
Love the dice fret markers.

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Justin Shaw · From: Ontario, Canada

Sold locally! What a fun project, and what a killer tone!

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