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Author Topic:  Why did Emmons go from Push-Pull to All Pull?
Jeffrey Snyder


From:
Virginia, USA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 10:48 am    
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Thank you for any insight that can be provided.

Jeff.
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Ian Rae


From:
Redditch, England
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 12:33 pm    
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Same reason he went from pull-release to push-pull. Progress.
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Tom Quinn


Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 2:12 pm    
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Ian Rae wrote:
Same reason he went from pull-release to push-pull. Progress.


Having played both types of changers, I would not call it "progress." Push pulls are more expensive to build. They are indeed limited compared to the inferior all-pull system in regards to copedents but so is a violin with wooden pegs.
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Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 2:26 pm    
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Jeff - When you say "Emmons", are you referring to Buddy Emmons or the guitar company?
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Tony Glassman


From:
The Great Northwest
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 2:31 pm    
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There was market pressure to build an all pull guitar.
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Ian Rae


From:
Redditch, England
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 3:14 pm    
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Lee, I was assuming Jeffrey meant the person, but I guess the same applies. Tom, maybe I should have put progress in quotes. Tony, perhaps by progress I meant market pressure! Smile
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Daniel McKee

 

From:
Corinth Mississippi
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 3:20 pm    
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Not comparing the two because I've heard both and they sounded awesome but look at other companies of the 60's and 70's. Many of them had unique mechanisms but as time went on more and more went to the All-Pull idea. Shobud did some different things over the years and ultimately ended up as all pull.
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Mike Perlowin


From:
Los Angeles CA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 3:49 pm    
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Given that push pulls cannot do splits and all pulls can, I would not call the all pull system inferior.

Some folks don't care about splits. I find them indispensable. So much so that if a p-p 12 string came up for sale, I'd pass on it even if I could afford it.
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 4:42 pm    
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I agree. Split-tune options are now a part of the landscape and I for one wouldn't want to do without them.

Someone will doubtless chime in to say that it 'can be done on a p/p' but it's complicated. For me the difference in tone is there but not as marked as some will suggest. I suppose it depends on the era that influenced you - while I love listening to 'E' on, say, Miller's 'A Trip In The Country' LP I do find his tone a touch nasal.

My Emmons LeGrande is warmer than that and that suits me perfectly.
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 4:55 pm    
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The big selling point of the Emmons all-pull was tuneable splits.

Raises win on a push-pull, which is sort of a neat feature. If you lower your E's and add B+C, you get F# on the 4th (from the C pedal) and D# on the 8th (from the lever). That gives you a big honkin' B9th chord.

But people were lusting after the idea of tuneable splits and complex copedents (like the U-12) that were hard to do with a push-pull. The spin was that you could have the best of both worlds - Emmons tone and all-pull flexibility.
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Jack Stanton


From:
Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 5:02 pm    
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Roger,
I think Buddy's sound on that record is more product of the generally accepted Steel guitar tone and amplifiers of the era. He used the same guitar on Swinging From The 40's To The 80's, and the tone on that album is downright dark.


Last edited by Jack Stanton on 3 Apr 2017 6:22 am; edited 1 time in total
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 5:07 pm    
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Agreed, Jack. It's what was wanted at the time, presumably dictated by the producers of the day?

I feel like a heretic for saying it but steel guitar sounds sweeter to me when it's warmer (or, if you like, darker).
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Steve Hinson

 

From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 5:40 pm    
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Jack Stanton wrote:
Roger,
I think I think Buddy's sound on that record is more product of the generally accepted Steel guitar tone and amplifiers of the era. He used the same guitar on Swinging From The 40's To The 80's, and the tone on that album is downright dark.


Buddy surely used a borrowed amp(pretty sure he said it was a Twin Reverb)
on the Roger Miller album...he flew to town with Roger to record it(they both lived in LA)...

He was heard to say on more than one occasion that the tone he got on that album"would blister a beagle's ear at forty paces)...he didn't care for it at all.
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 5:44 pm    
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That's a relief!

I'm glad he didn't like it either.


Happy Birthday, Steve - I missed it.
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Jim Cohen


From:
Philadelphia, PA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 7:01 pm    
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Steve Hinson wrote:
He was heard to say on more than one occasion that the tone he got on that album "would blister a beagle's ear at forty paces"...

Where do phrases like that come from?? Is it an Emmons-ism or a general Southern-ism? I'm sure I don't know anybody who would come up with such a colorful expression. But I did once meet a woman from Mississippi who told me that, if something or other (good) happened in her life, she'd be so ecstatic that she'd "bend down and kiss every tile in the linoleum"! Where do people get this stuff?? I must admit that the very notion of kissing the linoleum had, until that moment, never once crossed my mind... Did I use the wrong drugs in college or something?

Sorry for the diversion. We now return you to your regular programme...
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Bobby Boggs

 

From:
Upstate SC.
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 7:39 pm    
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Quote:
He was heard to say on more than one occasion that the tone he got on that album "would blister a beagle's ear at forty paces"..


Buddy wrote that here or in Ask Buddy. Being from the south. I've never heard that expression used before. Or what the lady said about kissing tile. But I ain't heard everything. Smile I have a feeling that's an Emmons-ism.

b.
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Mike Perlowin


From:
Los Angeles CA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 7:51 pm    
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Roger Rettig wrote:


I feel like a heretic for saying it but steel guitar sounds sweeter to me when it's warmer (or, if you like, darker).


I feel the same way.
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 7:52 pm    
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I'm inclined to agree with Bobby.

"would blister a beagle's ear at forty paces".

This is alliteration of the highest order with more than a dash of humour. Buddy excelled at expressing himself and not only through his instrument.
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Jim Cohen


From:
Philadelphia, PA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2017 7:56 pm    
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Roger Rettig wrote:
This is alliteration of the highest order with more than a dash of humour. Buddy excelled at expressing himself and not only through his instrument.

You think he was a fan of Tintin?


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Ian Rae


From:
Redditch, England
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 1:23 am    
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Steve Hinson wrote:
He was heard to say on more than one occasion that the tone he got on that album "would blister a beagle's ear at forty paces"

Jim Cohen wrote:
Is it an Emmons-ism or a general Southern-ism?

Buddy was from Indiana originally. But do not discount the testimony of hounds - what I like about single-coil pickups mine dislikes intensely, although he'll listen to humbuckers all day...

My grandmother would describe a person in a state of agitation as "like a sparrow on a hot breakfast".
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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 6:14 am    
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Regarding the tone of my Fessenden guitar, I can personally attest to the fact that a great income opportunity for paint and wallpaper contractors was lost upon completion of the removal of the GeorgeL E-66 pickup in my guitar, and subsequent installation of the Telonics 409.
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 6:16 am    
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Smile
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Jeffrey Snyder


From:
Virginia, USA
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 10:18 am     Emmons - The company or Mr. Buddy Emmons?
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Thank you. I could never refer to Mr. Buddy Emmons as "Emmons". He was the "BIG E". I should have said "Why did the Emmons Guitar Company move from a Push-Pull to an All-Pull changer?

Thank you for the insight that this Forum provides. Without it, the history would be lost.
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Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 11:11 am    
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Quote:
I should have said "Why did the Emmons Guitar Company move from a Push-Pull to an All-Pull changer?


Cheaper to produce and some would say more efficient and lower maintenance. But it's interesting that push/pulls are still considered to be the industry standard for tone. And the selling prices continue to rise.
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David Mitchell

 

From:
Tyler, Texas
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2017 12:54 pm    
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Buddy might have got it from hanging around guys like Grady Martin. Grady always said a Fender Telecaster can kill Johnson grass up to 100 feet away. Grady was a Gibson man understandably.
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