Bigsby instruments at Deke's Guitar Geek Fest?

[Eric Stumpf]

I imagine several of you went to the show and probably even participated in the all-Bigsby stage segment of the festival. How did it go?

[Michael Lee Allen]

DELETED

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

I was there behind the Chief Mack Thomas triple neck steel. And like Deke said in his introduction "don't know how this is gonna sound but it will sound like something". There was a lot of money on stage; imagine an improptu jam session of western swing tunes with three triple neck Bigsby steels, a Bigsby mandolin, a Bigsby doubleneck guitar and Bigsby singleneck guitars all on stage at the same time! Yep, I never dreamed I'd see that happen either! But it did, and it did sound like something and at least it looked great, and there will be pictures in the upcoming Bigsby book, so stay tuned!!

[Darrell Urbien]

Who were the players?

[Michael Lee Allen]

DELETED

[Eric West]

If it was Deke D, I'm sure he had is Wright Custom there. I opened with a band for cheap at one of his shows and LOVED his playing. He had just gotten a Wright Custom, long legs, pedal rods, etc for "stand up".

Also his Standell Collection I'm sure is meyond compare.

What a guy.

As COOL as they come.



EJL

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

I don't recall seeing the Wright there on display, there were numerous vintage guitars, both standard and steel guitars, amps and all kinds of other oddities. On the all Bigsby band the players were Deke, TK Smith, Jeremy Wakefield, RC Allen, Dave Westerbeke, Crazy Joe Tritschler, Ashley Kingman, steel player from Marty & Mooneyhams ( name escapes me right now, sorry pal ) and yours truly. Wally Hersom was on upright bass and Dave Stuckey on drums.

[Dave Van Allen]

off topic (sorry but i have to ask) did anyone catch jimmy Wilsey's set at the geekfest? you can reply by email if you did... thanks

[chas smith R.I.P.]

That was probably the most painful "I can't do it" I've had to say. I had made a commitment to do a series of shows/gigs in the bay area and I couldn't back out. Damn. -- cs

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Dave, I was on right after Jimmy and saw his whole set. Very cool stuff, Deke even demanded him to do Wicked Game as an encore. I strongly recommend his upcoming solo album, it should be out within a month or so.
Chas, you and your Bigsbys were sorely missed!!

[Ron Whitfield]

As he's been doing with all the past Deke-fests, Deke will be putting this one out on DVD, which was shot with 16 ch. audio and multiple cameras.
Quite a departure from the first one in which he used his one personal cam-corder for the whole enchilada.

The much under the radar, Brian Lonbeck, was a devestating addition to the guitar party. He's a suped up version of Joe Maphis.

Thank you, Deke!

[Deke Dickerson]

Hey guys--

I don't log in that much on the steel guitar forum but I just saw all the nice posts about the Guitar Geek Festival, so thought I would chime in and post a few thoughts.

The "All-Bigsby Band" could have been a complete flop, it really depended on a few people showing up with their instruments, and luckily everybody came! It was really a once-in-a-lifetime event. it only would have been better if we could have gotten Chas Smith to bring a few of his instruments, but honestly i don't know where we would found room to put any more steel guitars on stage. It was perfect.

The thing that I am most proud of is that people brought their instruments to play wonderful music on them. There was no creepy "collector talk" about how much they were worth or whether or not they were for sale. Just a group of people interested in playing music, on the finest instruments ever made. THAT was cool. That's what it should be all about.

As for the Wright Custom--I've had it there in previous years but didn't bring it this year because I knew we were already going to have three Bigsby steels there. It is a 1956 Wright Custom D-8 and it is just about as close to a Bigsby copy as they come. Sounds great too, although I am the world's WORST steel guitar player. I make Jenks "Tex" Carmen sound like Buddy Emmons.

Thanks again for the kind words, and yes it looks like the Bigsby book will be out soon, with a photo of the All-Bigsby Band in it. Too cool.

Deke

[Herb Steiner]

Hey Deke! Wish I could'a been there.

I would have loved to have heard/seen Brian Lonbeck. He used to play lead guitar for the Mandrell Family Band back in the mid-60's, when Barbara was a very hot teen-age picker.

[chris ivey]

she's still very hot!! (coming from my 60 yr old perspective) !!

[Casey Lowmiller]

I would sure like to know more about the Bigsbys that were used for this. Both current owners & past owners/original purchasers.

Pics would be cool too. I noticed several double neck guitars similar to Grady Martin's on stage.

How bout it Deke...got any more info???

Casey

[Deke Dickerson]

Okay, you asked for it, you got it. But first, in case you were wondering, none of these are for sale, so don't go trackin' these guys down and bugging 'em! Ha! For this event, I invited every Bigsby spanish guitar owner I knew of, and several guys in Southern California that I knew owned Bigsbys. I even invited some original Bigsby owners who don't own their steels anymore, like list members Dale Granstrom and Jody Carver. Here's what we wound up with, and I have to say we'd have been hard pressed to get any more on stage. If you want to see more pictures of the event go to my website, www.dekedickerson.com and click on the "photos" link, then click on "Guitar Geek Festival 2008" and there's quite a few pictures of the All-Bigsby Band.

On steel guitar, we had Jeremy "J.W." Wakefield playing a Bigsby T-8 (can't remember who he said was the original owner on this one), Jussi (aka Lester Peabody) from the Steel Guitar Forum playing another instrument that Jeremy Wakefield owns--the "Chief Mack Thomas" T-8 pedal steel guitar from the Thomas Indian Family, and Marty Smith playing Lee Buck's T-8 (oh Chas, we missed ya, my friend!)

On the "spanish" guitars we had T.K. Smith playing Bigsby guitar #002, a 1948 instrument owned by R.C. Allen. R.C. Allen brought this electric and also an acoustic Martin with a Bigsby neck made for Zeke Clements, which he played rhythm guitar on. Dave Westerbeke from the San Francisco area brought down a 1949 Hank Garland-style electric guitar, which he played, and also an 8-string electric mandolin, which Crazy Joe Tritschler played. Gary Lambert (well-known in the fingerpicking Merle Travis and Chet circles) brought his double-neck guitar. The incredibly nice 1951 myrtlewood Bigsby made by forum member Dale Granstrom with Paul Bigsby's help was there, and was played by Ashley Kingman. The reason I didn't play the myrtlewood guitar was because I had convinced the lady who runs the NAMM museum down in Carlsbad to bring up J.B. Thomas' doubleneck electric guitar for the event, on the condition that I be the only one who touched the guitar--so I played that one. And there you have it--ten Bigsby instruments on one stage at one time. The best part about it, as I mentioned--is that this was not about collectors, or the instruments' value, it was about these guys bringing their guitars to play the music that was meant to be played on these instruments--some great western swing and country. It was a ton of fun! I should have this out on DVD by next year--I promise.

Deke

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Amen, the photos speak for themselves!! The whole show for me was a holy experience, both as a performer and just as a guitar and music fan, truly a dream come true! Thanks for having me up there Deke!!

[Herb Steiner]

I'm in shock. What incredible photos.

[Ron Whitfield]

Deke, thanx for doing what you do. You're living my 'had I stayed in So. Cal' dream, don't stop! Those pix are beyond the beyond, and it's just too scary to think what being at that that fest must have been like.
I can't wait for the DVD. What a great time to get it all down with 16 channels.

In one of the guitar group photos, I see a dbl. neck Carvin steel like mine. Do you remember if it was a 6 or 8, and who owned/played it?

[Deke Dickerson]

Hey Ron--(and Herb, and Jussi, etc.)

Thanks for the kind words. It was indeed a blast to put on this show.

The Carvin steel is a double-6 that I got off of ebay and (gasp) robbed the pickups off of to put on a regular guitar I have. I've been looking for another pair of Carvins to put back on the steel--it was only a double-6 but it sure sounded good before I took the pickups off.

Deke

[Casey Lowmiller]

Thanks Deke!!!

I really love the old Bigsbys, the old Mosrite Special double-necks, Doc Kaufmann guitars & the Stratosphere guitars.

I wish someone would make a nice website chock full'o pics & info on them. At some point, their history will be lost. I'm surprised at the lack of info & pics about these guitars. There's some info out there...just not enough in my opinion.

Someday I'm gonna buy a TNM they're...SUPER-SLICK!!!

Thanks again,

Casey

[Ron Whitfield]

So Deke, you own a poor man's Bigsby too, eh? Very cool. My dbl. 6 Carvin is quite possibly my best sounding steel, and that's against some stiff competition.
If you come upon an 8 string Carvin PU or a pair, as the ones you took off, I'll trade you straight up for the original six/es on mine to re-complete yours.

[Deke Dickerson]

hey Ron--

I'll keep my eyes peeled but those 8-pole Carvins have to be some rare suckers. Probably aren't many that are floating around loose, but I'll look & see...

The Wright Custom I have sounds to my ears almost identical to a Bigsby, but it makes sense because the Wright is birdseye maple wood, cast aluminum parts, and pickups that measure about 3K like a Bigsby pickup.

Back to the subject of Bigsby, has everybody already seen this clip on youtube of Spade Cooley featuring Joaquin Murphy, with Joaquin playing Bigsby Number 1--the clip dates from 1945!!! And check out the pickups--Rickenbacker/Slingerland/??? I think a lot of us were shocked that the first lap steel was 1945, at least a year or two earlier than we had thought....

Check it out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RkM2igp82Ec

This is a long clip, the closeup of Joaquin's hands and the Bigsby lap steel is almost at the very end. It's worth it to keep watching til the end, it's quite spectacular!

The double-lap that Joaquin is playing in the video is similar to the 1948 one that Chas Smith currently owns, but it's bulkier, and the pickups are obviously different.

Deke

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Hey Deke, I'm not sure if we ever discussed this or if you ever watched the topic about Murphey's T8 year and a half ago. Anyway, when I went to see it in NY we took a look at the Pu's and they were indeed different from the later Bigsby Pu's, they were horsehoes. In that topic, I think there's a photo of the PU, but I'll email you it in case it's not there.

[Deke Dickerson]

Hey Jussi! Thanks for sending me that picture, and I hadn't seen it yet but I had heard the Joaquin T-8 had horseshoe pickups.

What's interesting is if you look at the Spade Cooley film short on youtube, the horseshoe-type pickups on the 1945 lap steel shown are totally different than the ones on the T-8.

The ones in the film short (with their adjustment thumbscrews on either side of the magnet) look to me like pickups from a Slingerland Songster guitar...I'm sure there must have been another company or two that made pickups like that...weren't some of the early Epiphone steels like that?

Anyway, it's interesting that Bigsby switched designs after a few instruments. Wonder if Rickenbacker held a patent that he was worried about infringing?

Deke