I can't recommend these guitars highly enough! Mine has just arrived and within minutes of opening the box I was playing it.
Doug Earnest was a pleasure to deal with and went to a lot of trouble to get this steel just right for me. It has a fine tone and bags of sustain; construction is excellent as is the fit and finish. I asked for the LKV to raise three strings and it's doing so with ease - I'd venture to say that the vertical on this works better than the ones on my LeGrandes!
Make no mistake - this is a thoroughly professional grade instrument and I can see it become a go-to guitar for me in the future. It's light yet sturdy and plays as smoothly as I could want.
This is only an hour after getting it so I've yet to really get to know it well but I can honestly say that I'm delighted!
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Location: 1/2 & 1/2 Florida and Tenn, USA (old Missouri boy gone South)
State/Province: Missouri
Country: United States
Postby Stan Paxton »
Well Roger, this is a Happy new year for you then! ...I'm sure there a lot of players out there eager to hear updates from you about the Encore, and many would love to hear some sound clips of it. ...Congratulations
Mullen Lacquer SD 10, 3 & 5; Mullen Mica S 10 1/2 pad, 3 & 5; BJS Bars; LTD400, Nashville 112, DD-3, RV-3, Hilton VP . -- Gold Tone PBS sq neck; Wechter Scheerhorn sq neck. -- "Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone." -anon.-
It's been suggested that some might like to see close-ups of the guitar's features (rather than me in my man-cave outfit - ) and I'd be happy to post better photos.
I'm sure that Doug could do it but he may be too busy - let me know and I'll take more.
I'm sorry to say, Stan, that I have no recording equipment here and I wouldn't know how to start with posting sound-clips; sorry!!
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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i hear you Roger
i ordered a Encore for a musician here - he had a Stage one & wanted to move on up
he's had his Encore for about a month - i haven't tried it but i have assisted him via skype
the Encore sounds quite good & seems to be comfortable to play
yes, it's a pro model w: splits & a feel stop on string 2 Eb to D
the copedent/set up can be modified
4 pedals & 5 levers - which includes the Vertical Bs to B
it also has the detachable pad
Bang ! 4 $ it's a winner imo
This morning I've been adjusting KL travel and the pedal height - what a joy it is to be able to lift this guitar up and down almost with one hand during the process!
I'd say it sounds better than 'quite good'! I just plugged mine into my 112 and didn't touch the settings at all - just right! I'm sure I will, in time, try different EQs but for now it's just fine. The Wallace True-Tone pick-up is most satisfactory.
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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But James - what will that tell you? It would be very much dependant on the quality and/or the aims of the player, wouldn't it?
I could - if I were able to post a sample - get a sound that I felt was representative of what I wanted to hear from a guitar but your notion might vary. Then there are the vagaries of the sound being processed through the various media involved and, ultimately, your computer at the end of the chain. It would surely be a very compromised result.
I learned over fifty years ago that the guys working in guitar shops could make anything sound good!!!
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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The Encore looks as though it is of a high build quality. Nice lightweight guitar that will fit in the overhead compartment. It amazes me how so much can be crammed into a limited undercarriage these days. Hopefully Bruce Z will have an Encore with him on his stand at the Dallas Show in March, so that we can have a close look.
Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E,
Roger, I ordered a Red Encore a few days ago, December 27th, the same day you got yours (also my nephew's birthday). I saw one at the Steel Convention this year and it looked like a great instrument. I can't wait to get mine.
Roger, Doug told me early March at first but he had a Red body ready to go so he said it'll be sooner, although he didn't give me a date. Is the True Tone P/U the humbucker? I went with a humbucker because I have an old Sho Bud Professional and a P/P Emmons both with single coils and I thought I should have a Steel with a humbucking P/U on it.
I doubt that I'll get to the Dallas show. It's a long way and a big expense and work isn't so plentiful that I can indulge my every whim! I've only been to the St Louis show twice (last time was '02, I think) so you can see that it's not a high priority for me.
My 'Encore' - the only change I'd jave made in retrospect would have been to have the split-tune option on the 5th and 10th strings - my fault!!! I didn't read the list of options carefully enough when I placed my order. I can manage with half-pedalling of course and I may, as Doug has since suggested, have it fitted at some point.
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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That looks like a real winner Roger. If I ever see fit to move outside of the 3 & 4 standard set up, the Encore looks very enticing. There is something about Doug's design and build that is so agile and strong. I really crank on the Stage One knee levers (old soccer player) not brutishly, but I can bounce those levers and pedals with some confidence, and I love the variance in tone that my novice technique is discovering. I would have a hard time moving away from Doug's camp. The only justification I could provide was that I wanted a fancier looking instrument, but that's obviously not much of a concern if you look over to the left.
And I think the Encore actually looks pretty damn slick with the more robust neck, changer/pickup plate, and keyhead.
Yes, Daniel - I think it looks pretty good. I think black is a good choice because it matches the unpolished end-plates (or, at least, they're less obtrusive). That's just my opinion, of course, and I was tempted by the thought of teal green mica. Red was another colour that I considered.
I was on the point of buying a Stage One last year but Doug told me that he'd had some problems putting the 'Day' set-up on that model. The 'Encore' is quite a step up price-wise but still within the 'budget' range while having a fully-adaptable changer with much greater versatility. There's a much more professional appearnce to the new model, though, as good as the Stage Ones are.
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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I should also add that, had the Encore only been available as a '3&4' guitar I'd have still been more than happy. 98% of my playing is done on 3&4 and I generally don't enjoy LKVs. As it was a part of the package, as it were, I opted to raise 1,2 and 7 - I almost never raise strings 1 and 2 (although it's nice with 'pedals down' for a 4 major-7th voicing, but I thought I'd take full advantage of its availablity and the extra rods - who knows? In time I may move things around a bit..
Raising 7 is great, though - not only for a nice major 7 (again with pedals down) but it's an easy half-pedal to give me a flat 7th with pedals engaged.
I have the same pull on my Emmons guitars but on 2LKL. I can fully-engage that pull on the Encore and there's no inclination for the guitar to lift up as I'm doing so - light, yet stable!
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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i had the raises on 1 2 & 7 put on the Encore as well Roger
it's handy indeed - there's a lot goin' up "up there" on the high end
string 7 only raises to G but can go up to G# if needed
a lot of players seem stuck w: dom7s & neglect Maj7ths
it's all about Education & what one wants to play...
I find it very easy to half-pedal the vertical - much easier than half-pedalling a sideways 'knee' or a floor-pedal (prabably because one's foot is anchored on the floor). So my 7th is going up a whole step (for the aforementioned maj-7ths) and getting a half-tone raise is easy when I want it.
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger Rettig wrote:Raising 7 is great, though - not only for a nice major 7 (again with pedals down) but it's an easy half-pedal to give me a flat 7th with pedals engaged.
I have the same pull on my Emmons guitars but on 2LKL. I can fully-engage that pull on the Encore and there's no inclination for the guitar to lift up as I'm doing so - light, yet stable!
I can totally understand that! That could be very useful. Also,someday, I'd like to try the Day set up, just to see if it's something that would grab me.
The reason that a disproportionate number of UK players use the 'Day' set-up is that Eric Snowball - the first-ever importer of pedal steels to Britain (principally ZBs but some Emmons, too) - had the late Gordon Huntley as his steel-tech. Gordon played 'Day' so the guitars on Eric's showroom floor tended to have that configuration.
I certainly knew no different and I've never seen a reason to change since that time - forty years ago now!!
Thanks to Eric Snowball!!! He was a big help to us all back then and he had the courage to take a bold step with a little-known instrument.
PS: I can't now recall, but I wonder if the p/p Emmons he sold were 'Day' also. I also wonder if Gordon ever timkered with those - something of a Black Art, I'm led to believe...
Ken - do you know?
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger
I had one of Eric's first Emmons imports to sell, a D10 rosewood push pull. It was set up as Emmons, and I guess that neither Gordon or Eric had the nerve to strip out the E9 and convert it to Day. It would have been a lot of work compared to the ZBs of the day, and they were bad enough to work on.
Funnily enough, I couldn't get on with the push pull tone initially, it was a bit too bright for me compared to the ZB.
Last edited by Ken Byng on 31 Dec 2012 5:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E,
I bought a push/pull Emmons from Eric in the early 80's moving from a ZB. It had the emmons pedal arrangement but Gordon swapped it to the Day arrangement I have always used and it was set up fine. Used it for 10 years.
Well there we go - Les has proved me wrong. Gordon was no slouch when it came to PSG mechanics, but Eric told me that the push pull was not straight forward when it came to tuning it. I had it for about 6 months and sussed out the tuning method before it was eventually sold. Can't remember to who.
Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E,
Ken: I, too, disliked the Emmons' tone back then - it certainly lacked warmth to my ears at the time. Of course it has other more subtle qualities that take time to appreciate.
ZBs: I remember my dad - an engineer by trade - shaking his head in disbelief at the undersides of my ZBs...
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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) and I'd be happy to post better photos.
