Brand New Emmons p/p!! 015RI ST-12

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 31 Jul 2013 8:08 pm

A little over a year ago a very nice gentleman contacted me about building him his dream guitar.
It was to be an Emmons ST-12 p/p, natural birdseye w/shaded lacquer finish, flame maple neck, 7x5 set up w/Newman Universal(mostly).
After an exhaustive search, we found such a body in the Emmons factory basement, in the furthestmost corner, on the bottom of the pile(someone stuck this away for future purposes I believe)and with some preliminary assembly assistance from Ron Jr. along with a sweet piece of flame maple from Jeff Surratt and a great finish job by AJ Nelson, today that fellows' dream guitar is a reality. Now, if FedEx will cooperate......
Ron asked that I post pics for you all to see.

We still offer lacquer finished p/p's available in a limited quantity and mostly D or ST-12 owing to the ever-dwindling supply of such N.O.S. bodies.
Pardon my inefficiency with photographic technology, but these will give you an idea.
thanks for looking!

Mike Cass
Everything Emmons....since 1987
mwillsteel@comcast.net
615-446-5952, 10am-6pm CDT Mon-Fri.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 31 Jul 2013 8:20 pm

That's a right purty guitar, Mike.

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 31 Jul 2013 8:24 pm

thank you, Lane. Wait till you see yours

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 1 Aug 2013 2:39 am

Nice,nice, nice !

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 1 Aug 2013 5:31 am

Oh ya Mikey!!

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 1 Aug 2013 5:53 am

Bravo!! Viva Senor Cass!!

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 1 Aug 2013 5:54 am

Bravo!! Viva Senor Cass!!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 1 Aug 2013 7:34 am

That is a very nice looking guitar, however, I believe you could have found inlay for the neck that matched the cabinet inlay at Constantines.
That's what I did with this one:

Walter Bowden · Post by **Walter Bowden** » 1 Aug 2013 8:55 am

Hey Mike. Really nice job. Is that a bolt on changer? Best wishes, Walter

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 1 Aug 2013 9:11 am

That is one serious vertical knee lever!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 1 Aug 2013 9:40 am

Mike, if the LKV drives that shaft closest to the changer, I'd want that much leverage. Unless some are idlers just to keep rods in line, that shaft has a crapton of pulls!

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 1 Aug 2013 10:53 am

you're right, erv. two different inlay styles is strange.

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 1 Aug 2013 11:55 am

Lane,
I think that a lot of those bellcranks are there to support the pull rods ... without changes on them....

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 1 Aug 2013 12:24 pm

Oh my! S'pose a new ten-string loafer would be out of the question, eh?

bob drawbaugh · Post by **bob drawbaugh** » 1 Aug 2013 12:33 pm

Mike that's one nice looking guitar. You did a great job!!

bob drawbaugh · Post by **bob drawbaugh** » 1 Aug 2013 12:34 pm

Mike that's one nice looking guitar. You did a great job!!

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 1 Aug 2013 7:40 pm

Mike, cool lookin' Steel. Great job building it!

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 2 Aug 2013 3:31 am

Thanks to all who shared their kind words with us!

The neck isn't inlaid....like I said in the top of the thread: its a solid flame maple neck(shaded in the classic Emmons motif....fooled you, huh?). Inlaying flame maple is kind of like dressing a pretty girl in a gunny sack, imho. Additionally, if you don't understand why I chose to use a solid flame maple neck(since this was a build-from-scratch and not a simple restoration)as opposed to a standard rock maple neck w/inlay, then you now have something new to think about. Besides, I think that for some finishes and color schemes(mine for example)the combination of inlaid necks and body can make an otherwise lovely instrument appear to be a bit cluttered and gaudy, thus detracting from the overall appeal and streamlined look associated with factory built and factory authorized restored Emmons guitars...........and so did Ron Lashley Sr. who later on opted for mostly solid color wood necks. I might ask you Erv, why did you not refinish your guitar in the classic shaded motif as opposed to the Gibson ES 335 style sunburst, I mean, since we're nitpickin' here? Glass houses, my friend. At least you got yer pic in and you got Ivey stirred up, gotta hand it to you for that

so, politics is politics..........

Lane, the extended LKV lever is to enable it to be used w/all 7 pedals, per Jeff Newman's Uni setup, and it only drops string5 B to Bb and guides the B to C# string5 raise rod. The extra cranks are on the RKL x-shaft and as stated are being used as raise and lower guides.

Walter; yes, the guitar is a bolt-on as are most wood neck Emmons guitars, although wood necks can feature a wraparound tailpiece if desired.

Jack, call me.

Well, in the words of our co-founder and ultimate source of inspiration for all things steel guitar:
"I guess that about wraps it up......"

sincerely,
Mike Cass
Factory Trained and Authorized Sales, Builder, Service, Repair, Restoration, Consultation and Appraisal for Emmons Guitar Co. By Lashley, Inc....since 1987
Steel Guitarist for Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys.
mwillsteel@comcast.net
ph. 615-446-5952 Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm CDT.

Jerry Van Hoose · Post by **Jerry Van Hoose** » 2 Aug 2013 4:05 am

Wow! What a great find and build. Beautiful work!

Billy Knowles · Post by **Billy Knowles** » 2 Aug 2013 4:08 am

Great looking guitar and I know with Mike and Ron doing the work, the workmanship is first class also!!

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 2 Aug 2013 4:24 am

thanks guys. Yeah, 'ol R2 is a veritable plethora of knowledge when it comes to building a guitar. Only thing Id change on the 12 stringer is to lose the inner radius on the endplates and shelves like he does on the newer LG's. That's such a clean look.

Funny story...we really tore that place up to find that virgin, uncut, natural birdseye body! At first I considered redoing one of the already finished D-12 bodies in the basement to a shaded natural, but the customer didn't want a plain, straight rock maple look, so I bought the flamed stuff from Jeff, not knowing that we'd find that perfect old body, though it was my intention all along to make a flame neck for it, regardless. Then I came down to the factory to build the flame body in the jig and mount the endplates etc; and shape a neck on the drum sander. I built LG guitars for a few days upstairs and on day 4 we looked the flame wood over and were about to commence when Ron said..."you know",(insert typical Lashley pregnant pause here)"I think there might be a birdseye body back here somewhere...". the rest is history!

Dale Rottacker · Post by **Dale Rottacker** » 2 Aug 2013 5:15 am

I am salivating!!!

Roger Guyett · Post by **Roger Guyett** » 2 Aug 2013 6:32 am

Beautiful job Mike!
Another Cass Emmons is born.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 2 Aug 2013 7:10 am

i feel so used!

so the neck has been shaded to border the unstained center line of the maple neck? i'd like to see it in person to get a better view. sorry to be such an annoying pest. that makes alot more sense than inlaying a 'different' style inlay.
my only defense is that erv conned me into thinking otherwise, as my feeble mind is so easily manipulated.

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 2 Aug 2013 8:36 am

Wow that's beautiful !!!!