Who gig with a Fender?

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 11 Sep 2014 4:38 am

I gig with my Fender 1000 and love it. I have the ABC pedals and Eb lever, I will add the F lever soon, I will have to make a stop because the changer is tuned to F# for the C pedal but its not a big deal.

The C6 neck is tuned to C13 with no pedals, its like my Clinesmith so I can play play my straight steel stuff (I dont like the pedal sound on C6) but if want to add pedals I will be able in the future.

I like the tone and the look, mine play very smooth and stay on pitch. The only thing I don't like is the weight but all this massive wood help for the sound (it sound like a straight steel) and the pitch stability.

I wounder if other gig with a Fender, any story, experience tips?

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 11 Sep 2014 5:03 am

Let me get this straight, Jean. You have a new Clinesmith, but you do your gigs with your Fender 1000....?

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 11 Sep 2014 9:22 am

Rick Barnhart wrote:Let me get this straight, Jean. You have a new Clinesmith, but you do your gigs with your Fender 1000....?

Yes the Clinesmith is a S8 straight steel, I use it with my swing band and in studio but use the Fender when I need E9 pedal steel for country!

John Scanlon · Post by **John Scanlon** » 11 Sep 2014 10:30 am

This is the model that's basically a Sho-Bud, right, but with a Fender name badge on the middle in the front? I understand those are definitely solid, giggable guitars.

Ethan Shaw · Post by **Ethan Shaw** » 11 Sep 2014 10:33 am

I play a 1000 all the time. One neck is Mooney tuning, and the other is A6 with the 3 main C6 pulls.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 11 Sep 2014 10:41 am

A 1958 Fender 1000 has been my main guitar for the last 15 years. I absolutely love pretty much everything about it - except the weight as you mentioned, but it is tolerable.

The 1000 is perfect for old school western swing, country and rockabilly. My tunings are D9 with one chromatic (ABC Emmons pedals and pedal 4 lowers the Ds). I have 4 pedals on the C6 neck that give me two different C13s and two versions (7th and minor 7th) of the IV chord. Like Jean-Sebastien, I do not care for the moving tone C6 style. I use the C6 pedals only to change the chord structure.

I find the simple cable system and changer work extremely well, there's no discernable cabinet drop and the pickups are fantastic. I have tried more modern guitars but keep coming back to the 1000. It is the perfect guitar for my music.

John Scanlon · Post by **John Scanlon** » 11 Sep 2014 11:04 am

Whoops - I guess I was thinking of a different model - maybe the "artist" series?

Robert Parent · Post by **Robert Parent** » 11 Sep 2014 12:56 pm

John Scanlon wrote:Whoops - I guess I was thinking of a different model - maybe the "artist" series?

The Fender 1000 is the old cable operated model from the 50's. Dual 8 string necks, most had no knee levers just floor pedals. I played one for the first 3 years I played PSG.

John is likely thinking of the late 70's Fender models which were built by Sho Bud.

Robert

Robert Parent · Post by **Robert Parent** » 11 Sep 2014 1:00 pm

duplicate post

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 11 Sep 2014 3:11 pm

I use a Fender 400 tuned to C6 with my Western Swing/honkytonk country band.
Played C6 lap steel for years, tried to switch to E9 pedal steel, never felt comfortable with that, so I got the Fender 400, use it mostly like a lap steel, with the occasional pedal licks thrown in...

Bob Russell · Post by **Bob Russell** » 11 Sep 2014 7:29 pm

I gig with an 800 tuned to E9. That thing is rock-solid.

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 12 Sep 2014 3:37 am

Surprised that no one has mentioned the steel player on the 'Midwest Country' show (believe that his name is John Ely). Great player and that old Fender has one of the sweetest tones that I have heard.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 12 Sep 2014 4:33 am

I started on a long-scale Fender 1000, back in the '60s, and that was my only guitar for about 8 years. I now have a long-scale Fender 400 that I play occasionally. It's fun for me to "get back to basics" once in awhile, and re-learn playing without knee levers.

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 12 Sep 2014 12:41 pm

Nice to hear Im not alone! Ethan, Tim, Roman, Bob and Donny is it possible to hear the music you made with your Fender?

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 12 Sep 2014 12:48 pm

David Nugent wrote:Surprised that no one has mentioned the steel player on the 'Midwest Country' show (believe that his name is John Ely). Great player and that old Fender has one of the sweetest tones that I have heard.

John Ely is my steel teacher and mentor, his the one that encourage to play a Fender cable guitar knowing my taste for music and tone, he help me a lot to setup it well. John is an amazing player with the best touch and tone, a lot like Jerry Byrd but he can swing hard and jazz. He also great on E9 pedal steel.

What I like the most about my Fender is that, like a good lap steel, it sound a lot like a guitar. The tone seem the give the notes to the audience in a more direct way. Modern steel sound more sterile to me.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 12 Sep 2014 2:04 pm

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier wrote:Nice to hear Im not alone! Ethan, Tim, Roman, Bob and Donny is it possible to hear the music you made with your Fender?

Here is a clip of me with my band Ethyl and the Regulars. You may notice I have a 'doo-wah' button installed in place of my tone control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8BN2xJM-Lo

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 12 Sep 2014 2:30 pm

OK, here we go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uX2kC-Wp38

Be gentle, I'm just an amateur, playing the music I love for fun - not a pro like most of you guys here!

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 12 Sep 2014 2:36 pm

Tim Whitlock wrote: You may notice I have a 'doo-wah' button installed in place of my tone control.

Tell us more!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 13 Sep 2014 5:15 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtqT8-BxQfI

Ethan Shaw · Post by **Ethan Shaw** » 13 Sep 2014 5:42 am

Here's some jazz and Western swing. Some of this is a stringmaster, some of it is my 1000:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ethanshaw

This is all my 1000, Mooney style:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JznMNkiVXRE

Here's my 1000, playing heavy rock:
http://chilicoldblood.bandcamp.com

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 13 Sep 2014 12:37 pm

These are a few clips of me alone, no band- with my Fender 800 just doodling.. It was a perfectly wonderful steel, and I should never have let it go.. Steel demo 1 and 2 are the Fender 800... Just blowing licks for the most part, but you'll get the idea..
.. Never mind, messed up the link.. In any case the old Fender cable jobs were wonderful steels with a sweet unique voice.. Played very well too, IF you set them up right... bob

Mike DiAlesandro · Post by **Mike DiAlesandro** » 13 Sep 2014 1:07 pm

Bob Carlucci wrote:These are a few clips of me alone, no band- with my Fender 800 just doodling.. It was a perfectly wonderful steel, and I should never have let it go.. Steel demo 1 and 2 are the Fender 800... Just blowing licks for the most part, but you'll get the idea..
https://soundcloud.com/stream

Bob, you played quite nice on this track!!:

https://soundcloud.com/spongebob-7/untitled-3

I thnk your link is non-functional, it goes directly to Soundclouds main site.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 14 Sep 2014 12:25 pm

Roman Sonnleitner wrote:
Tim Whitlock wrote: You may notice I have a 'doo-wah' button installed in place of my tone control.

Tell us more!

My tone pot died so I asked my friend John Pope if we could replace it with a doo-wah button, like the ones on some of the old Gibsons. John designed it and we installed it. It's basically a button type switch, instead of a pot, that routes the highs to ground when activated. There is a regular .047 cap and then another cap which filters out the clicking sound you get when you engage the switch.

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 14 Sep 2014 1:18 pm

You play great music guys!!

I installed a F lever with a barrel tuner and a stopper for the high E so I have now regular ABC pedal and both E lever!

Marty Broussard · Post by **Marty Broussard** » 14 Sep 2014 2:27 pm

I just received my 2000 back from Jim Palenscar. We did some RADICAL mods and I'll be playing this guitar more in the future on my Tracy Byrd Shows. It now has 8&4, no cabinet drop and is now ergonomicaly more comfortable for me to play. When I get back home I plan to post pics of it. (We cut 1-1/2" right out of the center and relocated the neck selector and tone controls between the necks.)