Schild Pedal Steel Guitars

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 4 Jan 2016 5:36 pm

I wasn't aware of this Swiss builder until today.
www.schildsteel.com

Fine machining, clean design, keyless.

On the pricing page, note that one Swiss franc equals one US dollar.

Tim Russell · Post by **Tim Russell** » 4 Jan 2016 8:24 pm

Very sharp looking steel, I like it. However, the price...almost 6K for an S-10 - ouch, that hurts.

Or maybe that is "normal" pricing for a keyless guitar, I don't know. Would love to hear one.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 5 Jan 2016 4:08 am

That's beautiful--the reverse slant of the aprons and flat deck with 1-1/2 wide body.
The machining/finish of the endplate and end of the neck is beyond comparison IMO.
It has the look that, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it, but everything about it screams good design.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 5 Jan 2016 6:17 am

Wow!

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 5 Jan 2016 8:21 am

Peter does fine work. $6K sounds like a great deal to me!

Norbert Dengler · Post by **Norbert Dengler** » 5 Jan 2016 12:41 pm

i`ve played Emmons PP ,Mullen RP and G2, Fanklin D 10, GFI, Sho Bud, WBS, Carter, Zum Steel.
play a Schild, you`ll notice the difference immediately!

my believe: just the best guitar!

Jeff Metz Jr. · Post by **Jeff Metz Jr.** » 5 Jan 2016 4:51 pm

A lot of ingenuity going on there. I like the tapped cross shafts, and the little mech. that holds the pull rods to the bell cranks. I think the cross shaft design will be adopted by many in years to come.

Tim Russell · Post by **Tim Russell** » 5 Jan 2016 5:37 pm

Jeff Metz Jr. wrote:A lot of ingenuity going on there. I like the tapped cross shafts, and the little mech. that holds the pull rods to the bell cranks. I think the cross shaft design will be adopted by many in years to come.

Yes, that's an awesome design. Upon closer inspection I can see why the higher than most price tag. And the thought given to the fine tuning, everywhere that you need it, very nice.

Everything has been thoroughly thought out, well planned, yet retaining simplicity in design. Perfect!
I especially like the ease of the reversing knee set-up.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 5 Jan 2016 6:42 pm

I believe we have discussed these before. I remember being really intrigued by the half stop. It might have been in a thread about half stops.

Patrick Laffrat · Post by **Patrick Laffrat** » 6 Jan 2016 2:20 am

more about Peter Schild:
http://www.schildsteel.com/cms/index.php?page=L010011

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 6 Jan 2016 2:41 am

Richard...the half stop on my Carter Uni is very similar to the one you mention. My good pal Richard Burton built and installed it. There's no overshoot on the first lower, and it's adjustable (If needed), just under the back apron

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Patrick Laffrat · Post by **Patrick Laffrat** » 6 Jan 2016 5:42 am

about half stops:

animation: http://www.pedalsteelguitar.fr/materiel ... l_anim.gif

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2016 6:28 am

I met Peter Schild in the very early 80's in Switzerland when I had a residency in Zurich. To say that he is a brilliant engineer is an understatement.

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 6 Jan 2016 9:38 am

Hi Ken.....guess it was the "Hershen" music bar ? When we got there early in the morning, as it's quite a drive from England, the night porter was there to greet us. First thing he said to us was "You want drugs?? women??...I get for you now" What does he think musicians are?? lol ...we're not all pot heads. Great audiences though the Swiss

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K. planet earth.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2016 11:30 am

Yes Micky - we did the Hirschen quite a few times with Rose-Marie Kane, plus Mervyn Conn's festival at the Hallen Stadium which was always a great experience. We would always be flown over to Zurich from Gatwick and then picked up by mini bus by Hirschen management.

The night porter was a guy we called Bob, and he supplied us with non stop (free) bottles of wine one night. He was given a huge bollocking the following morning by Martin Schweitzer as it was very expensive vintage wine at £100 a bottle!! We should have been given cheap plonk.

Back to Peter Schild - I was taken to his house by a mutual friend. Peter was full of interesting ideas in 1980, so I am not surprised to see the level of engineering employed in his current guitars. They have the precision of a Swiss watch. The Infinity is the best engineered pedal steel that I have seen that has come from the USA. It doesn't begin to compare with a Schild.

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 6 Jan 2016 11:59 am

It was a great gig wasn't it Ken...sorry I spelt it wrong....one day some of us got a cable car up to the mountains and watched the Swiss air force flying "Below" us through the mountains, great spectacle...I remember our drummer saying "I wonder how many other musicians on the dole are up a Swiss mountain drinking wine now

Great audiences the Swiss...I remember they had a great Dynachord P.A. to use, but we just used our 4 Bose 802 speakers......I think Lol...was a long time ago..Lol

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 6 Jan 2016 12:08 pm

To quote an old expression, "it runs like a Swiss watch."

It reminds me of the Swiss watch interpretation of the GFI Ultra S-10 keyless.

This certainly wouldn't be for everyone, the traditionalist "if it doesn't look something like a Sho-Bud, I don't want it" folks wouldn't be on board.

Then there's the rest of us where $6K is the deal breaker.

Jeff Metz Jr. · Post by **Jeff Metz Jr.** » 6 Jan 2016 5:21 pm

Anybody in the US have one for sale? Any Us distributors?

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 6 Jan 2016 6:31 pm

OOOOH.From his Web site.

Matt Elsen · Post by **Matt Elsen** » 6 Jan 2016 7:44 pm

Nice looking guitars!

Telonics PUPs?

Al Vesel · Post by **Al Vesel** » 6 Jan 2016 8:51 pm

WOW! What a Cadillac!!! I agree with why the high price tag. Look at that machining. Surely a lot of thought process goes into one of these babies. I also, wish there were more in the U.S. I also would love to try one of these guitars.

Al

Norbert Dengler · Post by **Norbert Dengler** » 6 Jan 2016 11:38 pm

i was visiting his workshop last winter. peter is a quiet and modest man, the typical appearance of a genius. very understating guy.

as some of you might know, the professional education system in germany is
very good and copied by many other states, ensuring a solid and strong technical knowledge.
one of the few, if not the only country who can top this is switzerland.
everybody who has been there will agree, everything is thought through to perfection.
i don`t even especially like this approach, for it tends to make people somehow static and less flexible. it`s not a musicians nation either.

anyhow, and back to the guitars, you won`t find another steel guitar company that is able or maybe even willing to build a product of that level.

but i sure would like to own a schild one day...

another thing is sound.
that will always be subjective and even a less advanced instrument can sound great or even better for someones preferences.

another thing is: the steel guitar is an all american instrument, so the american built guitars seem to have more mojo or authenticity to me.

but i sure would like to have a "schild" one day

Hans Holzherr · Post by **Hans Holzherr** » 7 Jan 2016 3:35 am

Just a brief note on the pricing. The new model, 'Schild Light', is the result of making the manufacturing processes less expensive while maintaining the quality. An S-10 single body with 3 pedals/4 knee levers is now CHF 4480.00. On a brief inspection of the undercarriage, the only visible change for the simpler I made out was that the knee lever supports were no 'sliders' anymore, but still, I believe 3 positions can be chosen. What other steel (standard or light) guitar can boast that? I was also surprised to see that Peter had improved, in the 'Light' model, the way the pedal rods hook up to the cross shaft. That's really something I found myself drooling over....

I hear there are plans to present the Schild steels at a US steel guitar convention, but it's still in the 'idea stage'.

Kenneth Kotsay · Post by **Kenneth Kotsay** » 7 Jan 2016 7:41 am

What can you expect, it's "SWISS MADE" absolutely, totally beautiful, so professionally looking, could call it a piece of art work.

Now my question is this, I see 2 photos, one is a blue S-10 with wooden a neck 'WYESNER" model and the other, a black S-10 with aluminum necks, "SCHILD".

Are both in production?

Can you order wooden necks with the "SCHILD" model.

Between the two that are posted, I tend to go for the 'WYESNER' model with wooden necks.

Price wise I feel ok with, you can't take it all with ya when it's your time to go, so you sell the wife's diamond ring, you'll just have to sleep on the living floor for a month or two.

Hans Holzherr · Post by **Hans Holzherr** » 7 Jan 2016 8:20 am

Kenneth, Paul Wiesner had a steel guitar shop in Switzerland. For a while he and Peter Schild were business partners, but when they had continuing arguments about the design, their relationship ended, and Wiesner started to make exact copies of the 1992 or '93 model Schild and sold them under his own name. He sold more of them than Peter Schild himself! A decade later, Peter decided to pick up where he had left making guitars and completely redesigned his steel, now employing manufacturing processes that hadn't been available in the '90s. Between 2005 and 2015 this new guitar continually evolved into what it is today. Each one that he made during that time could be considered a prototype in a way because it was a little different from the one before it.

Regarding the neck, at least the 'Light' model has a wooden neck under the metal, but that's probably not what you mean. I can't answer your question if a lacquered/wooden top/neck is available. I doubt it, but you'd have to ask Peter.

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