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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 7:58 am    
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Ross do you foresee ever building economy SIERRA MODEL STEELS FOR THE ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGED?
THANKS JK


Last edited by Johnie King on 22 May 2020 3:19 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Barry Coker


From:
Bagley Alabama, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 1:22 pm    
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A lass Johnie for the Economically Challenged some things are just Some Where Over the Rainbow a Dream we can only Hope for.

Barry
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Charley Bond


From:
Inola, OK, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 1:28 pm     Hey Johnnie
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why not buy a great used Sierra... I know where there is one for about $1700, it's a good S-10 Black Olympic or Crown with keys...
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Barry Coker


From:
Bagley Alabama, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 2:55 pm    
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Johmie is referring to the new Sierra's being built by Ross Shafer.

Barry
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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 3:15 pm    
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There seems too be a decent demand for new economy steels.
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Tony Glassman


From:
The Great Northwest
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 4:30 pm     Re: Sierra steel???
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Johnie King wrote:
Ross do you foresee ever building economy SIERRA MODEL STEELS FOR THE ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGED?
THANKS JK


That’s like asking Lamborghini to make a car competitive with the Ford Focus.
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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 19 May 2020 5:20 pm    
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THATS TRUE TONY
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Ross Shafer


From:
Petaluma, California
Post  Posted 20 May 2020 7:00 am    
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Hi Johnny,

I hope you and yours are well...as I do for all my fellow forumites.

A budget model Sierra? I don't see anything like that happening. I do have another model I'd like to dig into and one of the goals would be to make it more affordable...but it would still be high priced and not an "economy" model in any way.

A lot of the features you find on the new Sierras would be impossible to pull off on an "economic price point" rig, without a substantially larger market to justify the production numbers necessary to bring cost down.

I was originally hired by Sierra's owner to design and build the very best steel guitar I was capable of....no time, no ideas, no expense spared.

It's interesting to me that I've never had a craftsman of any sort, machinist, engineer, or anyone else who designs and/or makes things for a living believe that we offer these for the price we do. Before telling these type of folks the prices, I ask them to guess and no one has ever guessed as low as our prices are. And no, I'm not saying the prices are low. 10k or more is a lot of dough in my world too!

The only people who think what I build are "over priced" are steel players who've been doing it a long time and remember the prices from the instrument's heyday. When even though pretty small, the market was far, far, larger than it is now.

I believe that almost all Pedal Steels being produced today are sold at a lower price than is actually sustainable in a real business sense. This is due to the minuscule "market" (lack of demand) for our beloved instrument.

Something I'll keep pointing out forever is this: Take the original price of almost any quality steel from the past and translate it to today's dollars, you'll see that most current pedal steels being made are a ripping deal...including ours. In today's dollars a Bigsby would cost near what the Sierra's do. I think those rigs a cool as heck, but I have no doubt that what I and just about every steel builder makes today are far more capable instruments.

Once again, I'm extremely thankful for the players that see the value in what Sierra offers and have taken the leap to own one.

Sorry for the long post, but a simple "no" to Johnnie's question didn't feel right.
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Len Amaral

 

From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
Post  Posted 20 May 2020 1:11 pm    
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My first new guitar was a Sierra 30 years ago and my last new guitar a year and a half ago is a Sierra. It's an experience and a pleasure to play this new guitar. The best materials and attention to detail in the bulid
quality is special.

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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 21 May 2020 6:27 am    
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Thank you Ross
Just dreaming publicly I can only imagine what a nice simple pull release keyless steel Ross could build, I wish I had unlimited funds too make it happen.
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Ross Shafer


From:
Petaluma, California
Post  Posted 21 May 2020 7:19 am    
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dreams are good Johnny!
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 21 May 2020 7:35 am    
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Ross Shafer wrote:
I do have another model I'd like to dig into and one of the goals would be to make it more affordable...but it would still be high priced and not an "economy" model in any way.
[...]
In today's dollars a Bigsby would cost near what the Sierra's do. I think those rigs a cool as heck, but I have no doubt that what I and just about every steel builder makes today are far more capable instruments.


Cable pulls on a modern guitar? I can dream... 😋
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Jeremy Threlfall


From:
now in Western Australia
Post  Posted 22 May 2020 7:57 am    
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Ross Shafer wrote:

Take the original price of almost any quality steel from the past and translate it to today's dollars, you'll see that most current pedal steels being made are a ripping deal...including ours. In today's dollars a Bigsby would cost near what the Sierra's do. I think those rigs a cool as heck, but I have no doubt that what I and just about every steel builder makes today are far more capable instruments.


and for a smaller-scale market

it would be interesting to see what some of the classic Fingertips and other Shobuds, PPs & ZBs would have cost in today's dollars. And it would be interesting to see how the real price of those brands in long-time production, such as MSA Emmons and Sierra, have changed over the run of years
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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 22 May 2020 9:20 am    
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It’s called inflation JEREMY AN WHEN YOUR RETIRED ON A FIXED IN COME ITS HARD TO JUSTIFY ANY THING NEW!
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Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 22 May 2020 9:47 am    
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Quote:
It’s called inflation

I don't believe the MSRP ever had that much to do with the current inflation rate. In any event, it's a whole lot of money just to mechanically alter the pitch of a select few strings, IMO.
That being said, it's whatever the market will bear..
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Ron Shalita


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 22 May 2020 3:30 pm    
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Ross I couldnt have said it any better ! Seems like everything you buy these days has a couple more zeros at the end of the price .. just wait for the next 5 years... woooo hooo!
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Johnny Baker

 

From:
Southport, Fla
Post  Posted 24 May 2020 4:22 pm    
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Ross Shafer wrote:
dreams are good Johnny!

More information on the older stuff would be greatly appreciated by some of us. Such as the Sessions S-12 Universal. Zip, Zero, Nada, out there.
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scott murray


From:
Asheville, NC
Post  Posted 24 May 2020 4:44 pm    
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Johnny Baker wrote:
Ross Shafer wrote:
dreams are good Johnny!

More information on the older stuff would be greatly appreciated by some of us. Such as the Sessions S-12 Universal. Zip, Zero, Nada, out there.


there's a lot of knowledge here on the forum, just ask. or do a Search
Jim Palenscar has just about any Sierra Session parts you could need and the owner's manual is available from the Sierra website:
http://sierrasteels.com/support_documentation/sierramanual.pdf
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Ross Shafer


From:
Petaluma, California
Post  Posted 26 May 2020 6:57 am    
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Johnny Baker wrote:
Ross Shafer wrote:
dreams are good Johnny!

More information on the older stuff would be greatly appreciated by some of us. Such as the Sessions S-12 Universal. Zip, Zero, Nada, out there.


What kind of info are you looking for Johnny? I had no involvement with Sierra back then, but will do my best to answer any questions you have.
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