John Tipka built an awesome Case for my Quad... L@@K!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 3 Apr 2002 10:32 pm

John Tipka just built me a beautiful case for my 4 neck Fender stringmaster and I'm really happy with it! It's far superior to the original Fender case, which I still have in great condition... and I want to keep it that way

This case is really sturdy! John used rock maple on the sides. He built and shipped the case within 10 days of my order. I'm impressed. John builds cases for single, double, triple, or four neck non-pedal steel guitars, and I highly recommend him. The price was quite reasonable considering the quality. John custom builds to your specs, so you'd need to contact him for a price quote. his email address is on the page linked below.

For more info on John's custom built cases, Click Here

Here are some pictures of my new quad case in various stages of
construction:
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Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 3 Apr 2002 10:35 pm

I'd like to have a case made so I could transport 2, maybe 3 Bakelite Ricks, at one time. How does one communicate with him?

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 3 Apr 2002 10:42 pm

John's email address is steelgtr@iwaynet.net

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Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 4 Apr 2002 5:49 pm

Thanx muchly...Doug.

Chris DeBarge · Post by **Chris DeBarge** » 4 Apr 2002 6:42 pm

Doug, looks nice, but you're only teasing us. Where's the guitar?

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 4 Apr 2002 7:16 pm

Here ya go Chris... the pictures aren't great, but they're the only ones I have right now.

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Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 5 Apr 2002 4:50 am

Nice case indeed. But with a quad and maple case, isn't it hard to find parking for your fork-lift at gigs?

Chris DeBarge · Post by **Chris DeBarge** » 5 Apr 2002 5:59 am

Thanks Doug! Guitar porn, my favorite passtime...

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 5 Apr 2002 7:42 am

Nice case indeed. But with a quad and maple case, isn't it hard to find parking for your fork-lift at gigs?

It would be heavy; but look at it this way,___if it should accidently be runover by a steamroller while in the case, there would be no damage.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 5 Apr 2002 7:45 am

This guitar in the new case is still lighter than my Emmons D-10 in it's case, so that's not too bad. It's a very tall case though, so when I go up and down stairs I have to pull the handle up to my underarm! Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

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[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 05 April 2002 at 07:47 AM.]

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 5 Apr 2002 8:47 am

Doug, that's a nice looking quad. What is the scale, 22 & 1/2" or 24 & 1/2"?

Rick

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 5 Apr 2002 10:44 am

Doug: Thanks for the memories !! I spent many a night standing along side either Gene Crownover and Leon McAullife playing those wonderful Quad 8s. I think they were with either of the Wills' bands or for awhile Leon had his own band. Those were the days......That is a beautiful guitar and a case built to match it. Thank you so much for the pictures !!

Regards, Paul

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 5 Apr 2002 1:04 pm

Thanks Paul, it sounds like you have some great memories! Rick... the scale is 24 1/2. I'm enjoying playing this steel every day at home and I'll be taking it out on some gigs starting later this month. It's a 1957. The finish is worn in some spots, but the chrome is mint... like new.

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Chris DeBarge · Post by **Chris DeBarge** » 6 Apr 2002 6:18 am

Oh and BTW Doug, that guitar will sound a lot better if you replace the license plates with some wood panelling.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 7 Apr 2002 8:30 am

thanks Chris. No wonder I'm getting that tinny sound.

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Keith Grubb · Post by **Keith Grubb** » 9 Apr 2002 7:49 am

Hey Doug,
I was wondering how you were tuning your quad? Is it a bit confusing to have all those necks in front of you?

Thanks- Keith

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 9 Apr 2002 8:38 am

Keith,

I've done something unorthodox, but it works well for me. On one of the necks I put a standard E9 pedal steel tuning, strings 1 through 8, and on another neck I have an A6(sus4), which is... standard E9 pedal steel strings 1 through 8 with pedals A & B held down and the second string lowered 1/2 tone (lever E). This works for me because I've been playing E9 PSG for 30 years and I can transfer over a lot of stuff to these two non-pedal tunings. It makes it easier to jump on the chords and to come up with licks right away. The other two tunings I'm using are E13 and C6/A7.

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C6/A7

1 E .014
2 C .017
3 A .020P
4 G .024W
5 E .030
6 C# .036
7 C .036
8 A .042

A6 (sus4)

1 F# .013
2 D .016
3 A .010
4 E .014
5 C# .017
6 A .020P
7 F# .026W
8 E .030

Eadd9

1 F# .013
2 D# .015
3 G# .011
4 E .014
5 B .018P
6 G# .024W
7 F# .026
8 E .030

E13

1 E .014
2 C# .017
3 B .018P
4 G# .024W
5 E .030
6 D .034
7 B .038
8 E .056
</pre>

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[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 09 April 2002 at 10:31 AM.]

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 9 Apr 2002 9:34 am

Doug: Didn't they have one neck set up with a bass tuning ? I was wondering if they used any difference in tuning keys for that neck and if so did you have to go with something different for your setup ??

Regards, Paul

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 9 Apr 2002 9:46 am

Yes, the outer neck (front) is made to accomodate thicker strings. The string grooves in that nut are extra wide and the holes for the strings (on the tuners) are huge. So that neck is set up for extra thick strings. I put the C6/A7 tuning on that neck, and the thickest string is only .042, as shown above, but it works fine on that neck. C6/A7 is the tuning I play the least of the four, so I put that at "arm's length". Man, it's a long way out to that front neck!

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Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 10 Apr 2002 8:24 pm

Would anyone happen to know how many Quads Fender built?

A friend told me that Speedy West told him that Fender made only 84 Quads in all. That seems like a low number. They were available from 1953 to 1968. Maybe Sir Jody has some insight here?

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Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 11 Apr 2002 7:11 am

Doug
They manufactured 86 Quads,,,,,Speedy didnt have his calculator with him,,,he's great as a player but not a mathematician as Iam

Dont ever tell him I said this,,or if you do
tell him Howard told you.

He will understand.

Quads were short in manufacturing as the weight was a factor, most all of the 86 that were manufactured....
Fender found that 92% of the buyers had a
Hernia. So you see that was not the only things to Quote" you "a low number" other things were "low" as well.

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 11 Apr 2002 9:32 am

Doug: On your A6(sus 4), was there a paricular reason you haven't gone sequential with a A(10ga) out in front ?? Thanks !!

Regards, Paul JodyPS: Good to see you friend !!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 11 Apr 2002 10:54 am

Thanks Jody... you are da man with da inside dope! 86 Quads in 15 years. That's less that 6 a year. I guess these guitars were considered heavy back in the pre-pedal steel era. Compared to a lot of D-10 PSGs they aren't all that bad...especially since I routed out the underside of mine!

Paul, the reason my A6 is "out of sequence" is because the tuning is an outgrowth of the E9 pedal steel tuning (strings 1 -

. Since I already play standard E9 PSG chromatic tuning (on which the upper strings are out of sequence), I set up my A6 on the Quad to mirror the E9 PSG tuning with pedals A & B down and string 2 lowered 1/2 tone. I wouldn't suggest this sequence for someone starting out on A6 lap steel, but if a player is used to E9 PSG, it makes perfect sense. Since I already have a lot of patterns and finger rolls worked out for this on PSG, I can just transfer these riffs over to lap steel.

E9 PSG (st. 1 -

. Press pedals A & B and lower string two 1/2 tone to produce A6(sus4)

<pre>
E9 PSG A6sus4 (same as E9 PSG with pedals A & B & knee lever E)

F# ----------- F#
D# ----------> D
G# ----------> A
E ----------- E
B ----------> C#
G# ----------> A
F# ----------- F#
E ----------- E
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[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 11 April 2002 at 12:07 PM.]

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 11 Apr 2002 11:41 am

Now I see it, Doug !! Thanks a million !!

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 11 Apr 2002 3:17 pm

Hi Paul..Hi Doug
I will try to clarify the amount of quads that were manufactured. I am due to call Don
Randall tonight at home....if anyone knows,,
he should.

Im really not da man....there are others with
more know what and how than I...but thanks for the compliment anyway.. Will get back on this and give you an exact amount.

I have a Fender ledger but I cannot tell the exact amount of guitars made during that time frame. Will check it out,,,
later my friends.....you too Paul...I.m still
enjoying those hand picked "pecans"

Edited for spelling...sorry.[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 12 April 2002 at 04:56 AM.]