Bob Meadows

[Jim Pitman]

I just bought an old steel guitar (~ < 1950) with the name "Bob Meadows" on the front apron.

Does anyone have any info on this steel player?

[Roger Shackelton]

I believe he is from Phoenix and at one time offered a list of steel guitar tunings.

[Jim Pitman]

Thankyou Roger.

[John Hawkins]

Jim,
Bob Meadows was the primary reason I have played steel since I was 16 years old ( 74 now ) . Bob lived in Jackson , TN. where I was born and raised ! I got to know him since we lived in a housing project there in Jackson very near each other . When I got interested in lap steel. Bob would let me come to his home where he showed me the beginnings of how to play steel . Bob was a real fine musician . After so many years of not knowing where to find him , I located him in Scotsdale, ARZ. where he ran a leather shop . We had a great phone conversation and not long afterward I was informed he had passed .

Bob was certainly my mentor and will never be forgotten . What a small world this is ! I appreciate your post ! If the guitar you now have could talk , it would have some great stories to tell about Bob and his many travels . He played for some big names back then !

Enjoy your steel --and some of it's memories .

[Chris Bauer]

When I was a begining player in Phoenix in the mid 70s, I stumbled onto Bob at his store. I have no recollection of how we found out that we had steel guitar in common but he was amazingly kind and generous.

That first day, he talked to me about tunings and gave me the booklets he had produced on tunings. When I expresssed an interest in western swing he said he thought he had something I might like and to come back and see him again sometime. When I went back a couple of weeks later, he presented me with almost six hours of western swing music he'd taped for me from his record collection.

I never got to hear him play but he was certainly a wonderful gentleman.

[Al Marcus]

Jim-I want to thank John Hawkins who told me about this post asking about Bob Meadows.

Bob Meadows was a great guy and we got together a lot when I lived in Phoenix in the 70's. I would go over to his house in Scottsdale and we would jam and talk tunings. I showed him a few of mine. When I moved back to Michigan, he sent me a complimentary copy of his booklet on tunings, and surprise , he had some of mine in there.

Bob was a fine Western Swing player. He knew his chords and as I liked those swing chords, I enjoyed visiting with him. I played at the Rawhide,(a Western town built like the old west, big tourist place) with Gene Diffie, (Joe Diffie's Uncle) 6 nights a week.
I had sold my D12 MSA so needed a guitar. Bob let me use his beautiful ZB for about 2 weeks. He had just bought a MSA from Reece.
What a guy, I miss all the sessions we had and the talks. His Wife Marj still was running the Western Wear Store, in downtown Scottlsdale,the last I heard.

He was also very good at making Saddles, Belts, etc and busy making those custom leather goods. ...al

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Jim, that guitar you bought doesn't happen to be by any chance a Bigsby, does it? I have a picture of him playing a T8( no pedals ) and to the best of my knowledge he also had a single 12 Bigsby.

[Jim Pitman]

Wow! Thanks everybody for the info on Bob Meadows. I thought I could rely on the forum for a bit of player history.

Thanks Tom Mortensen for getting those MP3's. I'll appreciate them for sure.

I guess I'll let the cat out of the bag. - I bought his double 8 bigsby here in VT. I believe it had been in its' case for forty or more years prior. It makes sense he was a tuning guy. This guitar has 7 pedals and 1 knee lever. All equipment appears to be original bigsby. Haven't found a serial number, however, a vol pot is dated 3/04/47. It's in good to excellent shape. I'm really excited about it. I play in a couple of bands that do western swing. see stonecoldroosters.com click on the link to CD baby, play "Well Swung" MP3.

I plan to hang onto the guitar for a while and actually play it. I'm not inerested in selling it immediately anyway. In honor of Bob I'll be leaving his name on the guitar. (can only hope I can channel Bob while performing in fact)

Is there a Bigsby registry? Any furhter info on Bob and this guitar specifically would be appreciated. Send pictures for sure. I'll post some when I figure it out,

Jim Pitman

[Jim Pitman]

Here's a pic of the guitar



I have more questions about this guitar and will start a discussion in the steel guitar section to keep with the forum categories.

Let's continue the discussion about Bob here though.

Al Marcus, Chris Bauer. John Hawkins- If you have any insight on how Bob M. might have tuned a double 8, I'd like to know. The strings were original and some missing/out of tune/etc.! I can diagram the copedent (without open string notes)

Jussi H. - Sure would like to see a S12 Bigsby. Picture? I didn't know they existed. I play a Fessenden S12.

[Al Marcus]

Jim-Back when I knew Bob Meadows, he was playing a S12 A6 tuning, with A & B pedals , going down a whole tone C# to B and a half tone A to G#, just the opposite of Current E9. I think Bud Issacs , Reece and a few others did that in the old days.
He had a new White S12 MSA , besides his nice ZB D10 about then. He didn't mention his Bigsby then, so he must have sold it earlier. Bob was a good musician. I hope this helps some...al.:)

correction:

[Ray Montee]

I first met Bob Meadows at the olde Tiny Dumont Dance Hall located somewhere around S.E. 160th and Division Street in Portland. He was playing steel with Tex Ritter during a tour thro' this area.
We all enjoy the "Travis Style" picking by Forumite Bobbe Seymour......but I have to say, Bob Meadows was a very accomplished "Travis Style" picker. He had a triple neck Bigsby at the time, as I recall.
THANKS for giving him his due.

JIM: As an afterthought; turn the guitar upside down; and examine the area around where the leg screws in and he usually punched-in the delivery date on that flat surface found there. Mine, is on the leg post nearest my right knee; (4-15-56). Thanks for sharing.

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

Jim, WOW, that is a great guitar!! I only have a picture of Bob and his triple 8. The single 12 string is ( to me at least ) a hearsay. Could be that such guitar never excisted and this is Bob's other Bigsby. However, I've never heard of a knee lever on a Bigsby ( original one ). Would you be able to post a picture of that? I have a feeling that might have been added later, but after seeing all kinds of weird experimental gizmos by Bigsby I better not swear by it. In any case, you have a true collector's item there, doubleneck Bigbsys are really rare, and especially with that many pedals. Check for the serial # at the endplate castings where the legs screw in. And oh, the photo I have of Bob also has Jack Parsons with possibly the only hollowbody Bigsby guitar ever ( originally buit for Merle Travis ) and a guy named "Al" playing a Bigsby mandolin. I've also heard of a photo of this same band with Paul Bigsby himself on an upright bass!!

[Ray Montee]

Jussi.....Billy Robinson in his early day pickin's with Red Foley, had a single neck Bigsby. Not sure if it was a 6, 8, 10 or 12.

How 'bout it Billy? WHAT was it?

[Jim Pitman]

Ray,

I looked again but can find no such SN. There is some writing that extends under the right endplate that is mostly obscured. If I ever do a complete disassembly I'll read it then.

Jussi,

Yep, The knee lever itself is a little crude and looks like a later add on. However, it is linked to three different strings, and pulleys and mtg brackets look to be the same vintage/style as pedal changes. one of the changes is accomplished by an unusual linkage that rotates a string guide that protrudes up through the keyhead. I assume the string guide distorts the string to change its' pitch. Strange or what?

It's possible the guitar has gone through several copedent evolutions. I see quite a few unused holes on the underside. The changer fingers on the front neck are cast, whereas the changer fingers on the rear neck are machined? I've read most bigsbys had 5 pedals. The sixth and seventh pedal on this guitar stick out beyond the last pedal axle bracket.They must have been added by simply replacing the pedal axle with a longer one.

I leave for the Adirondacks on a fishing trip shortly and won't be able to post anything until I get back Monday. (no electricity) I can get a photo of the knee lever then.

Thanks all,

Jim

[John Hawkins]

If anyone who is posting or others who read this post about Bob,have a phone number where any of his relatives can be reached , I would suggest that this post and forum website be passed on to the family so at least they can go in and read all the nice things being said about Bob.

I am so sorry that I have lost his home number some years ago after he passed away . I contacted him at his home not at the store, ( Porter's Of Scottsdale is the store I am pretty sure )when he was recovering from cancer surgery . I tried the store number today but it has been disconnected .Looked it up on Google .

Sorry I cannot contribute his home # !

Boy what fine memories this post has brought back to me ! Thanks to all who have posted !

[Al Marcus]

yes, his store was called Porter's of Scottsdale...al

[Russ Wever]

. . . fwiw, here Bobs tuning as he published it in his 'Modern Pedal Steel Guitar' booklet -
~Russ

[Jason Odd]

Man, wasn't he with Tex Williams for a stint in the 50s, I'm sure there was a Bob Meadows who did time on the west coast then moved to Arizona (never knew his home state) ?

[Jussi Huhtakangas]

He sure could've been with Tex Williams. That Jack Parsons band I mentioned gigged around LA. This actually leads to a question that I've meant to ask for some time; who is the steel player on Tex Williams' Decca Dance-O-Rama album?? It doesn't sound like Wayne Burdick to me.
And Jim, it is likely that your guitar has been through changes. There were no standard number of pedals on Bigsbys, they were all custom ordered. Looks like Bob's guitar originally had five pedals tops, maybe less. We can see that the pedals are not equally spaced apart, some are closer to each other. This would not be the case if it originally had had seven pedals. And since you say there are holes underneath, it's clear that the copedant has been changed at some point. And that keyhead changer is not at all unusual on a Bigsby, that's actually how the first ones operated and Bigsby kept using them until the very end ( whenever needed ).
And yes Ray, Billy Robinson had a single neck lap, few others too, but a single neck 12 would be something else.

[Al Marcus]

Russ-Thanks for posting Bob's S12 MSA tuning. It was like Reece's except dropped from Bb to a a half tone.

I used that myself or a while. That is a very good universal tuning, with A6 and some E9 pulls. Bob was a good Western Swing Player and Musician....al.

[Russ Wever]

Al - Here's your tunings from Bob's booklet ~Russ

[Al Marcus]

Russ-Thanks for posting some of my tunings out of Bob Meadows booklet. I almost forgot them , it was 36 years ago when I met Bob.He was quite a guy. We had some good times back then. Are you still touring with a band? Who are you with now? Thanks again...al.:)

[Bobbe Seymour]

Well guys, I have some very interesting information to set history corrected here if anyone cares.

I bought Bob Meadows triple neck Bigsby in 1964, it was pretty well destroyed and wraped in news papers, most parts were there but I wanted a double neck Bigsby so I took two '63 MSA end castings, narrowed them, used them for a pattern for a new casting. I fitted the maple body to the new castings, and there was my D-8 bigsby. I then bought several pedals from Paul Bigsby, and finished the guitar which I played until I sold the guitar to a guitar player in NJ. Lou Winetraub was his name I think.

Any way, my point is, the Bob Meadows triple neck AND the double neck were both the same guitar. Although Bob never saw it as a double. I have many pictures of me as a youngster playing this on jobs on the eastern seaboard. I loved the guitar and have been trying to get it back for years.

I Met Bob Meadows in Ft. Worth TX where he was livilg in '57-8 and we made a deal on the guitar at that time, I couldn't get all the money because I was an Air Force C-130 mech. I made about 180 bucks a month.

I felt very lucky to have found the guitar a few years later in '64 ,,,,,,,,regardless of condition! It was about to be discarded and burned in the trash when I heard rumors of it being Bob's old guitar that I had unsuccessfully tried to buy. Kenny Dale in Norfolk VA. told me about it, he is now a forum member here, thank you again Kenny.
Now, where do I go from here? At least history is fixed as to this guitar.

Actually, this guitar was my first Bigsby in a long line of many. Wish I had it back,

Bobbe Seymour

[Bobbe Seymour]

And Jussi, the pedal spacing on this Bigsby is exactly the way I built it for myself. I "split" two of them, one on the E neck and one on the C neck. It is obvious that Lou never changed anything on the guitar as it looks to be the same as when he got it from me in '66. I still use the similar tunings that I put on this guitar, as can be seen on www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

You may have to punch this web-address in from your home page to work.

Very glad to see this guitar re-emerge!

[Al Marcus]

Well, Bobbe, that clears up that for me. When I lived in Phoenix, I went over to Bob Meadows home in Scottlsdale quite a lot and in his store Porters Leather Wear. He made beautiful Custom Saddles, and hand tooled leather goods. He and his wife, Marj, did quite well there.

He had a beautiful ZB D10 that he let me use 6nights a week for 2 weeks where I was playing with Gene Diffie, Joe Diffie's uncle. at the Rawhide on Scottsdale Road, while waiting for my new MSA D12 From Reece. That was around 1970 to 1973. He had just bought a MSA White S12 from Reece.

I guess that is why he never mentioned his Bigsby to me if he sold it years earlier. I sure enjoyed our visits, jamming, talking about tunings, etc. The last time I talked to him, he told me he had prostate cancer. I had hoped he would be cured...al