I need your help concerning gibson steels

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

Hi folks,

I'm supposed to write and article for the biggest guitar-orientated musicians magazine in germany. It's about gibson lap- and pedal-steels. Now I don't know so very much about their models and their history. Do you know where I can get information about the models, the inventors, people, who had an profound effect on the development and so on? Are there book on that subject, websites (beside Brad's) or people who I could talk directly to?

Everything is much appreciated! Thanks so much.

Martin

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martin abend Pedal-Steel in Germany
s-10 sierra crown gearless 3 x4 - Regal RD45 - fender hotrod deluxe

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

Martin,
You should contact Don Helms. He played the old Concert Grande with Hank Williams and stored it away when the pedal guitars emerged. Well, let me tell you, that old 'red guitar' (as he calls it) is making beautiful music again. Don is a wonderful, warm human being whose stories about that old Gibson will light up your book.

You can find Frank Rogers' Email by searching the Forum. I believe Frank can help you contact Don.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Martin,
Two good sources for information on Gibson's steel guitars are "The Hawaiian Steel Guitar (and Its Great Hawaiian Musicians)" edited by Lorene Ruymar and published by Centerstream Press, and Walter Carter, who used to work for Gibson and now works for Gruhn Guitars in Nashville (as far as I know).
Let me know if I can offer any assistance in your project.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Paul Graupp · From: Macon Ga USA

Larry: Eddie Stubbs had Don and Lloyd Green on his show last night. Don is such a nice gentle man and talked about those old Gibson's a lot. Two of the pioneer's on our favorite instruments.

Eddie played a lot of the early Hank Williams cuts featuring Don. I was again amazed at the brightness and bite of that Gibson. My old memories tell me Gibson was mellow sounding and Fender had the bite. But time doesn't lie and those records are proof of the sound the Gibson's had.

Regards, Paul

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

You ain't lyin', Paul
Don is a consummate musician. What he gets out of those two tunings is incredible. Another thing that surprised me was that he uses a Stevens bar and rarely does bar slants. And, you're right, the sound of that old box is GREAT! Sustains for DAYS.

If Don Helms can't bring a tear to your eye with his playing, you don't have any tears in you.

Also, Martin,
An excellent resource for the ElectraHarp would be Al Marcus. As you may know, Al is one of our 'elder statesmen' on the Forum and we all benefit from his many years of experience and musical knowledge. He played the ElectraHarp and knows a lot about its history.
(just an afterthought)

Good luck on your research.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 09 April 2002 at 10:29 AM.]

chas smith · From: Encino, CA, USA

Martin--I e-mailed you Lynn Wheelright's e-mail address from a year and a half ago. He probably knows more about Gibson guitars and Gibson history than Gibson does.

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

Man,

you guys are so great! I never could write this piece without your help. Thank you very much!

If you have some other tips for me: I can use everything!

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martin abend Pedal-Steel in Germany
s-10 sierra crown gearless 3 x4 | Regal RD45 | fender hotrod deluxe

Sage · From: Boulder, Colorado

At the Sacred Steel convention I met Toliver, who was the first man in that tradition to play a pedal steel. He bought his Gibson ElectraHarp in 1952, and still has it. I find it interesting that the pedal guitar was in their tradition before 'Slowly' was cut. I asked Toliver how he used the pedals, and he said that it was for more than just changing the open tuning and holding it there- he liked to throw augmented chords in as he went. Isn't history an interesting thing...
T. Sage Harmos
Harmos Steel Guitars

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Martin- I would be glad to contribute any Knowledge or experience that may have had with Gibson.

The first Electra-Harp was sold around 1941.
Pearl Harbor too care of that, they were discontinued and that console model was never made after the war.

I had to serve 3 years , before I could buy one, and I got lucky and Ted MCcarty Pres of Gibson told me where I could get one used. Which I bought in 1946.

It had 6 pedals and 8 strings. Alvino Rey had 9 strings on his. It had a tuning head similiar to a Mult-Kord, any tunings could be put on it.I took the cabinet off of mine and put it on a pipe stand, so people could see the pedals and it was easier to carry around.
Email for any more info, if you wish...al

Winnie Winston · From: Tawa, Wellington, NZ * R.I.P.

In 1939, a Connecticut Yankee, John Moore, took out a patent on a mechanism that would allow strings to be raised or lowered specific amounts by pressing pedals that changed their tension. The limitation of string intervals ceased to be a problem. The instrument in the patent was built by the Gibson company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was called the "Electraharp" .
I'm sure someone could dig up the patent drawings for you given that information.

Winnie

J D Sauser · From: Wellington, Florida

Martin, Al Marcus IS your man... I got much valuable info from him. He was THERE when they made the first serial pedal steel (IMO before Harlin Bros.) together with Alvino Rey, who I believe is still alive too.

... J-D.

Sage · From: Boulder, Colorado

What years were the Gibson PSG's produced- and why did they not make the jump to modern instruments in the 60's? It sounds like they were in it from the start. I'm just curious why they didn't keep it going.

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Thanks, JD , How you doing in Spain?
Sage-Maybe I can give you an idea why Gibson dropped the pedal guitars. I couldn't believe it either. They were in it from the beginning. All the had to do after WWII is make improvements on their Electra-Harp and put it on the market again. Instead they spent a lot of money developing new Pedal guitars , and they were all just not as good as the original and Fender came along. CMI took over Gibson and decided to concentrate on Guitars which was their main line anyway. It is a long story. I was disgusted with them. I was at the factory in Kalamazoo several times and they showed me their Prototypes to get my opinion. I didn't like any of them. They had one with "torque tube" (they called it that ) on a double neck with the pedals in front instead of on the side like mine was. It was very heavy and the pedals did work easier than mine did.
They had the pedals work both necks at the same time. The should have had a crossover switch.
BUT they made another HUGE mistake, they engineered it for EIGHT strings!

Fender came out with 10 Strings and that was the end of Gibson's pedal guitar venture......al

matt uelmen · From: california

I really, really love the tone on the gibson 6-string lap steel which I recently acquired. nicer than my old steinway, I really think the tone on those old early 50s models can easily go toe to toe with one of those beautiful old archtops and les pauls. a noble part of a noble family, though i doubt this axe has any rarity.

Sage · From: Boulder, Colorado

Thanks Al- I appreciate hearing the stories. Just imagine how history would have changed had they done what they should have done... asked you to help as a design consultant before they made the prototype!

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