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Topic: Truck driving pedal steel players |
Rich Upright
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2018 10:12 am |
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I have a pickup. Dos that count?
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A couple D-10s,some vintage guitars & amps, & lotsa junk in the gig bag. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2018 7:55 am
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A truck driving steel player knows how to double clutch a push/pull! 
Erv |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2018 7:57 pm Truck driving pedal steel players
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Thanks to The U.S. Army I started driving a Tandem Axle Dump Truck with trailer, A week after my 19th birthday October 1962. I delivered building materials to construction sites. Out of Ingrandes France, C Company 83 Engineer Battalion,
The truck had been rebuilt by Mercedes-Benz, Had a metal plate on the dash confirming the rebuild. Close as I will come to driving a Mercedes I guess. Came back to the States and ran a Cat 12E Grader till I got out. |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2018 4:51 am
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| Edward Rhea wrote: |
I sometimes drive/hi-rail one of these, on the bridge gang....
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I would expect you'd be in the steel gang! 
_________________
Many play better than I do. Nobody has more fun. |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2018 1:23 pm
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I'm not a trucker--I've only done one long-haul trip, but it was a cool one. Literally. In 1995 a 1000 Kilometer tractor traverse in Antarctica, 22-days in the field. It was an Italian-French traverse hauling thousands of pounds of equipment by a train-like team of Caterpillar Challengers. top speed 12 mph. We started on flat snow and ice at 10,800 ft in elevation and ended at a French base, Dumont d'Urville on the Antarctica coast, due south of Australia. I've always had a lot of respect for long haul truckers after that adventure.
Edit: It's really hard to play steel guitar on sastrugi snow. There. Steel content.
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.
Last edited by Brooks Montgomery on 21 Aug 2018 2:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2018 1:29 pm
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That trip puts us ALL to shame! 
Erv |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2018 1:42 pm
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| Erv Niehaus wrote: |
That trip puts us ALL to shame!
Erv |
Not at all. I'd rather do that any day than to try and get a big rig thru LA, or Denver, or name your least favorite messed up traffic jam city!
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2018 11:58 pm
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A truck driving steel player knows how to double clutch a push/pull! Whoa!
Erv. |
Ya know Erv, half of the new breed of drivers don't know how to jam gears. I've tried to train some of them, who act like they'd just rather not drive than have to learn a stick. Heck, one guy told me it was cruel and unlawful to expect a man to drive a truck without A/C haha. |
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Wesley Medlen
From:
LaCygne,Ks
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 2:57 am
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I drove a lowboy off and on in Kansas City for 30 yrs. Wes
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Justice S10 Jr, Gibson Electra 6string, Boss Katana 100, Steelers Choice ,Gretsch 6 string lap, Hilton VP |
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Douglas Schuch
From:
Valencia, Philippines
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 3:37 am
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I've driven professionally most of my life, starting with driving a school bus when I was still in high school. I drove 18-wheelers (flatbeds and chemical tankers) for a while to make enough money to buy the boat that I sailed down to the Caribbean on 20 years ago. I did not take up pedal steel until after my last truck-driving job. However, I still "drive" boats for a living - working as a professional captain here in St John. I definitely prefer driving boats to driving trucks!
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Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental! |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 6:41 am
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Bobby,
Double clutching is nothing.
I had a Kenworth with 5 & 4 transmissions.
When you were running through the gears there was a shift where you had to put your arm through the steering wheel so you could shift both transmissions at the same time.
Erv |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 6:46 am
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I drive a 2002 Ford Explorer.
All my gear will fit in the back nicely. |
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George McLellan
From:
Duluth, MN USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 9:15 am
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Erv, we had a Mac like that in the mine. We called it the "alligator". Wasn't the easiest shifting.
Geo |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 9:40 am
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There was a 13 speed Roadranger in the Peterbilt and I really liked that transmission.
Erv |
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Johnie King
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2018 8:06 pm
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| Well my wife an I drove coast to coast for 33 years produce out of California to east coast An any think u can think of back to California 6 an 7000 miles a week. But we did take off sometimes for a few months in the winter just about every year. |
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Wesley Medlen
From:
LaCygne,Ks
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Posted 23 Aug 2018 11:13 am
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10 4 0n the 13speed
_________________
Justice S10 Jr, Gibson Electra 6string, Boss Katana 100, Steelers Choice ,Gretsch 6 string lap, Hilton VP |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 23 Aug 2018 2:56 pm
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| Ha! Erv, I heard of them my whole career, but never had to drive one - I think I just missed them as I started about '83. I have driven some crazy transmissions though. There was this split rear end thing in a '76 International that kept you busy all day long - you had to let the clutch out and come to high rev, let off the throttle and flip a button on the shift knob (like a roadranger), then come back up to rev and push the clutch in, flip the button back, and shift - you did this through 5 gears, and the dang truck wasn't strong enough to skip any steps haha... was a bit like playing pedal steel as I think about it hahaha! |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 7:05 am
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I think they called that a 2 speed rear end.
Erv |
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Dick Hitchcock
From:
Wayne, Nebraska
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 9:03 am
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Erv...I hauled swinging meat from Nebraska to California and produce back for about 10 years in the 60's. All with Cummins engines and 4X4 transmissions. We never had AC, and it was all 2 man driving. It's definitely not the same out there now at all!
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Justice Pro Lite 4x5.... NV112.... Steel seat. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 9:40 am
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Dick,
Yes, and now with the large engines, all they have to do is set the cruise and go up and down the hills with no shifting.
Erv |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 7:04 pm I drove a Divco milk truck standing up
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Not an 18 wheeler but, I drove a Divco milk truck standing up for almost a year when I was 16 until I was old enough to join the army.
These had 4 cylinder engines and a 3 speed tranny. You could drive them sitting and use the higher pedals. But when delivering milk from house to house you push the seat out of the way and drive standing. There was just the one pedal then for the clutch half way down and then push it all the way down to break... Kind of a hairy deal with a full load of milk and ice stacked in the back.
The throttle was on the shifter and the steering wheel had one of those knobs for driving one handed. 
Helped get me ready to play pedal steel I guess.
I drove one like this with the Combination shifter/throttle on the steering wheel;
They also made these with the floor shifter, but I never drove one;
This is how most of them look now if not junked years ago, Kind of a sad ending;
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 7:33 pm Re: I drove a Divco milk truck standing up
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| Andy DePaule wrote: |
| There was just the one pedal then for the clutch half way down and then push it all the way down to break... Kind of a hairy deal with a full load of milk and ice stack |
Man, a pedal steel does not seem so bad compared to THAT!
_________________
Many play better than I do. Nobody has more fun. |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 8:10 pm Doubt they could build them today
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Hi Don,
Doubt they could build them today with all the government regulations... Guess that would be a good thing.
More than one milk man died under a load of milk in those.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 27 Aug 2018 12:08 am
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| Man Andy, looking at that seat makes me feel better about the ride in my Peterbuilt - which will toss you around in the air-seat all day long. |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 27 Aug 2018 12:16 am Yes a sore bottom
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Yes a sore bottom was part of the deal.
They were not built for comfort.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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