Bonding with your steel

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 5 Mar 2006 5:35 pm

Have you ever bought a different steel that everything seemed to be good on as far as looks, payabilty and sound but just didn't feel right. For lack of a better explanation I call it not being able to bond with the steel. At least thats the only explanation I could give my wife when I told her I wanted a different one.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 5 Mar 2006 5:55 pm

Thats exactly why I play a 1968 restored ZB Custom.

Tony Dingus · Post by **Tony Dingus** » 5 Mar 2006 7:14 pm

Like Kevin, that's why I'm playing my 89' JCH.

Tony

J Hill · Post by **J Hill** » 5 Mar 2006 7:27 pm

Steve,

What did your wife say when you told her you wanted a different one?

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 5 Mar 2006 7:35 pm

Leila
She asked what was wrong with the one I had. She liked the way it looked and sounded. But I was serious when I told her I just couldn't bond with it and I didn't really know why.[This message was edited by Steve Hackney on 05 March 2006 at 07:35 PM.]

Pat Kelly · Post by **Pat Kelly** » 5 Mar 2006 8:22 pm

So Steve:

Did she move out?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 5 Mar 2006 9:22 pm

As with any instrument and player ,
there is a neccesary symbiosis needed.

Too bad this one didn't work out.

Larry Hamilton · Post by **Larry Hamilton** » 5 Mar 2006 9:24 pm

Steve, after playing an MSA D-10 Classic for 26 yrs, I bought an Emmons brand new in 2000, and it just didn't "fit". I might mention I have always played the Day set up. On the Emmons the pedals were just too far to the left. I tweaked and tweaked for 6 years and have it close but not perfect. After talking to my friend of nearly 30 yrs, Chuck Back of Desert Rose guitars, about this problem, he is building me a new guitar that I will be picking up in Dallas this weekend. the pedals will be moved to the left for me. I sure hope it fits. I know Chuck will help me make it fit comfortably.
Yeah, I never bonded with my Emmons but it sure sounds good.

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Keep pickin', Larry

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Mar 2006 3:05 am

I don't have a problem with guitars. I haven't had many pedal steels (a Fender 2000, a 71 "Black" Emmons D-10 and my current late 81 Franklin D-10) like a lot of people but when I sit down at someone else's steel although it may be set up different or pedals feel different I still play it. I'll concede I like some guitars better than others but that doesn't have an affect on playing whatever guitar I sit at.

I heard a comment one time and it fits perfectly in this thread. "Play the guitar, don't let the guitar play you".

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 6 Mar 2006 5:36 am

I am a believer in bonding. Sure, you can play different setups, but if you have to take the time to think, you are limiting yourself. I let the sounds in my head flow out of the speaker without going through a thought process. I can only do this after a lot of bonding with my instrument.
An analogy to this concept is the ability to read and send international code. You should not hear a series of dots and dashes, then think of a letter. You should practice until you hear words. It's just like a child learning how to talk.

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www.home.earthlink.net/~johnd37

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 6 Mar 2006 5:57 am

I've only been playing for three years now, but I've tried several guitars. I feel at home playing a Shobud "The Professional", from what I've tried. I picked up a second "Professional" as my backup guitar/leave set up at home guitar. Works for me.

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 6 Mar 2006 8:33 am

Pat, No she didn't move out. I think she understands how finicky we can be about our steels. I've bonded with her, haha.

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 6 Mar 2006 1:01 pm

If you ever had a pedal steel with the great feel that you are after, then carefully do some measurements from that guitar on everything you can adjust: guitar height and leg room; pedal height from floor; pedal travel (also gauges of strings); knee lever positons (and travel). These are a lot of the things that I always had to adjust on any other guitar I bought to make it feel like "mine".

If you are starting for the first time, then carefully go through the above and then STOP adjusting for a while and see if you have solved any problems. If so, then you should have fewer things to work on fixing.

Most of all learn how to do your own adjustments.

Thanx,
Jim

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 6 Mar 2006 1:05 pm

My first pedal steel was the most comfortable, practically maintenance-free pedal steel I've ever owned. It was a beautiful wood-bodied Sho-Bud Maverick, with three pedals and no knee-levers. Nothing fancy and really nothing to adjust. Just sit down and play.

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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Mullen U-12, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King

James Shelton · Post by **James Shelton** » 6 Mar 2006 1:57 pm

I sit in on other peoples guitars all the time, but the only ones that have ever felt "rite" to me are the two Zums I have owned. I've had five or six other steels that I used on gigs. I had all the time I needed to work out the kinks on 'em, and never could. The Zums on the other hand had no kinks to start with and after yaers of day in and day out use,They still don't.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 6 Mar 2006 2:19 pm

I played an S-11 RusLer, for 27 years. That particular steel is built like a tank and weighs almost as much. But, I've never, ever, had a problem with it. It's a great, solid steel guitar. 2 1/2 years ago, I bought a brand new U-12 ZumSteel ( which is fabulous ) and it took me a while to get comfortable with it. Basically, because of the weight and component differences. The Zum is a much lighter steel and I was afraid to lay into it, like I did with the RusLer. But, I found that, no matter how hard or aggressive I play, my new Zum just stands up to my playing. I was actually altering my style for fear of braking something, but, I found that not to be true. My Zum and I are now, "one instrument", when we play and it now fits like a glove. As with anything new, give "yourself" a little brake-in time with a new steel. It's really worth it in the end.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 6 Mar 2006 2:24 pm

I want to bond with my steel, but it rejects me...says it "just wants to be friends...".

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Mar 2006 2:37 pm

I agree. Some just feel "foreign" when you try to play them, others feel like an old lover. A famous steeler once told me that if a steel doesn't feel comfortable within the first 1/2 hour of you playing it, it probably never will.

I liken it to shopping for a pair of shoes. When you go to the store, you can try on a dozen pair that are purported to be the same size, yet only one or two pair might actually feel good.

Steels are like that too!

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 07 March 2006 at 05:34 PM.]

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 6 Mar 2006 4:29 pm

Bonding with your guitar? You guys are weird

Where's Howard anyway?

I read a story in a popular men's mag once about a guy and his upright bass but....anyhow yes, I have owned perfectly fine guitars that I could never get comfortable with.

Not a thing wrong with them and preferred by lots of other players, just not me.

It's nice to have choices but I find when times are hard like now, I can get along with most any decent axe!

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 6 Mar 2006 5:48 pm

Just use more duct tape and hold you mouth just right. You'll bond with whatever you want. (Super glue works well too.)

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Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10

www.16tracks.com

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 6 Mar 2006 7:15 pm

I tried Gorilla glue. Made the bar real easy to hold on to and the picks stayed on my fingers but it just wouldn't stick the notes where they were suppose to be.

Adrienne Clasky · Post by **Adrienne Clasky** » 7 Mar 2006 1:25 pm

As someone searching for a new guitar, your post made me very curious. Is there something specific about this guitar that you don't like? You know, like that old Seinfeld joke, "It's not you, it's meee."

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 7 Mar 2006 3:41 pm

Adrienne. There wasn't a thing wrong with this guitar. I think your right, it wasn't the guitar, it was just me.

Joe Shelby · Post by **Joe Shelby** » 7 Mar 2006 9:10 pm

This topic brings up an interesting point, or
two.
1)steel guitars have more variables than many
instruments that can make (or break) a particular brand/model more player friendly
than another, i.e. pedal to knee lever placement, pedal spacing, leg height, pedal
feel, string spacing, neck height (if you're
playing a D-10, D-12, D-10/11, etc.). A lot
of things need to be in a personally acceptable place before you even get to the
particular guitar's tone (though I'm sure many out there can put up with some of these
variables being not quite there, if the tone
is so good; to me ZB guitars often seem to be
ergonomically challenging, but I love the sound--this is just my own opinion).
2) unless you live in a part of the country where you have a chance to actually sit down
at a particular guitar you're considering,
you just order one from the manufacturer or
buy a used one from a seller and hope for the best...
This makes the whole quest, difficult at best.
And then...there's the mojo factor where one
model of brand X feels like a glove and another one sitting right next to it just kinda fights you.
It hasn't been since I was on the road about
25 years ago that I've had the opportunity to sit down at a lot of different guitars and say "yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin about."
I play a Zum I've had for about 17 years now,
and like a lot of guys who play 'em, it's not
hard to get comfortable with one. My previous
guitars reside on two fingers: '77 MSA D-10,
Sho-Bud Maverick (roller nut/maple neck model).
If I could have any of the guitars I've played? That would be Dan Tyack's black '60's
Emmons D-10. Jimmy Crawford set that guitar up for him, and whatever it was, that was a bond that for me I'll never forget (geez, it
was just so, uh, right...sigh...).

Joe.

Charles Turpin · Post by **Charles Turpin** » 8 Mar 2006 11:20 am

I don't know what it is but i think you do bond with a certain steel guitar. I have played Zum steel all the way since about 1983. My first being a stage one that I sent back and had Bruce put a fourth knee lever on. Then I went to a 12 string universal and played it since 1992, I still have that guitar and to me it still like putting on old shoes, when i sit behind it i feel like the world has been jerked out from under me. Cause i have played it so many years and we belong together. In 1999 I bought my double 10 I love it and play it more now than the single neck cause i have some new toys nad changes on it. But my 15 year old universal is still my love. I guess cause i got so many memories of playing that steel all over northern Missouri in al most all of the shows in this area. But now my feelings are growing on this double neck. But then a friend brought over a MSA Milenium < to me it was to crowded and I just couldnt get the feelings out of me through it. ANother friend i went to his house and he had a double Emmons Just didn't do a thing for me. So I will stay with my Zumsteels as long as the world is here and Bruce keeps it up. SO i guess you realy do bond with them guitars true players do anyway

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