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Topic: Ernie Ball pedal steel?? |
Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 12:20 pm |
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| I used to play at a club in Costa Mesa Ca.Down the street from Ernie Ball Co.They had built a whole bunch of Keyless guitars that were very nice playing but never were on the market.When I moved to Alaska in the mid 80's I had a friend who owned one and remembered that it was a quality guitar,I also talked to Red Rhodes about and he told me that they couldn't put it out because he had the patent on the Keyless design?I was told that they had built a few hundred of these guitars,Anybody have the 411 on them,Stu |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 4:29 pm
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| Red's patent has surely expired by now. That's one I'd like to see. |
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 5:11 pm
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| I had one and the keyless that it had on it was very similar to the one that was found on the Williams keyless with the straight aluminum "pullers" being pulled straight back by an allen screw. I substituted a Sierra keyless tuner for it and it worked very well. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 5:38 pm
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| Bobby:From what I remember they had a stack of them ...maybe 100 or so,It would be worth e-mailing the Ernie Ball Co. |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 12 Apr 2006 6:44 pm
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Red did have a patent on one keyless design and told me with great glee how his having same prevented David Jackson from marketing the S~B keyless mechanism. This is in the 1969-71 time frame.
There's a photo in Winnie's book of Hal Rugg playing a prototype S~B keyless on the Opry. That's the design that Red claimed his patent put the quietus on.
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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 19 Apr 2006 9:04 am
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Dan McPherson at Ernie Ball sent me this today.
What you are referring to is the Ernie Ball Black Eagle Steel Guitar. There were roughly 300 of them made. They ceased production in 1978.
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 12:41 am
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The only PSGs that I know of, that Ernie Ball produced were called the "Earthwood Steel Guitar." They were shown at Scotty's National Steel Guitar Convention in about 1975. I believe they were the first keyless
PSG on the market.
Roger |
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Jim Eaton
From:
Santa Susana, Ca
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 7:33 am
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| I hung out at the EB Booth for the better part of the day at a late 70's NAMM show playing a s10 keyed guitar that they were showing that year. They were so happy to have someone to play it, they bought me lunch and gave me a case of strings to stick around all afternoon. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 9:38 am
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| I bought one of these in 1978/9 for $300. I didn't get it - the mechanics of how to play pedal steel didn't make sense to me at the time. I later sold it for the same amount I paid for it. From what I remember, it was a decent enough starter instrument. |
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Gary Jones
From:
Mount Vernon, Wa
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 10:58 am
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I worked for the EB Company in 1978 and ’79, and built several of these guitars. Perhaps I can provide some information on the subject.
I’m glad to hear that my friend Dan McPherson is still working at EB. He and I worked in several bands together many years ago, although I have not talked to him in years.
There is a great deal of difference between the Earthwood PSG, designed by the great Chuck Wright, and the Black Eagle student model, designed by EB staff workers Ron Saul (who designed the EB volume pedal) and Dan Norton.
As far as I know only a few prototypes of the Earthwood guitars were ever built, and I am not sure of how these guitars were configured. The one I saw at the factory (which I believe was Ernie’s personal guitar at the time) was a keyless D-10.
These guitars were very innovative for their time, and of course Chuck would later start the Sierra PSG Company. I have often wondered what has become of the wonderful guitars he made for EB, and who has them now?
The Black Eagle guitars, on the other hand, were made specifically to be cheap. The body was made from the same extrusion channel we used for the volume pedals. The keyless tuner system was very primitive and the changer was a pull-release, with only enough fingers to provide the standard 3-pedal, 1kl changes. All-in-all, these were not particularly good guitars, even as a student model.
I assembled three Black Eagles from parts in 1978, and I think that there were enough parts in the shop to make one or two more. I don’t know if any more were made after that point, but I suspect not.
Again, I do not know specifically how many of the Black Eagle guitars were ever made, but I suspect the total production run was around 50 or 60 units.
Edit: re-reading earlier posts I see that Dan suggests there were 300 of the Black Eagle model made. I have no reason to dispute this number. I just never saw very many units assembled at any one time.
I am still wondering (and perhaps Bobbe Seymour and other retailers can help with this) if any of the Earthwood keyless models ever turn up for sale? These were very nice guitars, and I'm sure some of them are still out there.
Gary Jones
KLVX-TV, Las Vegas
[This message was edited by Gary Jones on 20 April 2006 at 06:09 PM.] |
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Jack Mansfield
From:
Reno, NV
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 1:35 pm
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| I had one in the mid 90's when I was just learning psg. Bought it from a place I believe called Steel City Music in Ft. Worth. Paid $350.00 for it. It was black with a wooden raised neck. 3&1. I tried to tune it to regular E9th but it would break the third string at G# to A. Tuned it to D9th and had no problem with the guitar. Seems it stayed in tune well. Sold it to Elderly Instruments later on. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 20 Jul 2018 4:11 am
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This post is so Old that I don't even remember writing it...I wonder what Seymour was trying to say?
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 20 Jul 2018 6:45 am
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funny. Just yesterday I was researching 10 string lap steel tunings and I came across an old post of mine where I was praising a particular 10 string tuning I was using at the time. I not only didn't remember writing it, I didn't remember I ever used a 10 string tuning. I used Reece's 12 string tuning for a while but no recollection of having a 10 string.
man...makes me wonder what else I've forgotten.
_________________
Check out the Steel Guitar Union Hall Facebook group for you daily dose of Steel https://www.facebook.com/groups/steelguitarunionhall |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 20 Jul 2018 9:56 am
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Bill,I'm with you on that!
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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