The Steel Guitar Forum Store 

Post new topic The Turchetti Project
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  The Turchetti Project
Chris Brooks

 

From:
Providence, Rhode Island
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2019 11:45 am    
Reply with quote



With much trepidation I have accepted the task of getting one of Rico Turchetti’s guitars in at least partially playable condition.

He will be inducted—posthumously—into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame. We’d like to have the guitar there to be “played” and then put on display. I believe Chris Turchetti, one of Rico’s sons, will attend.

The guitar is a much-modified 8-string Epiphone Electra Zephyr. Right now we—an electronics guy and I—are trouble-shooting the electrics. We have replaced one pot and are trying to trace a bad ground. The instrument has volume and tone, and a conventional phone plug as an output.

By the way, The tone pot looks like a double pot . . . one pot on top of the other.

What we could really use is some kind of schematic for the electrics on the Electra. Now, the instrument may well be modified, so I’d take any diagram with a grain of salt! But maybe one of my steel guitar brothers or sisters will provide some place to start.

And I would welcome any other information about the guitar that you all could contribute, with the goal again of getting it into “strummable” condition. I’ll be attacking the foot pedals soon.

The late Eddie Cunningham wrote that the tuning was an E 6 tuning. OK: but what would the actual notes be? In other words, would the highest string be an E? Or a B: the 5th.

Jody Carver, any ideas? Herb Steiner? You guys know about this stuff; I don’t.

And I’ll be posting more photos.

Chris in Providence
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2019 1:30 pm    
Reply with quote

That's a pedal steel? Whoa!
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

manny escobar

 

From:
portsmouth,r.i. usa
Post  Posted 30 Mar 2019 5:25 am    
Reply with quote

Hi Chris, I know nothing. However, Mario Depaulo(sp?) is 95 years old. He has stories/info about Rico Turchetti. I think he took lessons from him. If I see him this Sunday at the E. Greewwich, RI Am. Legion, I`ll try to pick his brain for you.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Steven Pearce


From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
Post  Posted 30 Mar 2019 7:43 am    
Reply with quote

Here you go...


_________________
http://www.fentonstwang.com/fr_home.cfm
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Steven Pearce


From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
Post  Posted 30 Mar 2019 7:50 am    
Reply with quote


_________________
http://www.fentonstwang.com/fr_home.cfm
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 30 Mar 2019 7:55 am    
Reply with quote

It looks like you have your work cut out for you, good luck! Very Happy
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Lee Jeffriess

 

From:
Vallejo California
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2019 7:46 pm     Rico's tuning
Reply with quote

If Eddie is correct in saying that its E6 ! then its ''more'' than likely Alvino Rey's tuning from the 40's, Rico was obviously influenced by him (as was everyone)
(Hi to lo) G# E C# B G# E C# B, Speedy West also used a version of this and was also a Rico fan !
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Jim Pitman

 

From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2019 1:12 pm    
Reply with quote

Hmmmm...two pots for a tone control?
I could envision accomplishing a sharper roll- off using two pots and two capacitors. A typical single RC provides 3db per octave. A carefully designed two RC combo could be designed to provide 6db per octave.
If you can provide me with a schematic showing all the connections and the values of the components, I could model it for ya and do a simulation to tell you what it does in terms of frequency response vs pot position.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Andy DePaule


From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Post  Posted 2 Apr 2019 4:03 pm     Don't see many
Reply with quote

Don't see many like that these days! Shocked Whoa! Very Happy
_________________
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.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Ian Rae


From:
Redditch, England
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2019 3:28 am    
Reply with quote

That instrument is quite extraordinary! It's too far-fetched to be a joke and yet it's real. That doesn't make sense I know, but it's rendered me incoherent Neutral
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 3 Apr 2019 7:35 am    
Reply with quote

I have always known that tuning to be called C#m7th.
I had that tuning on one of the necks on my T-8 Stringmaster, except I had an E for the 1st string.
Very Happy
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Chris Brooks

 

From:
Providence, Rhode Island
Post  Posted 4 Apr 2019 10:24 am    
Reply with quote

Thanks for throwing some ideas in the mix, guys. Yes, if I can get it to make a sound and a couple of pedals work, I'll be happy. I am sort of "reverse engineering" the pedals.

Erv, I had to decide whether to put this in Pedal Steel . . . or Steel Without Pedals . . . apparently there is no category called "Frankensteels"!

Manny, thanks for the name Mario DePaulo. Did you manage to see him at Post 15??

Steven, thanks for the photos. Godfrey certainly liked Rico's playing immediately, the stories go.

Lee, thanks for the tuning. The guitar has the remnants of the 8 string tuning on it. I'll have to see if they jibe with what you have given me.

Jim Pitman, you are very generous and I will indeed get my electronics guy to rough out a schematic. He will appreciate your comments about the dual-pot tone control! Again, I am much obliged to you.

Ian: It's no joke. And it seems to me that the instrument represents a critical era in the history of our instrument when player-inventors were searching for something and coming up with all kinds of stuff. Sort of like the first fish poking his head out of the water and thinking about going onto land!

Stay tuned for further developments in . . . The Turchetti Project! Or as we might say in Italian, Il Progetto Turchettiano.

Chris
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Mike Perlowin


From:
Los Angeles CA
Post  Posted 4 Apr 2019 12:19 pm    
Reply with quote

There's a CD somewhere of Turchetti's work.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

manny escobar

 

From:
portsmouth,r.i. usa
Post  Posted 5 Apr 2019 5:16 am    
Reply with quote

Hi Chris, Yes I did. I got some historical facts. I`ll have to call you.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail


All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  

Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction,
steel guitars & accessories

www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

Please review our Forum Rules and Policies

Steel Guitar Forum LLC
PO Box 237
Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA


Click Here to Send a Donation

Email admin@steelguitarforum.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for
Band-in-a-Box

by Jim Baron
HTTP