New guy here. Hello + ZB serial question

[Matthew Rolin]

Hi everyone. Been lurking and reading for a couple months. Been learning so much here. Thank you all!

Long time guitarist, but newborn pedal steel player thanks to finding this ZB Custom D10 at a shop in Toledo, OH. Coincidentally right after getting home from a tour where I watched one of my fav current pedal steel players every night for two weeks.

I’ve seen someone answering serial number questions, and was wondering if that person knew anything about mine AKA serial #0006. Either way… this thing is incredibly fun. Got it back in mid august, have been practicing every single day, and will most likely be continuing that practice for the rest of my time. Never sat behind one until I brought this home. Here’s some photos and I hope you all have a great holiday season!

[Eric Dahlhoff]

That's a beauty!!
When Zane Beck started building ZBs the ser # started with #1000.
When the company was sold they started over with #0001.
Zane likely had a hand in building yours, and it even has his name on the fret-boards - rare!
Please post some pics of the underside for us nerdy ZB enthusiasts

[B. Greg Jones]

What a sweet guitar!!! Ser # 0006 was the sixth guitar built in Bakersfield ,California in 1969. Tom Brumley had just purchased the company from Zane and moved it to Bakerfield. The guitar itself is made with all Scranton, Arkansas parts. Zane went to Bakersfield to help Tom build the guitars for a while. I'm sure Zane helped build that one.

Enjoy that beautiful guitar!!!

Greg

[B. Greg Jones]

Looking at the pictures again, I noticed there are only 2 pedals on the E9 neck. This guitar could very possibly have been built for Sonny Curtis, George Jones/Tammy Wynette steel player. If you have a knee lever that raises the 4th string E to F# and its on RKR, that was Sonny's set-up although he played the pedals backwards. I have worked on Sonny's 1st ZB which was built in 66' and it was set up this way.

Greg

[Matthew Rolin]

So… you are correct in that there are only 2 pedals for the e9 and that my RKR raises my E to an F#. Been doing C pedal stuff with that and my A pedal pressed down. Having no prior experience with the instrument, I gotta say I’m loving this way because I never have to move my left foot.

Upon further research after your comments I do indeed believe this had to be Sonny’s guitar. It came with a plastic crown taped to the front of it which fell off when I was putting it back in the case. I’ll put it back on. Also has a cord wired down thru the front right leg right by the volume pedal. Wasn’t sure if it even worked, or what it was for, until I was trying to run this guitar in stereo the other day. Totally works! Thank you all so much and here’s more pics of the underside as well as the crown and weird cord. One of the changers on the E9 has a busted peg where the ball end of the string attaches but after struggling a while I got a string to stay on there. Would love to get that fixed at some point tho!

-Rolin

[B. Greg Jones]

The orange sticker on the bottom is from Sonny's Guitar shop in Columbus, Ohio. The dead giveaway on this guitar is the cable coming out of the front leg!!! That was a Sonny Curtis modification. This guitar was built for and played by Sonny. It also may have a few recordings under its belt!!! That is one sweet guitar and I'm sure it sounds like a million bucks!!!

Enjoy playing that guitar and welcome to the ZB family!!!

Greg