Regson pedal Steel

[Stephen Williams]

Anybody ever heard of these? i bought one from an American serviceman in UK in 1976 or so. I assumed it was an American model but no-one over here (formerly from Monmouthshire, now in berkeley ca) has heard of it. It';s a 10 string single.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Hi Stephen, Welcome to the forum, never heard of that make of steel before..... some pics would be nice ???
JD

[steve.n]

Around 1970 when I was 19 I wanted a steel guitar but couldn't afford to buy one at that time. After talking to Barry Smith of Frank Jennings Syndicate who was playing a homemade steel I told my father Reg (a toolmaker) and he offered to make me one. I got a few measurements from a magazine that Barry had used and we copied some parts from an Emmons guitar on the cover of Suite Steel album. I got an MSA pickup from Eric Snowball and Dad milled out of solid blocks of aluminum the machine head assembly and changer block. The mechanism was rather crude but it worked and was similar to a Denley guitar. In about 1973 I sold it to a fellow from Brandon, Suffolk called Derek Banwell who possibly sold it to an airman at the nearby base

Dad had put a nameplate on the front showing Regson. I have had four or five steels since that first one and Dad often wondered what happened to it and if it was still being played. He died 10 years ago and he would have been chuffed to bits if his handiwork had ended up in the USA.

I'll try to post a picture of me and the guitar in 1970 when I had much more hair and it would me great to know if it's the same one. Steve.

[Stephen Williams]

Hey Steve that is just fantastic. I lugged it all around the world for yonks and finally last summer decided to try and fix it up and play it. And now I'm hooked.
I thank your dad for his craftsmanship and giving me so much pleasure. Here are some pics.
I decided to take a short cut and figure out my own copedant partly because i've never been near an E9 psg in my life. All sorts of ppl told me not to but then my stubborn streak came out. As you may see I put in an Alumitone pickup and i'm experimenting with and additional guitar pickup because high strings sort of get lost volume wise......don't know if that's a common thing. I'll email you some stuff played on it.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

What a great story! Stephen I think that would be a collectors guitar! but you need to graduate on to something with standard string spacings now to take advantage of modern mechanics etc.

[Stephen Williams]

@ John.........Re string spacing. Can you tell if my strings are narrower or wider apart? Only thing i know is spacing between 3rd and 4th is slightly off but we doth work with what we doth have.

Also my pedals have a travel from rest to floor from smallest of 3 1/4" (83mm) to about 4 1/2" (114mm). I am assuming this is not normal. If I made a bell crank that is like modern type (with holes) I assume i would get less pedal travel to floor. Whaddya think?