The British Steelies Society

I thought it would be interesting to hear from members what first attracted them to pedal steel and where & when you bought your first pedal steel, what it was etc. I'm sure the "old timers" here will have some interesting tales to tell.

I'll start as my story won't be too long

Guess the first time I recognised the sound as being a pedal steel guitar was Gordon Huntley on Woodstock, that's probably a common theme in the UK, although I had heard it before and liked the sound but I didn't really know what it was. Over the years I've always been attracted to it, every time I heard one but always had other priorities for instrument spend, didn't have much cash until I got older.

I think the turning point was when I saw Gerry Hogan playing at the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes, I knew then I had to have one. I bought a GFI student from Ebay and TBH had no idea what I was doing, worked at it for about a year from the Winnie Winston book. I started playing bass at this point with my sons band which was quite intense so the pedal steel went up into the attic for the next 6 years. 3 years I got it out again and decided to get a bit more serious and bought the Carter Uni from John Roche on this forum.

Now - My name is Geoff Noble and I'm a Pedal Steel addict

I bought mine in about 1985. It was a ZB student model with 3 pedals and one knee lever - found in Exchange & Mart.

I had been seeing BJ Cole playing with the Wangford band and was completely fascinated by and obsessed with the instrument.

I got the Winnie Winston book but to be honest, Red River Valley and Danny Boy didn't really inspire me and I didn't have the skills to translate the underlying theory into stuff I actually wanted to learn.

What I really wanted to play though was the stuff I heard on Hank Williams records and my Dad's Tennessee Ernie Ford 78s. I soon realised I was on the wrong instrument and put it under the bed while I went out and bought a 6 string lap steel tuned to A6.

I guess I should have paid more attention to BJ as he used to have his Fender Stringmaster quad set up behind his pedal steel which he used on a few numbers but in my naivety, I had assumed the pedal steel must be "better".

My fascination for the pedal steel stayed with me though, even though I was definitely more interested in "straight steel" (and that was the route I followed for many years). I bought a Fender 1000 on impulse when I saw it listed in a magazine advert, but was still mainly interested in the A6 neck but a couple of years ago, dipped my toe back into E9 territory (sort of) with a Fessenden 6 shooter.

This year (about 30 years after my first attempt) I came full circle, sitting in front of my new (to me) Sho~Bud trying to figure out what the pedals and levers did and trying to co-ordinate it all with my volume pedal. At least this time round, I have a bit more idea what to do with my hands and the pedals and levers make a bit more sense to me. I could even, for the first time in my life, see the point of the first 2 strings!

I think it was 1977 /78, I first became aware of the sound of the pedal steel, when I heard Dan Dugmore playing the steel break on Linda Rhonstadt's cut of Blue Bayou,
That was the day I sold my soul to the devil and I had to get me one of them thar things, My fist guitar was an Emmons student model with 3 floor pedals and 1 knee lever.
Very soon after that I traded up to my beloved Emmons Black Rock10 which I still have and will never part with

My name is Willie and I too am a steel guitar a holic

Asleep at the steel

Oops Geoff, I forgot I bought both guitars from Cuthbertsons Music shop, Cambridge Street Glasgow

Forty years ago, I was driving past a music shop in Addlestone, Surrey, and saw a steel guitar in the window. The price was very low - I seem to recall about £70. [It had been bought from UK Customs amongst a collection of keyboards and other instruments which had been brought into the UK without paying customs duty, and confiscated]. I recall thinking “I wonder if I could get a tune out of that”, at the time an impossible task, because I had never played piano, keyboards, guitar or any other musical instrument.

Colin Goss

Good thread.
Mine was a Driftwood 4+6. Made (or at least developed) by Gerry Evenden and Pete Willsher. Pete had an album out and the sleeve back had him pictured with one. It was £500 from (I think) John Edmed, Denmark Street. Late 1970's. The guitar worked very well with a ZB inspired mechanism. The sound, even with triple-tap p/up, was never outstanding but the guitar was robust enough and fine for quite a few years gigging. Sold it after I bought the Fender D-10 from Alan Dawson(?) via Ken.

Mine was Fender Student model( manufactured by ShoBud) around same time as Mr Gamble 77/78, got it at closing down sale of Cuthbertsons Paisley.They had never had any before, but magically three appeared at closing sale, the one I bought and a Fender Artist D10, which I couldn't afford and a Little Buddy.

Went to the RED COW in Hammersmith late 69, Muskrat's were playing, heard a steel, talked to Gus York, he told me to go to my local music shop, had it within two weeks, 4 pedals, one knee. and a sheet of paper telling me how to tune it, and that was it.
Went to see Gordon Huntley in Newbury, he gave me some pointers and off I went, now I need to put it down, but I can't so here I am,still at it. Gus York, you are the instigator of how my life turned out, but I still like you.

My first steel was a wooden crappy thing looked like a church pew, just wasn't playable, yes they saw me coming. so my first decent steel was a Fuzzy S10 I saw in the window of a music shop in Kingswood , Bristol when I was cleaning their windows. Nobody in the shop even knew what it was or worth, I got it for £250.00 that was in 1974. The first steelplayer I saw was in the Red Lion, Brentford London, some guy by the name of Gerry Hogan.