redstone steel

[Ray]

Hi my name is Ray Horton and in the early 1970s I purchase from Jim Smith the very first Redwood Steel guitar he made I kept it for a couple of years and then sold it on to Ted Barrett and I went on to play play ZB Steel guitar I still have a photograph of the first Steel guitar Jim made

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Early 1970s Redwood pedal steel guitar

[Dave Kirk]

Hi Ray
I hope all is well with you, I remember that Steel so well, I still have the cast I made for Jim for the Redstone Badge, we experimented in casting all the aluminium parts including the end castings. Jim made the parts in wood first, then we melted down old ingots of car engine aluminium, then poured them into a small casting unit we had borrowed from a guy in Canterbury. what we hadn't allowed for was shrinkage! so after cleaning and polishing the parts, we discovered they were too small for the body, so had to make some more about 1/4" larger all round.
never had a buffer in those days, so polishing was all done by hand using Solvol Autosol bloody hard work.
none of the parts were ZB Jim & me made everything including the pickup.
Kindest Regards
Dave

[Dave Kirk]

Hi Jim
None of the parts were ZB, Jim and me made everything using a casting unit, and melting down old engine aluminium. even made the Pickup!
Cheers
Dave

[Ray]

Hi Dave good to hear the history of the guitar from you it was a nice Steel guitar I used it for a couple of years before moving on to a ZB that all was a very long time ago but fondly remembered times all the best from Ray Horton