EMMONS ARE BACK

[Ken Byng]

.... but I wonder if the average country music listener can actually hear any difference between a push pull, or all pull (for example) if they are played by the same player or even hear the difference between a humbucker and single coil....

Err - no chance Zak!!
Even players take years to become discerning about tone, because they are too busy learning to play the ruddy thing (or at least that was my case). This is a very interesting view on the subject of the ReSound 65 by experienced player, one time collector and authority Herb Steiner from yesterday's Steel Guitar Forum, and I hope that Bobby Lee and Herb won't mind me reproducing it here.


"I, like several of my most discerning friends, have owned multiple original 1964-65 Emmons wraparounds, and we have seen them increase greatly in value; that is, what someone would pay who wanted one and was presented with the somewhat infrequent opportunity of finding one for sale.

Likewise the situation with the Bigsby guitar. Not all that sought after until a vintage steel collector started paying what at the time was top dollar. Word got out and prices on Bigsby guitars, pretty much obsolete by current standards, started escalating. The steel collector went to the Bigsby Co. and purchased all the leftover stock the company had relating to steel guitars, then created a handful of exact Bigsby dupicates using original parts. Enter Todd Clinesmith. He purchased what stock was left from the steel collector, took the ball and ran with it. In addition to his excellent reso guitars, he commercially revived the Bigsby design and market demand for that type of guitar, but in limited quantities. Someone desirous of a new Clinesmith won't find one at Guitar Center. You find someone selling an existing guitar, or you have to order and wait.

Because of the Clinesmith success, I wondered how long it would be until the Emmons Original (PP) was revived. Without argument, the most highly prized vintage design of the Emmons is the "wraparound" from 1964-65. The ReSound 65 is, for all intents and purposes, a duplicate of Weldon Myrick's 1965 Emmons D-10. I've played the prototype and it's every bit as Emmons as it can be. Actually, it's better than the Weldon guitar (which I've also played), because frankly, the Weldon guitar is 56 years old. The price is reflective of what an original in playable shape would currently sell for, and would come with new parts, showroom condition, a warranty, and involved builders.

I know of at least one "original Wrap" owner who has ordered a ReSound. I've winnowed my personal inventory of steels down to one original wrap and one Infinity, so I probably am not in the buyer's queue; but were I not in the winter of my career, I would certainly consider a ReSound. They won't be mass produced, and so will hold their resale value if that is any consideration".

[hickenjr]

$10k is steep for a large group of steel players but for me it isn't.

This guitar is bringing back the cream of steel guitar, with consistent modern production methods which will make them all be great rather than having some bad ones in the pack like in years gone by. I can't imagine the mark up on the new wraps is that high. Consider the investment in R&D, machines and the materials to actually build them...I don't think they will be making the new Emmons CEO millionaires overnight that's for sure.

The tone is the amazing wrap tone expected but they don't play like old guitars either. The action on the mechanics is super smooth and they also have modern features old push pulls don't have such as splits. I've personally never used splits but I know for my much higher mortals they are important.

Our biggest problem is importing them. Shipping, taxes and etc make it super unaffordable. Average wages/pensions in the US are usually higher and they don't have all the additional expense with importing stuff so they are much more affordable.

I'll probably never own a new wraparound...partly because I'm keeping cash in hand for a house and also if an original Pedabro comes up for sale (please someone put me out of my misery and sell me one already). They are however looking to be amazing machines and all the steel connoisseurs in Nashville are saying these aren't hypejobs, they're the real deal. Trust me...those guys are hard to please.

[ZakTF]

Thanks Ken, that is an interesting view. (and I was too busy learning to play it too )
I can see how the collector, or someone with some easily disposable income would pick up a resound, because I think you and Herb are right in that they will hold their value due to the limited production.

Thanks for your response too Steven, and I agree with you that I don't imagine the new Emmons company will be making gigantic profits either, I bet the guitars are expensive to produce, especially in a limited quantity. I get the idea that the whole project is somewhat a project of passion and love for the instrument, which is great.
I think it comes down to what something is "worth" to an individual, which is going to be different for everyone.

[Ken Byng]

I just had a listen to The Resound 65 played by some of Nashville's finest on Facebook. They were playing the guitar through Travis Toy's Signature Quilter amp with a 15" speaker. Jeez the sound is so bright that it would neuter a male dog at 100 paces! Set way too bright for my taste I'm afraid. The pups are 15K, just like they were back in the mid 60's, but times have changed and warmth seems to be the flavour of the day now. Even Mike Johnson didn't spend very much time noodling on the guitar, although he did say that he liked it. It just didn't sound like Mike's trademark clean but warm tone.

[Ken Byng]

I just had a listen to The Resound 65 played by some of Nashville's finest on Facebook. They were playing the guitar through Travis Toy's Signature Quilter amp with a 15" speaker. Jeez the sound is so bright that it would neuter a male dog at 100 paces! Set way too bright for my taste I'm afraid. The pups are 15K, just like they were back in the mid 60's, but times have changed and warmth seems to be the flavour of the day now. Even Mike Johnson didn't spend very much time noodling on the guitar, although he did say that he liked it. It just didn't sound like Mike's trademark clean but warm tone.

The Resound '65 team have responded to my comments of Facebook about the tone of their guitar on a clip they have posted, pointing out that it was recorded on a mobile phone. I accept their comments unequivocally.

[Ken Byng]

A new pic of the changer end of a recent Wrap. Shows a red belly a la 1965 model. There are pics of the red mica guitar on the Emmons web site. Looks superb!

[David Hartley]

I’ve been listening to Tyler playing at the TSGA festival on this new Emmons.
It just seems too bright and cutty for my ears.
There must be a lot of profit being made as the cost to build a D10 is much much less than £10k.

[Ken Byng]

I’ve been listening to Tyler playing at the TSGA festival on this new Emmons.
It just seems too bright and cutty for my ears.
There must be a lot of profit being made as the cost to build a D10 is much much less than £10k.

The Emmons guys have paid a small fortune to start up, with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in CNC machines and other equipment. It's a big project to start from scratch, but yes $10K is a fair old price to pay for a new D10. The cost could end up higher than that if someone wanted a lot of splits or more pedals and levers installed. My push pull has a mellower tone than the Wraparounds that I have heard, but to be fair nearly all of the recordings (including Tyler's) have been recorded on mobile phones. I stuck 2 Lawrence 705 pickups in my push/pull, and it sounds great.

This set was performed on the main stage at Dallas last night, and to be fair has a fuller tone. The backline amps are all Telonics, and it's worth a listen. https://www.facebook.com/EmmonsGuitarCo ... 0151966629

[migrik]

Thats great.

[Ken Byng]

Just to upgrade this thread, I have copied a piece that Buddy Emmons wrote many years ago about the birth of his Push Pull guitar. It makes really interesting reading for those who have never read it before. Enjoy.

The Emmons Guitar

The Emmons guitar originated from two changes I wanted on the Sho~Bud pedal steel we were manufacturing: a smaller cabinet and aluminum necks. I had designed the original Sho~Bud cabinet, but the more I became accustomed to the mechanics of pedal mechanisms, the more I saw in the way of overkill in cabinet size.

Shot Jackson didn't want to "rock the boat," as he put it, so he nixed the suggestions along with a few others I'd throw in from time to time. Eventually I logged enough features to design a totally new and different pedal steel. After two years of putting my thoughts on paper, the plans for the Emmons guitar were completed in 1961.

Bigsby was the benchmark design for cosmetics, but the cabinet was bulky and the one piece cast aluminum neck created tuning problems from temperature change.

I still revere the Bigsby, but at a time when we travelled in cars three fourths of the year, a bigger cabinet meant a bigger case, more weight, and more space taken up in a trunk.

My first step was to design a cabinet no larger than it took to house the mechanics. Next was a two piece aluminum neck with a bridge that mounted on the cabinet. The keyhead would have rollers to keep the strings from sawing across the nut, as it did with the Sho~Buds.

Cigarette burns on my personal guitar gave me cause to think the world could use a cabinet with a burn resistant finish, so I threw that in.

The Sho~Bud fretboard scale was 24 ½ inches with black frets on a white background. My fretboard would have a 24 ¼ inch scale with chrome frets and atom symbols on a black background. Three quarter inch maple was the standard for cabinets so I chose one half-inch.

I made wooden patterns for a keyhead, bevelled foot pedal, and a lightweight volume pedal that mounted on the pedal bar. That idea came from my Bigsby volume pedal sliding off the top of my guitar when rushing to work an Opry spot.

A silk screen company in Nashville made fifty fretboards and fifty Emmons Stereo Guitar decals from drawings I submitted to them.

For the push-pull changer, I drew from Shot Jackson's system: a random array of bell cranks and reverse pulleys permanently welded to the undercarriage. A changeable mechanism was necessary, so I integrated his method into two changer fingers for each string, one to pull, and one to push. My reverse pulleys would be on the cross shafts of the guitar.

The Sho~Bud permanent raised or lowered a string but never the same string. To achieve that, I used springs of various lengths that butted against collars on the push/pull rods. When properly sized, the spring was strong enough to pull a finger to pitch and weak enough to override when pushed for a lower.

My father had the dies for the push-pull fingers made at Bendix in South Bend, Indiana. The rest of the design: cabinet¾ end plates¾ bell cranks¾ tone bypass switch¾ and neck with a stereo pickup configuration, was drawn to scale on graph paper.

While touring with Ernest Tubb, I met a fellow named Ron Lashley. Ron invited me out to his car to show me a Sho~Bud clone he built and wanted my opinion on. Outside of a pitted lacquer finish, the overall workmanship looked very good.

I learned that Ron had a major in physics, so I showed him a few of my drawings and gave a brief description of what I had in mind. He offered to work on a prototype and a month later, made a trip to Nashville to pick up my patterns, dies, fretboards, and decals.

We tried a burn resistant finish called Mica Glass, but the process was tedious and time consuming, leaving Formica as the only alternative. I couldn't picture wood grain Formica on a cabinet so I chose a glossy black sample that matched the fretboards. Once the black and aluminum theme came together, polished aluminum strips became the obvious choice for the trim.

The first prototype was brought to me at a show date with Ray Price in North Carolina, and it was gorgeous. More importantly, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The only setback was the pedal action, which was stiff, so Ron took the guitar back to Burlington and modified the raise fingers for better leverage. The next prototype was on the money.

After a couple post-production models, we found that the stereo pickup created more assembly problems than it was worth. I wanted two five pole pickups that allowed the use of two amps, something not popular at the time. Rotary controls for balance and tone stuck out through slots in the back side of the neck and rotated with the thumb. It would have been a nightmare to service, so we went to the conventional single coil pickup.

After some minor tweaking, the Emmons push-pull was ready for production. Through Nashville recordings, show dates, and players like Jimmy Crawford, Hal Rugg, Ben Keith, and Weldon Myrick, the demand for the guitar took off.

For two years, I had control over any changes Ron thought necessary for production. Then I heard about a "bolt-on" guitar and called to ask about it. Ron told me he thought mounting the bridge on the neck might improve the sound. My concern was that it would defeat the purpose of the wraparound design and his response was, "We'll offer both models and they'll have a choice."

I knew that temperature would affect tuning in some way but gave him the benefit of the doubt and said okay. Later, I played a bolt-on that sounded great, but not without tuning problems. As for its acceptance, it was discontinued two years later.

After that, the split-tail neck was introduced, consisting of a cut-out at the end of the neck with an aluminum insert to replace the cut-out. To this day, I only guess as to why it was done.

In the eighties, the mechanical advantages of the all-pull guitar made it necessary to offer that type of changer. Ron came up with a system and I added the integration of a split tune feature that allowed you to raise and lower the same string and tune the note between the two pitches. I dubbed the new model Legrande; a name I had originally considered for the push-pull guitar.

After years of fixing things that weren't broke, I felt that the sound of the Emmons Original was lost forever. The demise of the push-pull mechanism and a year of legal wrangling with the company left me with little incentive to stay. By 1990, I was gone.

I've been blessed by being able to work with the best in the business, but I'll always hold designing the Emmons guitar above anything I've ever accomplished as a musician.