Emmons push-pull. It's not a myth

[Ken Byng]

I have been using my Show Pro for recording sessions over the past year, and before that I used my Sho~Bud and Zum. Today I got my push pull out of the corner of my studio to do a quick backup number for a friend in London. I am just knocked out. Bobbe Seymour used to say to me that there was nothing to compare with a push pull for recording and I have to admit.....he was absolutely spot on as usual. Just a huge tone that sits in the mix just right - and that is with an old set of strings on it and an old Emmons pot pedal. I am going to do a few solo tracks with it and compare them with my Show Pro. The Emmons may well get used a lot more despite its shortcomings with modern tunings. Anyone who tells me that the push pull thing is just a myth will get a fairly swift response.

[bob adams]

Nope it is no myth Kenneth… and no argument from me! I honestly wish I could explain or define it to folks but I can’t.

It simply rings like the bell on a buoy on a midnight sea!

You are aware of my recent acquisition, for exquisite build quality I know of nothing out there that compares with the engineering, and as for playability it almost plays itself, modern PSG build is superb and they all do what they say on the tin, loaded 9x10 setups that stay in perfect tune, and are a joy to play, but for that ‘crystal cutting country sound’ nothing compares with sound of the PP.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Oh you guys are singing my toon I been saying that for years!! and here it is ten to three in the morning and I am still working on getting this 1967 Bolt on S10 d/b push pull back together...... be two of `em for sale when I`m done....Well you can`t keep em all

[bob adams]

As the song says, it is now…. ’four in the morning’…. but who cares!
Passion is compelling is it not! The power of this instrument will probably kill us both JD! But what a way to go, eh!
I have two Sd10s one will probably go .... but one will most definitely stay!
Good luck on the '67

[Ken Byng]

It's the resonance that gets me. The bottom 2 strings on my C6 neck sound almost piano-like with amazing sustain.

I have always liked the sound of my PP, but it hasn't been until I could take a critical listen to it through my exacting studio monitors that I could hear the 'springy' and 'zingy' tone that just sounds so alive and up front. I will still play my Show Pro on live gigs, but the Emmons will be used for all sessions from now on. I need to adjust some of the knee lever placements and get a couple of flags for 2 of the levers and she's good to go. Lawrence 705 pickups have brought the old black PP to life.

I remember Seymour telling me that back in the early 70's or maybe the late 60's he was using a very early MSA guitar. He got a recording session in Nashville, and played on a couple of tracks. The studio engineer, who had never seen an MSA guitar before called Bobbe into the control room, and sat him down. He told Bobbe that the guitar had a strange tone that didn't sound too wonderful with everything else in the mix. He played Bobbe his guitar back, and then got a tape of a session with Weldon Myrick playing a push pull. Seymour said that the difference in tone was just staggering, and that the sound of Weldon's PP was just huge in comparison to the MSA. The engineer, having good ears, picked it up immediately. Seymour was sold on PP's thereafter.

[Ken Byng]

For Messrs Adams and Davis - insomnia is not good for the ticker.

[bob adams]

We're still trying to kid ourselves on that we're in our prime Ken!!! Though it is funny how our early hours 'passion priorities' have altered a tad! ... That has to change!

Back to topic... resonance!!! ...That is indeed the word!!!!

[Basil Henriques]

It's no myth, I have many steels but the best tone is from the pair of 1970 D-10 PP's that I have.

(Another shot from one of my weekly TV Spots..) I feel sure the Jaguar will be recognised. !

[Ken Byng]

Nice pic Basil. Don't play too far up the neck or you might shatter that crockery on display behind you!

I used to have lengthy debates over many years with Maurice Anderson about the tone of the push pull, which I am sure he felt was akin to the Emperor's new clothes. He always maintained to me that you could EQ any guitar to sound (in a blindfolded situation) just like a push pull. Reece used to get quite antsy about the subject, but always polite. I maintained from my side that you cannot EQ resonance and upper neck sustain and clarity on an amplifier, but he wouldn't have it. I never did take him up on his challenge of a blindfold test before he sadly passed, but nevertheless I still enjoyed our semi combative debates on the subject of tone.

My big thing about the push pull is the main advantage that it has over all pull guitars. You can take the guitar from a very cold environment onto a hot stage, tune it and that is it for the night. When I say tune it, often it doesn't need to be touched as it holds its tuning incredibly well. The pull rods on an all pull are subject to heat variances, and thus need periodical tinkering when subjected to temperature changes. Not so the push pull.

Bobbe Seymour told me that shortly before he died, John Hughey was trying to track down one of his Emmons push pulls, and had asked Bobbe to look out for a clean specimen as he missed THAT tone.