The British Steelies Society

Hola,

I'm a guitar/lap steel player and country music aficionado from Madrid about to take the leap to pedal steel, must say I'm excited AND scared but... fortune favours the bold!

Regards,

Charlie

Welcome Charlie,
I am sure you will enjoy your adventure into pedal steel land.
You will find plenty of friends here on our forum That will give you any advice if needed.
Enjoy.
Do you have a steel yet ? If so what make.

Thanks a lot Roy!

I don't have a PS yet, but I'm on the hunt for one! (quite a daunting task I must say... there's none in Spain and shipping/customs fees from the US are ridiculously high, came up with this site after long sleepless nights, hehe).

I'm standing on the crossroads to be honest. The little devil on my shoulder says "go for it, spend some moneys, Pete Drake would be proud" but the little angel says "nooo, this is not for youuuu, you can't even play lap steel why go for the scary monster, start on a cheapo one, boo hoo".

And, my wallet says no but my wife is supportive so that's 99% of the hassle out of the way

Charlie: "Honey, John told me to get a good one!"
Wife: "3000 squid and you've barely played it twice in the past five years"
Charlie: "I'm still learning Walking after Midnight and me loves you babes"
Bank Manager: "car keys and fridge, please"

million dollar question: how much is a nice and "not-incredibly-expensive" (cough cough) PS?

thanks a lot guys

Hola, or Aloha Charlie, welcome to the site, and as Roy states, plenty of help here to get you going in the right direction.
I play steel and Lap steel, so your conversion should not be too hard, have a look at my humble offerings and see if your liking is to this direction.



It's a sort of beginners lesson to take the mystery out of the steel and help folk along there way.
After 50 years playing I felt a need to put something back into the forum, and John Davis has some nice steels in his living room, not much room for a sit down and a cuppa, but plenty of eye candy, and he's not a bad o'l git, he'll do you proud.
Good luck on your venture, any help needed, just holler,Slim.

Hi Charlie, came past Madrid on Thursday on my way to Costa Blanca. If your down my way give me a shout ,you can try out my steel before you buy. I live near Torrevieja. By the way you could had a steel brought over to Spain with one of the guys that go back and forth to the Uk every couple of weeks , they will carry part loads as people have their belonging sent back or brought over to Spain and there is some room still on the truck...will not cost to much, cheaped then shipping..

Slim, thanks for the warm welcome and loved the video, one of the best for beginner's I've seen, I appreciate your time in helping us newbies.

John, thanks a lot, sounds good but I'm getting shipping quotes that are not that bad so I might as well avoid the hassle of having someone bring over such a heavy and large instrument. You're in Alicante? It's a long drive from Madrid but I'll definitely give you a shout if I'm down there and we can have a beer or two.

Try contacting James Crowbear via this Forum. He in southern France/Pyrennees and may be a bit nearer than the US!!

Thanks Nick, I finally bought a really nice Bennett PS - Sho Bud copy - the one on Gerry Hogan's website:



I'll post a few pics soon, can't wait to get it!