SSGW MAY 26th

[Malcolm]

All together now, in the key of R.

[Danny Mitchell]

FAO Geoff,

I've pm'd you but in case it hasn't worked.......which is highly possible, my pm'ing abilities are s#*%e.

http://we.tl/KGDj8Yltpj

this is a link to the backing track you requested. It's been generated by the sound card on my pc, hence the shady quality. Key of E, no intro, twice through.

Hope this helps.

[Jif]

Thanks Danny, got that OK

BTW I'd like to apologise for my last post, I think I got a bit carried away trying to get into the spirit of things when I had no idea of what the actual wind up was about. I think I'm getting the jist of it now though

Yeah, I believe the Springfields were made by a guy in Kinross. A drummer friend of mine knew the builder, when I first took up PS he asked me if I knew him, can't recall the name, think he moved away from Fife some time ago?

Looking forward to tomorrow

[Willie Gamble]

Geoff, Springfield guitars were built by Willie McEwan and Jimmy Kerr, they were located firstly in Livingston and then after they won an award from the Scottish Chamber of Commerce (or some such body ) they were to re locate to Greenock, as part of the re generation scheme for that town where they would have a factory built specifically for them, but in the intervening time they had to rent a unit to keep them going.
The traveling costs and the rental of the unit plus a whole load of other sh*t did for them I'm afraid.
I was introduced to the lads by Donny and I visited the factory on numerous occasions, and had many a laugh with them, they were two nice guys
I believe Willie has since passed away, but James Kerr, as he now prefers to be called is still playing, mostly lap steel.
Yes the guitars had a few issues, mostly I believe due to the type of alluminium that was used for the changer fingers, I think if this had been made from sterner material a lot of this could have been resolved.
They did as far as I remember make some stunning looking guitars.
It is really a shame that they were not allowed the time to develop what could have been a very good home grown product.
Donny was as far as I recall the only endorsee of Springfield guitars and his always sounded good to me.
Ah they were the good old days,I was just a raw beginner then
See you on Tuesday evening at Gartcosh
Donny, feel free to correct any, or all of this

Asleep at the steel

[Ken Byng]

Sarah Jory had a Springfield at one point, and I reckon she must have been about 10 at the time. Jimmy Kerr, complete with wife and kids popped in to see me many, many moons ago in the late 70's when they were on holiday in the New Forest. Jimmy or James was a good engineer with some very good ideas. His main business plan was to manufacture top quality pedal steels at an affordable price. I remember that excessive pressure on the pedal stops or lever stops would cause instability of the tuning.


We have quite a few mechanical engineers in the UK who could match anyone in the world for designing a great workable undercarriage for pedal steels. Dave Wheelhouse, Dave Wiggins, Ron Bennett and Ivor Greenwood come to mind. The Springfield was a casualty of a recession period, but had enormous potential if it could only have ridden the financial storm at the time. Aircraft grade aluminium would have made a huge difference to its construction.

[Jif]

Willie and Ken. Thanks for the info, I think it was James Kerr my mate knew, was he from Kinross originally? My friend Robin Deas was a drummer in a Cajun band at the time and knew a lot of musicians who were active in that scene, especially around the Edinburgh area. I'll ask him

Shame it didn't work out

Edit update -

As usual I must have only been half listening to Robin when we were talking about this. He didn't know the makers at all. His pal Davie Smith from Inverkeithing bought a Springfield back in the 80's and still has it, he refers to it as his - "sewing machine" apparently. Robin played with him and a couple of other guys, Jim Hyndman and Ed Eugster back in the 80's in a band called Scots Country Comfort. He did think there was some connection to Kinross though.

[Malcolm]

Geoff, bumped into Davie at the Kelso Festival a few years ago,he and his mate were carrying the Springfield on stage.I had the MSA in a gig bag, and asked him if he could hold the bag while I got amp from car, he asked what was in bag and I said it was my Pedal steel, he did not believe me till I showed him the steel, he could not believe the weight compared to his guitar.

[Ken Byng]

Geoff, bumped into Davie at the Kelso Festival a few years ago,he and his mate were carrying the Springfield on stage.I had the MSA in a gig bag, and asked him if he could hold the bag while I got amp from car, he asked what was in bag and I said it was my Pedal steel, he did not believe me till I showed him the steel, he could not believe the weight compared to his guitar.

MMmmm. That's the difference between a plastic toy and a real musical instrument made from organic material.

[Malcolm]

Would that be organic substance be "Compost" , to give it it's Sunday name Mr Blyng, unlike my Carbon body ( one step away from being a Diamond!!!!).

[Jif]

Phew, back on track