The British Steelies Society

I bought this Denley just before Christmas, with the view that I wanted a double 8 non-pedal steel, and it was available, plus it had pedals which was a bonus. Little did I know what a slippery slope I was on... Now, having dabbled with pedals and the lone knee lever on this vintage beast, I need more!

So please have a look, tell your friends, and help a brother out who needs to feed what I fear may be an all-consuming drive for more and more complex mechanisms!

It's playable, all electrics work, case is scuffed but serviceable (catches don't look too strong though!). I'm looking for 500 quid, which is what I paid for it, and since getting it into my possession I have got the E9 neck pretty much sorted in terms of pedal and knee lever operation, and with a new set of strings. C6 neck yet to be done...

Thanks for looking,

Sid

I had a Denley once and in fact I still have the neck, fretboard, changer and steps. It was made from good old english plywood but nicely veneered. The tuning operation was similar to the ShoBud Maverick i.e stomp your foot on the pedal and tune to the raised note via the machine heads, then remove the foot and tune to the open note via the allen bolts at the end of the neck. Those knurly things underneath are similar to ShoBuds barrels but would be used to get the pedals to the right height. any string to lower would be held against the body of the guitar and tuned to the open note then engage the lever and tune via the allen bolt for the lowered note. Easy. There does not look to be enough rods to set up per Emmons C6 even with eight strings.

Having said that you will find this is a very sturdy guitar. The two pickups give a wide variety of sounds and I know that the string spacing on the 10 string was wider than most pedal steels. If it were not for the fact I have too many guitars at this time I would buy it myself.

Please - somebody buy it before I raid the piggy bank again and suffer the wrath of the wife.

Hi Mick, thanks for the post - I wonder if this is a slightly earlier variant from Denley, as it is definitely solid [soft] wood rather than ply. WRT the C6 neck, I agree that at present there are not enough rods to get the full Emmons copedent. However, it looks like pedals 4, 5 and 6 operate the equivalent of Emmons pedals 5, 6, and 7. There is a spare rod and knurled connector in the case which could probably be put to good use! Pedal 4 also raises the top F# to G# on the E9 neck at present...
I would be interested to know what the original tunings and copedents were (or should have been!) - I cannot imagine the guitar has remained unaltered all its life, and certainly when I bought it, the copedent wasn't quite the same as the standard E9, hence I played around with it a bit to get it more consistent with other guitars.
Anyway, it is pretty sturdy as you say - the castings see of particularly good quality compared with many other instruments of this era (not necessarily pedal steels). I think the fretboards are brass, which seems quite a strange choice as the costs must have been masses higher than for simple sheet steel or aluminium.
There is what I believe is the serial number, 157, stamped into the wooden frame underneath the guitar. I wonder what happened to the other 156+ guitars that were presumably made
Any additional information from anyone would be gratefully received. Even more so if wrapped in £500 in used notes in exchange for the guitar!
Thanks for looking,
Sid

Here's one that I owned for many years, converted to 10 string

Excellent Richard, it's not the instrument, it's the player.

Sorry to clog up your post Sid But I've got to to say how much I enjoyed Richard's post Superb

No problem to veer off on a tangent! I thoroughly enjoyed Richard's video as well - just wish I could play mine as well as he plays his

OK, the guitar is listed on ebay with 40 watchers but no bids yet - I've reduced the start price to £400 as I really need this gone... Go on, dip your metaphorical toe in the murky water - you know you want to! Ends tonight at 21:30.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-8-Pedal-Steel-Guitar-Denley-Custom-lap-steel-console-steel-1960s/232699196798?hash=item362df3f57e:g:Fr0AAOSwP8laqt4D

OK, so I had 41 watchers on ebay, but no bids
I really need this gone to free up some space, so if anyone wants to make an offensively low offer I will probably accept! Sadly I don't have the physical space to keep it, otherwise I would probably turn it into two 8 string lap steels...
Thanks again for looking,
Sid

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232707054155?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Hi there, Denley now sold.

Could Admin move this to the archive please? Apologies if this is something I can do myself - I did have a look through the 'how to' section but didn't see anything there.

Thanks,
Sid