Looking for my first pedal steel...

[bennyg85]

Hi

I'm a long time electric and acoustic guitarist looking to buy my first pedal steel. I would really appreciate some advice!

Eric Heywood (Ray Lamotagne and Pretenders) and Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams) have influenced me to want to learn this wonderful instrument. I'm into all sorts of music, from folk to hard rock but recently I've been gravitating towards more country-influenced music.

I think I want a single 10 string to learn on; would you say this is a good place to start?

Would something like this be suitable? http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/first-class-pro-e9th-msa-10-string-pedal-steel-guitar3-knee-levers-3-floor-pedals-volume-pedal/1051290752

If not, can you suggest some manufacturers I should be looking out for? I intent to buy secondhand and have about £1000 to spend.

I'm based near Norwich in Norfolk.

Many thanks

Ben

P.S. Do many steel players use compression (board or pedals)?

[Nick Bidmade]

Hi Ben - welcome to the world of psg!
A few suggestions: try and find a local player if you can who can show you their guitar and advise you - better still, to accompany you when considering a purchase. As an absolute minimum I would want the seller to play it for me and demonstrate every pedal and lever to make sure they do what they are supposed to do.
You might be lucky on Gumtree or E-Bay but you might also get stung, particularly if you buy 'unseen'.
There is a big pedal steel meeting in Norfolk in May - have a look on these pages for David Hartley's meeting. There will be a lot of people there who'd be happy to give you info and advice.
With your budget you should be able to get hold of a good second hand model, 3 pedals and 4 levers. This forum is a good place to look, as most of the people who use this forum are 'the good guys' who are keen to support new players. I'm not sure of players in your locality who might help, but John Davis is in St Neots (not too far away) and he has 2 or 3 guitars coming up for sale. You could do a lot worse that to contact him via this forum... he will be very helpful. Overall, don't rush in - take a bit of time, try and meet and talk to a couple of players, read stuff on this and on the US Forum - you'll soon get an idea of what's current and this will all be useful info when you make a purchase.
Good luck!

[David Hartley]

Ben.

Hi.

You really must contact John Davis, and do it quick.
He has got a lovely shobud at the moment at a real nice price, and it will soon get snapped up.
They don't come much better than this..

His email is [email protected]

By the way, I am near Thetford if I can help in any way, email me at [email protected]

PS... Compression, No, just a nice reverb and delay....

[bennyg85]

Hi

Thank you very much to Nick and David for taking the time to reply. John Davis has kindly PMd me about the Shobud.

I'm very interested in attending a meeting as I have no idea what i should be looking for in a pedal steel. I've listened to a few videos on youtube and like the sound Steve Fishell gets from his Zum Steel and Silverface Twin Reverb, but I'm assuming these guitars are very expensive!

Will the Shobud keep me happy for a few years?

Cheers

Ben

[elparkirio]

Hi Ben, sho bud made great guitars. I bought mine from John a while ago, i would buy it if you can. Then come to David's meeting in Barnham and get some tips about how to use it

Matt

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Hi Guys, thanks for the nice comments, Ben if you want to come and see some steels with different design`s /mechanics St.Neots is not that far from you and you can sit behind three different makes of steel without any obligation to buy anything, your interest alone makes it worth my time and, I don`t know anywhere else within hundreds of mile where you could do that .... ??

[Tony Russell Davis]

Ben - take John's invitation as an order! It's well worth your while. You are new to this forum but we've known John for years - he's not bad .
And, btw, loads of guys have played the same ShoBud guitar throughout their playing careers.

[elparkirio]

He makes a nice cup of tea too, but don't eat too many biscuits

[slimbo]

Hi Ben, welcome to the site, lots of help here, and for starters they don't come better than John Davis, and he makes a nice cup of tea.
Have a look at my little offering, just to give you some idea on how to get started, it's just a video for beginners, and again, welcome,Slim.