"Sister" by Sneaky Pete cover.

[mick hearn]

I recently picked up an old 8 string Pierce pedal steel from the 1960's which was a wreck. Well I managed to revive it and get a tune out of it. Only had three pedals so tuned to C6 with high G as that's what I have been using for the past few years. Pedal 1 raises the E's to F. Pedal 2 raises the C and A to D and B and pedal three drops the lower G to F#. Sounded Sneaky Pete-ish so decided to cover his recording of "Sister".

Last edited by mick hearn on Sun Sep 29, 2024 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[ZakTF]

Great playing I'd never heard a Pierce steel before, but it has a nice tone. Well done on the restoration as well

[mick hearn]

Thanks Zak. The pickup is a very primitive affair with pole pieces set into a piece of wood and a coil laying on it's side. It doesn't span the width of the strings therefore strings 1 and 8 are very thin in sound. Output is very low and I have had to boost the amp to get a decent sound. I am having one made by a local pickup guru (Old Bones Pickups) using Alnico 4 slugs and high output. The current pickup is all off centre so had to put the strings on the edge of each changer. Can't wait to install it when it arrives then try the sound again.

[Uncle Roy]

Lovely job there Mick, you have turn a wreck into a little stunner mate,
Nice playing, lovely tone!
Be interesting to see if a new pickup will sound any better than the one on there.
Not sure if my old ears will tell

[Jif]

Nice playing Mick, interesting to hear how it sounds with the new pup. Will it still have that Sneaky Pete sound?

[Mr W]

Hi Mick That looks like the one John Davis sold me when I was 17. I striped the top and varnished it and sprayed the frame Sunburst Red. It was a lovely first steel that could walk across stages sounds good Dave

[Mr W]

Hi Mick I just noticed in the end pics it has the white leg ends I put on to make it look cool. Dave

[mick hearn]

Hi Dave. It lives on. As you say it is not very stable and if you pick it up one of the legs might drop out. I took off the white paint on the pedal bar. What was the original colour?

[Mr W]

Hi Mick I don't think I paint the pedal bar. I think I painted the underside black. The metal frame was a Deep plum colour when I brought it from John for £115 pounds my dad thought I was mad. I sprayed it with a tin of Car plan aerosol Sunburst red cellulose paint. I went on to get a ZB student then an Emmons loafer both from Eric Snowball. I now play my homemade Uni 12 String wish I went Uni years ago. Dave

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Nice to see my first ever steel lives on......