My Steel Guitar & Amplifier 'Collection'

Oh Boy! Another equipment list!

Steel Guitars

• 1998 ZumSteel Modified 12 String Universal Tuning "Loafer" (Single neck on a double body with an upholstered pad substituted for rear neck) 8 pedals and 6 knee levers. My first new pedal guitar in 20 some years and a true piece of modern pedal steel guitar craftsmanship by Bruce Zumsteg. Click here for some pictures of this fine machine.
  
  
• Early 1970's ZB Custom D-10 , 8 pedals & 5 knee levers. Slightly modified E9th and C6th tunings. When I first started paying attention to steel guitar on recordings it was the sound of a ZB Custom that I fell in love with. Rusty Young and Tom Brumley, my initial influences, BOTH played ZB's. My first professional quality 10 string pedal guitar back in '72 was a ZBCustom S-10 whose big fat tone ruined me for life. I sold it in '74 and regretted it ever since. Now thirty years later I have it's big brother; a beautiful piece of furniture living up to 30 years of enhanced memory of the big fat tone from my youth! It has been refurbished by B.Greg Jones of London, Kentucky, who's excellent attiutde and craftsmanship I can't praise highly enough.
  
  
• 2007 StageOne (licensed by ZumSteel) 3 pedals, 4 knee levers. This "Economy" model is light weight (38 lb's in the case) and emminently playable. Tonally it compares fovorably with it's cousin the U12 Zum, and it is stable in both tuning and "Stance"- it doesn't hop about when I hit the knee levers. I would recommend one highly to anyone looking for a first pedal steel, or a second for "fly-dates."
  
  
• 1938 Rickenbacher Electro, metal body w/ wrinkle paint finish. Low-bass A tuning. Unfortunately missing original pickup and hardware. Retrofitted with brass bridge and nut in the shape of Stevens bars, and a Strat pickup. My main Rock lap steel, my first lap guitar.
  
  
• 1940's Rickenbacher Electro 6 string. Black Bakelite body, white plastic pickguards (very like the picture above) . C6th tuning. Sounds like Jerry Byrd or David Lindley, depending on how you crank it up.
  
  
• 1940's Epiphone Eddie Alkire E-Harp (pronounced 'A-harp') 10 string lap steel. A monster of a lap guitar. A bear of a tuning. Timbre is incredible.
  
  
• 1950's Silvertone 6 string - Wood w/ Lucite neck overlay, paint finish. G tuning. Very wood-sounding electric lap steel. "The California Kid" - Found on a trip to California, in a town just north of Bakersfield. Mellow.
  
  
• 1950's Supro 6 string - Wood w/ Lucite neck overlay, Maroon "mother- of-toilet-seat" pearloid finish. E tuning. Another Rockin' lap steel.
  
  
• 1950's Fender Stringmaster Triple Neck 8 string. C6th, E7th, G tunings currently. A classic steel guitar for a classic steel sound. Match this baby up with the Les Paul Junior amp described below and it sounds just like 1954.
  
  
• 1997 Melobar Lap Steel 6 string. Metallic brown finish with Strat style pickup. A gift from my wife returning from a visit to her family in Texas. Yet another "color" of tone and another Rockin lap steel.

Amplifiers

"I am a Junkie"

Click here for a "family picture" of my amps:

• Early 1970's Fender Vibrolux Reverb, Silverface, Domestic. Recently rev-amped to "60's Blackface specs" and generally cleaned up by tube amp Ace George Alessandro.Sounds fabulous, almost like a "Baby Twin Reverb". I have been very happy with the Vibrolux as a combo amp for steel for many years. But my acquisition of the next listed amp for my birthday in 2000 changed my life:
  
  
• 1968 Fender Twin Reverb Amp, Silverface (with thin verticle black lines), with aluminum trim 'round the grille. Retrofitted before my ownership with a JBL D-130-F 15 inch speaker. I have since swapped in a Weber California 15", and retired the JBL to home and studio use. This amp has been the answer to my Fender "tone Nirvana" search. Alone or in "stereo" with the Vibrolux, it is hard for me to imagine I can get a better sound than this amazing Twin Reverb gives me.
  
  
• Early 1960's Fender Bassman, blackface, made for export. Instead of a courtesy outlet on the back panel, there's a switch that goes from 110 to 240(?) for input voltage. You could play this thing in Bangor, Belgrade or Baghdad! Matching two x 12" speaker cabinet. Original Fender speakers. Sounds like god-in-a-box.
  
  
• Early 1960's Fender Bassman, blackface. Domestic. Matching two x 12" speaker cabinet, retrofitted prior to my tenure with JBL speakers. Sounds like a minor deity in a box. I sometimes run a split signal to both Bassmans... the BIG sound!
  
  
• Undated recent vintage Fender Vibro Champ. Silver face w/ Blue lettering. Light as a feather yet has that Fender tube amp sound. Mic's bigger than it's size in the studio.
  
  
• Late 1950's Gibson Les Paul Junior amp. Approximately 10 watts, 8" oval speaker, tweed covering. Used in combination with almost any of the vintage steels gives the authentic sound of the period - I had long thought it was the recording equipment that made those old records sound that way until I found this baby in the window of a Jewelry store in West Virginia. It can even make the Zum sound almost like a Bigsby!