posted 09 March 2000 07:35 AM         

a) Alvino Rey

b) Pete Drake

c) Buddy Emmons

d) Pete Frampton

e) or some kid in shop class with an Erector Set?

posted 10 March 2000 01:57 PM         

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Don Walters
get "listed" at the World Wide Steel Guitarist Directory
www3.sk.sympatico.ca/waltd/
(aka On-Line Steel Guitarists of the World)

Merle Travis and Minnie Pearl were also in the movie, if we are talking about the same one.

The guys in Petes Band were Harley Alsup on Bass, Bob Woods on Guitar and Corky Tittle on Drums. I picked with all of these guys in Key West Fla in the 60's.

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Sj
"The Carolina Wildman"

[This message was edited by Sleepy John on 10 March 2000 at 03:43 PM.]

posted 11 March 2000 05:50 AM         

Alvino's main instrument was the 'spanish'
guitar which he knew very well.

He told me one time, 'at his induction into
the hall of Fame', that he used the steel
guitar only when it's sound was called for.

I sat along side him in the audience.

posted 11 March 2000 06:05 AM         

not same subject, I know, but speaking of
fakes, as in 'talking steel guitars'

posted 11 March 2000 08:59 AM         

I realize that many steel players probably don't view his technical playing abilities or appreciate his steel guitar efforts as such, but Pete had a stroke of genius in his steel playing.

Lloyd Green informed me that he and Pete were big rivals in Nashville during the so-called "Golden Age," of Country music.
They were also friends and Pete loved not only the steel guitar but steel guitarists.

I remember being mesmerized by his pickin' prowess as a kid. I would set for hours at my cousins house and listen his "Hits I Played On" album. My cousins never knew beans about steel guitar but that record struck a chord in my heart. Another friend gave me an album of beautiful "Steel And Strings" with string arrangements and Pete's Talking Steel. I still enjoy that scratchy but classy album.

He played on so many hit records and helped to further the steel guitar as a legitimate instrument in other musical genre.
He also helped to sell records and friends that helps sell steel guitar.

We are all in this together. His talking steel is imprinted in the halls of my mind along with Julian, Buddy, Lloyd, Jimmy and others.

Terry Wood
Still a Pete Drake fan!

I fixed some of his amps in the 70's and he had a filter and a switch in the output section on the speaker leads to filter out the low's so his teeth wouldn't be rattled.

Bill Stafford bought one of these units and probably still has it, but it didn't have any filtering or any instructions on how to filter out the lows.

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Sj
"The Carolina Wildman"

posted 14 March 2000 01:43 AM         

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posted 14 March 2000 08:19 AM         

or some dern thing...
had Statler Bros doing a lip synch to Flowers on the Wall as I recall, and of course
"I'm Just A Guitar"

posted 23 March 2000 11:13 AM         

Neil was an electronics man who built the first Sho~Bud amp, so his car was always full of electronic paraphernalia. He went to his car and brought a box with a six inch speaker and a hole in the top at the speaker center. I hooked the terminals to my amp, stuck a plastic hose in the hole and voila, the sound came out the tube.

The song I was going to use the tube on was Danny Boy, but because the sound wasn't coming from in back of the tongue, and the sound was distorting, it wasn't as clear as I wanted it, so I trashed the idea temporarily. Meanwhile, Pete Drake had been sitting in the corner of the studio for the entire session. The next day, he went to Bill West and Bill mounted a speaker driver in a box, which eliminated the distortion.

Pete was on fire in the studios at the time and I couldn't buy a session. I finally got a call for an Anita Bryant session and took my improved box with me. I walked into the studio and one of the Jordanaires said, "Oh, I see you have one of those Pete Drake boxes." I smiled and said, "yeah." I used it on "Hey good Lookin" on the Anita Bryant session and Burnt Fingers on the Singin' Strings album, and that was the end of it for me.

posted 23 March 2000 02:39 PM         

On the Sonavox unit that Alvino Rey used: Years ago I was living in Batavia, IL. Not too far from my place was a music store called Hix Music (in North Aurora, IL, I believe). Anyway, the business was run by a father and son. The senor Mr. Hix claimed to have been the guy who "made Alvino's talk box".

Being young and impressionable, I didn't question the authenticity of Mr. Hix's bragging rights. I don't know if this jives with any knowledge that you may have on the Sonavox, but it's something that occured to me when you mentioned Alvino Rey.

BTW: If Neil Wilburn is who I'm thinking of, he also has done some great recording production work. Guy Clark's "Old Number One" album comes to mind. Am I correct in my thinking?

Thanks for giving so much to the world of steel guitar!

posted 23 March 2000 04:05 PM         

I remember a Sonavox used on an old Bromo Seltzer radio commercial that had the words, "Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer in sync with a steam locomotive.

You're probably correct about Neil. I never saw him much after he left Sho~Bud but he became an studio engineer and producer later and I worked a few sessions with him. Cheers!