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The apple man (Page 2)
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The Steel Guitar Forum
Pedal Steel Archive
The apple man (Page 2)
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| This topic is 2 pages long: 1 2 This topic was originally posted in this forum: Pedal Steel |
| Author | Topic: The apple man |
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Carson Leighton Member Posts: 254 |
posted 11 January 2002 03:12 PM
This is a true story..... One evening about 5 yrs. ago, an apple peddler came to our door. He asked us if we would like to buy some real good apples and I said yes we would, so we bought some. He must have heard somewhere or somehow that I played a steel guitar, because he asked me if I would take a look at his. I said sure, I'll take a look at it. There was quite a barnyard odor in the air, if y'all know what I mean. He was a big man with huge hands, and he went out to his old van and brought in the guitar, with the pedal rack, legs and rods in one hand and the guitar in the other. When I first seen it, I really thought it was a waste of time. Well, I put it together and it was desperately out of tune, but I could hear a tone, without it even being plugged in to an amp. It was a single neck guitar with 3 pedals and 1 knee lever, and the pedals and knee lever were so far out of adjustment that it took me about an hour to get it in tune and working half decent, because I had to grind down an allen wrench to fit it. After I got it working pretty good, I plugged it in to my amp. and started playing it, and it had the most beautiful sound, even with those old strings. We talked for awhile and I sent him over to my brother's home, where he could probably sell some more apples, but I didn't tell my brother that he was coming over. When he walked into my brother's house he seen a Sho-Bud set up in the living room. To make a long story short, I got a call from my brother about an hour or so later, telling me that he had just played one of the most beautiful sounding steels he had ever heard, but it looked like a piece of junk and smelled like horse manure......Go figure......Carson |
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jim palmer Member Posts: 115 |
posted 11 January 2002 05:29 PM
Hello Carson,I Knew the apple man real well, he used to come by my house all the time selling apples.He used to bring his steel guitar with him all set up.The name of the guitar was LITTLE BUDDY (Emmons maybe?)had a white paper fretboard with Emmons fret markers,black plastic or some kind of fiber keyhead?,and a builtin volume pedal(the pot was fastened under the guitar and operated on a seperate pedal and rod.I am sorry to say my old pal the apple man passed away some time ago. His name was Gale McMasters from Nackawic. |
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Dave Zirbel Member Posts: 1646 |
posted 12 January 2002 12:40 AM
Hey Carson, by any chance is your brothers' first name Bruce. I know a Bruce Leighton who is also Canandian that played Sho-Buds. He was with Daid Allen Coe for awhile. Good picker, too! He is in California now. Has been for at least 5 years. DZ |
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Bob Mainwaring Member Posts: 918 |
posted 12 January 2002 01:14 AM
If it was called "LITTLE BUDDY" it sounds like it could have been built in Detroit by a guy called Freeman Cowgar who I think still might be in the business. Many years ago in the late 60s or thereabouts he tried to sway me away from Fender 400 I later bought from a friend because it only had 8 strings, and the way to the future was at least a single 10. Bob Mainwaring.Z.Bs. and other weird things. ------------------ |
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Tim Rowley Member Posts: 957 |
posted 12 January 2002 01:21 AM
Jim, The Little Buddy was NOT an Emmons guitar. They were built in the 1970's and maybe early 1980's by USA Guitar Co. of Hillman MI, which was run at that time by Chuck Thompson and Freeman Cowgar. The Little Buddy's were very much a lightweight student model type of steel guitar at the time, but most of them had a hard maple body, good tone and very little (if any) measurable cabinet drop. They used a simple non-universal changer but they worked real well and were very affordable. The earliest models did use a black polycarbonate keyhead and pedals. A number of guys up here in Michigan got started on a Little Buddy steel and Freeman Cowgar's E9th instruction book. Of course Freeman is still very much into the steel guitar business, as he builds the Cougar steel guitars at his present shop in Fairview MI. He still concentrates primarily on building affordable steels, although he does build a fancy model as well. At one time I owned one of the earliest prototype Little Buddy steels, 3 pedals and 1 knee lever as I recall, with the built-in volume pedal (Allen-Bradley Type J pot mounted up under the guitar with a spring-loaded pedal operated by a rod). Tim R. |
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Carson Leighton Member Posts: 254 |
posted 13 January 2002 12:02 PM
Jim, I'm very sorry to hear that he passed away. I was hoping he'd come back sometime. Do you know Lew Jenkins and Dave Palmer up your way? They're both good players. To Dave Zirbel: No, I don't have a brother named Bruce, but I think I have heard that guy play, and your right, he's a good picker too.......Carson |
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jim palmer Member Posts: 115 |
posted 14 January 2002 05:39 PM
Hello Carson,Yes I do know both of these guys.I bought a D-10 DEKLEY 8&4 a few years ago and Dave Palmer set it up for me.And Lew has a new Christmas tape he done for his Mother.(I wonder if he would sell us one...Hmm...)How about it Lew???..Jim |
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