thanks,

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages

I played one of these steels at Elderly Instruments a number of years ago. It was a console model. The trick was to hit a ringing chord and then repeatedly punch one or the other of those buttons. On this particular guitar, one of the buttons gave you a Speedy West "booh-wah booh-wah" effect, especially if you slid into the chord halfway up the neck and immediately worked the button. Kind of a "dated" sound but I can see where it would be cool on a good crash-and-burn C6th or E13th instrumental, especially if accompanied by an occasional bar slam, wolf-whistle, or 2nd fret "shivver". The other button was a cut-out button which could be used to "chatter" the chord or note.

If you are one of those old-fashioned electronic tinkerers you could easily make up your own set of buttons in a shielded project box with a capacitor to roll off the highs and two push-button switches (one momentary-on, the other momentary-off). The momentary-on button could be used to cut the capacitor into the circuit to make the high frequencies jump out and back into the signal for a "booh-wah" effect. The momentary-off button could be used to cut the entire signal out and back in for the "chatter" effect. A couple of 1/4" female jacks and maybe a couple of broom clips to attach the box to the leg of your steel, and you would be all set. Might take two hours at the most to assemble such a unit.

Hope this is helpful to you Lucky. Happy holidays!

Then I lost his address. No big whup... Caveat emptor, I always say.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 02 December 2000 at 11:42 AM.]

Let's see:
2 1/4" phone jacks = $4.00
Resistor = $.05
Cap = $.50
Enclosure = $5.00
Clips for leg mounting = $3.00
Labour = $10.00 MAX

=$25.00 at the absolute limit. Hmmm... anybody want one? I also make custom fuzz tones, these sound real good with steel...
http://surf.to/pharaohamps

Please disregard the bits about the custom amps, I don't have time to make any more of those !

I hate to charge even that much, but if I don't cover them, they're sure gonna be ugly!! And covering is my #1 expense (well, that and footswitches, but I don't need them for this.)

Who's interested? Also, I NEED the names of songs that use this effect if I'm gonna build it and voice it correctly! Anybody know any tunes with this "Boo-wha" in them?

Incidentally, how would you want to mount this thing? It'll be kinda heavy, less than a pound but still not light...

Floor pedals don't add anything to the cost of this, but the pedal size will be increased to 4x4x2 so you can get yer foot on there. Left pedal does boo-wah, right does machine-gun. No active circuitry means no noise or hiss, and the design of the circuit is such that with no pedals epressed your signal sees no more resistance or capacitance than a piece of wire.

I will post mp3s tonight of what it sounds like to anybody that's interested.

Matt Farrow http://surf.to/pharaohamps

Some crude sound samples of what you can do with this simple device. The proto used a big ol footswitch like the kind GM used to use for floor dimmers (remember those?) and that "click" you hear in there is from the mic picking that up.

Recording setup:
1962 No-name gold hammertone lap steel -->
"Boo-Wah" button -->
Vox Pathfinder amp (new solid state) with replacement 10" MojoTone speaker -->
Sony V2M mic -->
Creative SBLive! MP3+

No FX or EQ were harmed in the making of this sound clip!

Thanks to all on the forum for their support.
Matt Farrow http://surf.to/pharaohamps

Matt

I'm trying to recall what those old switches are like and seem to recall them being pretty stiff. Any way to make the switch pretty fast? That'll be important in being able to use it easily. I'm a total mechanical moron so I can't really think how to say what I'm thinking here. The closest I can come is to say that I'd like it to feel more like a button than a switch. (Does that make any sense???)

If it is easy to use and gets a good wide sweep, I'll certainly put in my order.

Thanks for all your time in working on this!

How's the new sound sample sound? Very easy switch action, BTW.

Matt

This version is VERY muddy, then clean. All along I thought you guys wanted something in the midrange! If I'd known you wanted full bass, then I could have been done hours ago!

Cheers
Matt

A sudden change of tone with a obivious click and a 10ms dead sound isn't a do-waa sound.

This device did exactly what I thought it would do. There ain't NO way this thing can be used in a fill or even a turnaround.

The change has got to be a analog change, not a sharp cut of one freq to another.

A true do-waa pedal (or what-ever) will have to be a POT type device.

A well noted example is Buddy Emmon's number "Witches Brew"

okay here are two sound files, I think these clarify what we are talking about...I suppose you all know the steeler

Andy

[This message was edited by Tele on 07 December 2000 at 12:01 PM.]

Just so you don't throw up your hands and walk away, I dig what you are trying to offer and I hope you get some better communication going with the folks who know what they want (or think they do ). I think you would come up with some stuff that would make some people happy once everyone's on the same page.

[This message was edited by Jon Light on 07 December 2000 at 03:12 PM.]

sorry for any confusion, I thought I'd hear some boo-wah effects on the Speedy West sound-files

Matt, the effect you already have is nice but I think what I'd prefer would be smoother change from mudddy to clean.

If you eliminate the click, put both functions in the unit - here's your customer !

Its been years since I played a steel, but...

Why would anyone want the sound your looking for?

1. Simple box with "chatter" and "boo-wah" footswitches, amount of "boo-wah" is adjustable, signal is not affected when switches are not pressed. $30.00 plus shipping

2. Complicated box with voltage-controlled bandpass filter, adjustable "Q" (bandwidth) on filter, filter is swept down when switch is depressed, then sweeps back up automatically when switch is released. Adjustable sweep time for "wah-wah" effects. True bypass footswitch. $105 plus shipping.

I will post mp3s of the simple box tonight, and mp3s of the complicated box by Wednesday.

Thanks, everyone for your input.

Matt Farrow http://surf.to/pharaohamps

can't wait to hear your results....