|
Author
|
Topic: Canopus YL-8c
|
Chuck Fisher
Member From: Santa Cruz, California, USA
|
posted 22 September 2003 03:31 PM
profile send email edit
This guitar is an 8 string in the old Gibson eh-150 style. Are they even in business? Are these good guitars?I like the scale-length and I doubt if I'm likely to find a gibson 8-string (which I would love to have). I saw a 10 and a 7, but they seem very rare. |
Jeff Strouse
Member From: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
|
posted 22 September 2003 03:46 PM
profile send email edit
http://members.aol.com/kyjyasu1/joeindex.htm The last I checked, they were quite expensive. But, quality, they are. Most all of the premiere players in Waikiki use one. A few years ago, Scotty (Scotty's Music in St. Louis) was a dealer. You might want to check with him to see if he has an updated price list. |
HowardR
Member From: N.Y.C.,N.Y.
|
posted 22 September 2003 07:12 PM
profile send email edit
Here's a blast from the past...remember this one, Jeff?The photos are gone as I had to reclaim web space.
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/002342.html |
George Keoki Lake
Member From: Edmonton, AB., Canada
|
posted 22 September 2003 08:22 PM
profile edit
Chuck, Alan Akaka has one of those guitars. I thought at first it was an old Gibson EH150 in cream condition until he played it. I have never heard any Gibson sound as good as that guitar! It's a great instrument and as you mentioned, it looks almost identical to the old EH-150, especially when viewed from a distance. |
Jeff Au Hoy
Member From: Honolulu, Hawai'i
|
posted 22 September 2003 08:42 PM
profile send email edit
quote:
But, quality, they are. Most all of the premiere players in Waikiki use one.
Oh darn it, by commenting here I'm probably going to be shooting myself in the foot in ways unknown...or at least making more trouble for myself than it's worth... but I just can't sit silent and let this one slip by. Yes, the Canopus is built well. The parts are put together with precision and the painted finish is real nice. Just a question, but would you rather play 1) a brand spanking new, shiny guitar that sounds like doo-doo or 2) one that looks like the cat dragged it home but sounds like heaven? The fact that the premier players in Waikiki play the Canopus says nothing about the tone of the guitar. Professional musicians end up with their instruments for more reasons than one. Okay, I think I've said to much there. Remember when the premier Waikiki players all played Magnatones? How did the Magnatone match up to the Frypan, Stringmaster, or Gibson Console? Well alright, fine, I think the Magnatone actually sounded pretty decent...but just something to think about. I'm not going to condemn the Canopus outright, but I really urge you to find out whether or not the tone of it pleases you before forking out a whole lot of dough for one. Just a suggestion, but you can find beautiful (sounding as well as looking)Stringmasters, Gibson and Rick Consoles for a fraction of the price... and those guitars have stood the test of time. Frankly, if you were turned on to the steel guitar by the tone of players like Dick McIntire, Don Helms, Jerry Byrd, or David Keli'i, the Canopus just won't cut it. But hey you might like it, who knows. No offense intended to Jeff Strouse! |
Jeff Au Hoy
Member From: Honolulu, Hawai'i
|
posted 22 September 2003 08:54 PM
profile send email edit
P.S. Hale Akaka (another Canopus player), hurry the heck up and get on this forum so we can "tro blows"! |
Jeff Strouse
Member From: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
|
posted 22 September 2003 09:26 PM
profile send email edit
None taken, Jeff...And, since when have you cared if your comments got you shot in the foot??  I've only seen and heard the Canopus guitars "up close and personal" with two players - Alan Akaka and Harold Haku'ole. Both of them got a great sound out of them. I've never played one, but had a chance to admire both of Alan's D-8 models (the brown one he uses at the Halekulani and the blonde one he uses with Auntie Genoa). Both were excellent quality in their materials and design. As for tone, I know the guitar has a lot to do with it; but, the variable that carries the most weight (IMHO) is in the hands of the player. Now, would I buy a Canopus? Certainly not....unless, of course, I had $4,000 burning a hole in my pocket. I dug up a quote I received from a fellow forumite in January of this year. The cost for a D-8, including legs, case, and shipping was right at 4 grand. It may be a high quality guitar, but the price is way out of the ballpark for me to even consider. It has almost doubled from the quote I got from Scotty back in May of 2000. Funny you mentioned Magnatones...I have a T-8, which I think has a good tone, despite what a lot of folks think about Magnatones. I just wish I could have seen Barney Isaacs play his. Howard, you sure pulled one out of the attic! Must have had lots of cobwebs. That was a fun post!!! But when you and Jody get together, it's always a hoot!  |
Jeff Au Hoy
Member From: Honolulu, Hawai'i
|
posted 22 September 2003 10:15 PM
profile send email edit
Jeff,Of course I care what I say! Since when did I not?!  RE: your Magnatone, is it a short or long scale? Single or double pickup per neck? Hey, how about posting those convention pics of you, Jerry, and me! |
HowardR
Member From: N.Y.C.,N.Y.
|
posted 23 September 2003 04:24 AM
profile send email edit
Hey Jeff, good to see your name here again. The pot needs to be stirred every now and then, otherwise the potatoes just sink to the bottom |
Brad Bechtel
Moderator From: San Francisco, CA
|
posted 23 September 2003 08:50 AM
profile send email edit
Re: Magnatones - there were a couple of different levels of Magnatone quality. Most of the Magnatones you see are the cheap student models. They don't necessarily sound that good. The higher end Magnatones are as fine as any other steel guitar built during that time.
I've never played a Canopus, so I can't comment on their tone or playabilty.------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
Jody Carver
Member From: The Knight Of Fender Tweed. Dodger Blue Forever
|
posted 23 September 2003 09:09 AM
profile edit
Jeff posts.....Professional musicians end up with their instruments for more reasons than one. Okay, I think I've said to much there.
Jeff,,,I read you.
I have recently had the opportunity to play a triple neck console Canopus..I find it is a well built extremly fine piano like hand rubbed finish. The binding and trim were in good taste and the string length was 24/1/2. I "A" "B"d both the Stringmaster and the Canopus.You can do with the Stringmaster that you cant with the Canopus,however the Canopus cannot do what the 55 year old stringmasters can do. The sound is mellow and sweet,but it has not
the punch or body of the stringmaster and it
is no match for the Fender Custom. No way. The cost to me for what Kamira refers to as
a Console" was $4000.00 plus shipping. I'll stick with my bread and butter and leave
the Canopus be just what it is, a finely made
instrument styled along the Fender Stringmaster but it dont do the job that I prefer.
End of my story. |
Ron Whitfield
Member From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
|
posted 23 September 2003 12:58 PM
profile send email edit
Hey Jeff, how's yer foot? You and I know the lil story behind why most of the Waikiki 'premier' players use a Canopus. They get them for 'free', and then are EXPECTED to used them ALL the time. And they DO. Which then gets them more 'free' guitars. These are decent steels, but that's a little too cozy and restrictive for my tastes. And at 4 grand! No wonder the prices aren't listed on the site. For that amount, I'd buy a Bigsby every time. I'll be happy to play my vintage Ricky and Carvins(+) that sound better and cost a fraction. The 50s Magnatone was THE steel sound of Waikiki(thanx to the Hawaii Calls program) for decades because the Mag. Co. supplied them with free guitars and amps, then got mentioned on world wide air. At least those steelers played thier other guitars where ever else they gigged(and I am a fanatic for all Magnatone products, the early pearloid Mags were from a different Co./owner than the more upscale items in the 50/60s). I'm curious what Fender's policy was concerning the use of thier 'promo' guitars in Jody's day with them. How many guitars/amps were actually given to players and what were the expectations there after? I have a feeling Leo wasn't prone to giving much away, plus the instruments were innovative and good enuf that they almost sold themselves. Back to Canopus(and others), if the owner can give away so many guitars to all the 'premier' players, I wonder how generous he is in providing anything to those much less fortunate and with no 'connections', or beginners, to promote his wares. Maybe he does and won't blab about it, I'd like to think so. I'm certainly aware that's not the way 'business' is usually conducted, but... it sure sounds nicer. |
Jeff Strouse
Member From: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
|
posted 23 September 2003 01:47 PM
profile send email edit
Jeff - My Magnatone is a "Maestro" model...single pick-up on each neck, short scale. I still haven't played around with the 10 MB of webspace I get from my ISP, but it's on my list of things to do. This semsester really has me bogged down already. The pic of the two of us came out good (except you're much more photogenic than I am), but I lost a few pics with that silly digital camera somehow, and I think one of them was the one of you, Jerry, and me (or as I refer to it, Jerry and Jeff squared ). Bummer. We'll have to get Jerry to let us take another one in 2005! By the way, you sounded great on Alan's Canopus at Auntie Genoa's - you don't like thier tone? |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
|
posted 24 September 2003 07:28 PM
profile send email edit
I have one Magnatone cheapo that doesn't sound as good as my other Magnatones, which sound pretty good considering their price. If you can't get a good sound out of a student Magnatone, it's your touch that has the problem and not the steel. Guy's that can play dig their little MOTs steels which are fun and portable besides being very resonable in price. Brads comments that the low end Magnatones don't sound very good is contrary to what many musicians have discovered to be great little sounding and playing lap steels. I don't think Joanquin Murphy would have been using them out in L.A. on gigs if they didn't sound good. Lorene Ruymar's book "The Hawaiian Steel Guitar" describes Magnatones as "These guitars, small in stature, had a magnificent tone" (pg 128). | |
The Steel Guitar Forum
