This can't be the "Slowly" guitar, can it?

CS

....ouch

[This message was edited by b0b on 11 October 2005 at 03:23 PM.]

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Ron Petersen &
The Keep'n Tyme Band
Mullen Universal 12 - LDG SHO BUD - 1975 Session 400 LTD - Vegas 400 - ETC.

[This message was edited by rpetersen on 10 October 2005 at 03:54 AM.]

Also, I believe the "Slowly" guitar is in the possession of Jack Hamlett.

This could be another guitar built for Bud Isaacs, or it could be that someone with a lettering punch set decided to create a little *history* for the instrument. I've heard of that happening a few times.

Regardless, it looks like an excellent example of the real thing, even if the truthfulness of the claims of previous ownership are in doubt. Interesting to see what this puppy will bring.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 10 October 2005 at 06:07 AM.]

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

BTW, these Bigby guitars, with a little tinkering of the return springs, can play as easy as any guitar today (likewise a Sho-Bud Permanent). They can't handle a complicated setup, but if you dedicate pedals 1 and 2 to a D9 tuning (like A and B on E9), and pedals 3-5 like pedals 5-7 on C6, a whole evening of traditional country is a snap. I've done it many times. I have a 1949 T-8, and a PA Reissue 10-10-8, both of which play like buddah.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

interesting quote, BTW -- somewhat ironic for this audience:

quote:

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"Right after I'd seen Steve Winwood playing his white Strat," begins Eric, "I was in Nashville and I went into this shop called Sho-Bud where they had stacks of Strats going for virtually nothing because they were so unfashionable and so unwanted. I bought a big pile of them all for a song - they were really cheap, like three or $400 each - and I took them home and gave them out. I gave Steve one, I gave Pete Townshend one, I gave George Harrison one and I kept a few. I made Blackie out of a group of them; I took the pickups out of one, the scratchplate off another and the neck off another and I made my own guitar - a hybrid guitar that had all the best bits from all these Strats.

"I wore it out too. Its pretty well inaccessible now - there's not much of the neck left. It's worn away on either side and on the back with wear and tear.

"What makes Blackie unique for me is the fact that I made it! It was one of the last guitars that I actually built myself, really. Therefore it felt like it was invested with some kind of soul, you know"

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I'm certainly no expert, nor collector, but I've only heard of a handfull (or less) of steel guitars selling for more than 1/100 of what the pedigreed, vintage 6 strings go for. It's just a fact, no matter how we might wish that the Bigsby in our closet (that's YOUR closet, not mine) will go for several hundred grand or more it's just not very likely to happen in this lifetime.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 11 October 2005 at 06:47 PM.]

quote:

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It's just a fact, no matter how we might wish that the Bigsby in our closet (that's YOUR closet, not mine) will go for several hundred grand or more it's just not very likely to happen in this lifetime.

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Larry, I don't need or expect "several hundred grand." Just ONE hundred grand would be acceptable for me.

Try me, somebody, if you think I'm joking.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 11 October 2005 at 07:22 PM.]

The Bigsby on E-bay wins because of what it is, not because of who owned it

Now we get into the Bud Isaacs "Slowly" guitar, this is the guitar that changed the entire world of steel guitar. I know it's worth over $35,000.00. I know because I offered it's owner this amount for it eight years ago.
The guitar would not be worth anywhere near this without its history changing past.
Me? I'll take one without the history if I'm watching my pennies. With the Iaasics guitar though I'm not watching my pennies.
The moral here is, what are the guitars worth against what is the persons fame is worth. What sold at Christy's was the fame of the owner mostly, not the true/real value of the guitar.
Just like a below average steel player may become very famous because he is working for a very famous star, and a truly great player may never ger recognition because he doesn't. How many of those guys can you name?

[This message was edited by BobbeSeymour on 11 October 2005 at 07:18 PM.]

quote:

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Ernie Ball was the number one owner.

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So then, this wasn't really Bud Isaacs' guitar? (Am I missing something?)

I'm no expert, but if I had to guess from the pictures (and that's hard, sometimes), it appears the "Roy Lunn" stamping predates the "Bud Isaaics" stamping. (Spelling?)

I know it's a Bigsby, and I know it's worth big bucks.

and here:

http://www.steelguitar.com/webpix/showpix/psga00px/psga0014.html

[This message was edited by Jussi Huhtakangas on 12 October 2005 at 05:37 AM.]

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

For example, it has 6 Bigsby pedals, and Bigsby removeable fretboards, and is stamped 101554. These features are correct for a 1954 guitar, but when I talked to Jerry Girard (nee Gerard Mandorca) he allowed as how he got it in 1949 and it had ONE pedal! It would also have had the raised graphics metal necks at that time. He didn't like for its intonation issues and sold it 6 months later.

So, who owned it, and what work was done in 1954? When were the extra pedals added? What happened to the pickup covers? For that matter, where ARE all the missing pickup covers from SO MANY Bigsbys? (Probably in the same graveyard as all the pickup covers from 50's Telecasters )

Where's my ashtray?

Anyway, I got the guitar from Ron Lashley Jr. in 1997, and it had quite a few non-Bigsby undercarriage cable linkages. All of this was corrected a few years ago by Paul Warnik and Dave Peterson who redid the underside with all NOS Bigsby hardware, and my tunings and setup put on the horn.

I played many gigs with James Hand and Pete Mitchell with this puppy and it's a totally smooth playing and functional instrument for any traditional country gig. Very easy pedal action and about as much pedal travel as a PP Emmons. Rather remarkable, really.

Here's a photo of Jerry a couple years ago, with the guitar at my booth at ISGC.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 13 October 2005 at 07:40 AM.]

Ernie:" Aw doggone Paul, can't you hurry with the guitar, I have an important recording session tomorrow, I need the guitar!!"
Paul Bigsby:" Shut up Ernie, you wait in line like everybody else!"

I'm listening to the solos by Ernie on this guitar right now, sounds pretty damn good!!

[This message was edited by Jussi Huhtakangas on 15 October 2005 at 01:12 AM.]

Anyone can put a name in a guitar. I know a guy who sold a converted-to-12-string Strat to a famous restaurant chain by convincing them it belonged to Jimi Hendrix.

I'd buy the guitar because it is a Bigsby, period. And I very much doubt that Bud Isaacs ever owned it... but YMMV and no problem.

[This message was edited by Tom Quinn on 15 October 2005 at 08:58 AM.]

Lets hope this isn't a trend. Bigsby is much more than a steel guitar. It is steel guitar history in its purest form. It is what these guitars represent even more than what they are as musical instruments.
What is the "Mona Liza" worth in paint and cloth, and the frame? Near nothing, but as a work of art , priceless.
Paul A. Bigsby's works of art should be no less. He didn't just set the standard, he darned near invented the modern steel guitar. All modern guitars today incorporate his original look, style, manufacturing methods, materials from cast aluminum to birdseye maple.
P.A.Bigsby did all this after a major career building the fastest motorcycles in the world, racing them and proving this fact.
These very few great works of art he left the world of steel guitar should be appreciated as much as any great works of art that Pecaso, Rembrandt or DeVinci left the rest of the world.
Come on fellow steel players, look what we have here, it took me a while to appreciate this myself, even though I have loved them my whole life. Lets all appreciate this special gift from a special genius before it's too late.
The lead players already know what the Bigsby lead guitars are worth, but the steels were what Paul loved most. He even played steel, to a certain extent.
Did he ever inspire any lead guitar builders? Ever heard of Leo Fender? Better believe Paul Bigsby inspired him! About 100%.
Yes, there is a Bigsby lead guitar in the Smithsonian, worth over $100.000.00 already. And not because of who owned it.
Read enough? Good, because I could go on forever with this subject.
Remember, this guitar is the foundation of what steel guitar was, is and probably will be for many years.
Bobbe Seymour

Also, did Sonny Burnette (sp) play the same Bigsby for Webb after Isaacs?

Mr. Clean