Zoom F8 home recording

[Jim_Fogle]

Yes, that is him. The cfogle100 that posted the video is my younger brother, Charlie. The names of the group Charlie was a member of was Angel Oak and the song I previously mentioned is "Linda".

Somebody also uploaded a second YouTube video of my elder brother playing with Stonewall Jackson at the Grand Ol' Opry. Unfortunately I no longer have the link saved and can't find the video while doing a quick search.

[dickl]

Thanks Jim. All interesting background.

I always loved the sound of the pedal steel. I've never tried one but I understand they are not quite as easy to play as they look! In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen one in a music shop.

[Jim_Fogle]

Before pedals, players changed tuning by adding necks so two, three and even five neck steels were made. Each neck is a different height with the neck nearest the audience the highest and the neck nearest the player the lowest. The number of strings per neck also grew to 8, 10 or 12 strings per neck. Also remember each neck has tuner and pickup hardware as well as shared tone and volume controls, four adjustable leg supports and a switch to change between necks. The wood has to be strong enough not to bend from the string tension. Imagine how heavy a five neck slab of wood like that weighs. To save weight, many steel bases were made from milled aluminum; especially steels made on the west coast as factories transitioned from war time to peace time production.

Pedals were first used to eliminate necks and were available for years for use as tuning options before use of a pedal became a distinctive sound you heard on a recording. In other words pedals were used to change tuning, not "bend" or "drop" strings.

Most modern pedal steels have two necks with ten strings and one pick up per neck. There will be a tone control, three position pick up selector switch, maximum output gain control with a short TS instrument cable between the instrument output jack and foot controlled volume pedal. The instrument will have four knee pedals and eight foot pedals.

There are many well known pedal steel guitar players but, interestingly, I've never heard or read of one that has stated they have mastered the instrument.

[dickl]

Thanks again Jim.

I didn't know any of that! It does sound incredibly complicated.

I must see if the local guitar superstore has one.

[Jim_Fogle]

Final word, unless anyone asks another question!

Here is a link to a song off my younger brother's album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxD5MiUmL34. This song was written by my brother, recorded by the band he was a member of in the mid seventies and selected for use in this compilation in 2016. I don't think that my younger brother is the singer but I am sure my older brother was the producer and pedal steel player.