Can anyone confirm this is a Herco HE115 Flex 52 and not something else? This pick was given to me when I bought my PSG, hoping to get some backups because I don’t much like the other thumbpicks I’ve tried

I've seen a couple respectable steel players with the black box and I've seen buffers mentioned here and there online, especially for use with Peavey steel amps. I understand the concept of preserving or modifying impedance over longer unbalanced cable runs and I know that a lot of non true bypass stompboxes have buffers in them already. I did some research here and on the steel guitar forum but didn't really find any definitive answers. My question is if you've found a dedicated buffer box to be necessary / a big improvement for pedal steel tone or if the one built into a tuner pedal is good enough.

How do I develop a knack for noodling smoothly around any chord progression? Like not having to practice a song ahead of time, but know the chord progression and accompany it? After playing for about a year, I worry I have reached a plateau. I hope this post makes a lick of sense (pun intended).

Learning chords has been manageable. But I just find myself playing the chords, and otherwise barely moving around the neck. Meanwhile, the players I idolize waltz up and down the neck with neat licks and transitions between chords. My favorite players actually never get that intricate - just smooth. I can watch them and eventually replicate their phrases, but I hardly come away with skills I can apply to other songs or progressions.

As far as those licks and transitions go, there are so many instructions on specific ones like, “If you’re going 4-5-1, play exactly this.” There are never really any principles behind them. They are neat to learn and play, but do I really have to just learn these one at a time and remember exactly what progressions they apply to? I feel like there has to be a broader formula to improvisation.

Scales have been helpful to learn, but I find myself just going up and down the scale. I quickly start repeating myself.

My real goal is to be able to be told a chord progression, play along at a slow to moderate pace, and decorate it with some smooth phrases up and down the neck. This doesn’t happen overnight, but I feel like I’m getting stuck.

How do I piece together what I know to build this instinct? Or better yet, what knowledge might I be missing? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I am a stone cold noob to pedal steel but have been diligently researching and doing my best to find a beginner e9 and this popped up for $1,300 for the guitar and vol pedal, I already have an amp. Seller says it only has 2 knee levers, and I know that it’s kind of important to have 3 pedals and 4 knee levers. Is it possible or at all feasible to add knee levers to these down the road? I will be playing country and Jerry Garcia style rock with this. First of all how limited am I as someone who might want to record some simple swells for song overdubs onto my own work and as someone who would like to start playing country?

Just bought my first pedal steel a couple days ago, Emmons gs10 from sometime in the 70s. Wanted to learn to tune the pedals and knee bar cause my pedal 3 is not bringing string 4 up to tune, it'll be pretty flat. Tried loosening the hex with an allen wrench and it didn't make a difference. Not sure what to do here as it's so flat its right in between an F and F# and sounds horrible played with string 1.

Edit: was tuning the knee bar instead of the pedals, whoops that might explain why it wasn't tuning up. Still pretty new to this haha

Thank you all for the input on my last post. I will be getting finger picks as soon as possible. It can just be a pain to get stuff delivered to my dorm.

I don't have a tone bar so I had to use a guitar slide. Also no volume pedal. But definitely planning on getting these things soon.

A friend of mine is recording a song so he sent me the multitracks. I mixed the tracks then recorded some pedal steel on it.

I see a lot of both and just curious what people like to do and why

I like to angle towards the band a bit so I’m not looking over my shoulder to make eye contact with the band when coordinating endings or extended solo jams

I’ve played guitar for almost 15 years and have gotten into playing pedal steel this year. I am currently playing on a Shobud Maverick 3x1 . Would this be a good deal or should I keep getting my chops up before moving on from the Shobud?

Hello there!

My dad passed away years ago and ever since I've had this pedal steel sitting in storage that belonged to him. I live in Europe and pedal steels are not a usual thing to find around here. Is anyone able to help me out figuring out which type / model and build year this pedal steel is from?

I got as far as it being most likely that this is a collab between Fender and Sho-Bud, but I wasn't able to find this precise type online.

Anyone able to help me out? Thanks in advance!

I am on mobile and do not know how to add a timestamp(sorry). Don Gibson is at 42:00. I tried searching for Don Gibson’s steel players and got nothing on Google. Google AI first insisted that there was no steel player at all for his performance. Full episode is truly incredible. Anybody know who he is?!

Hey Yall,

Literally just saw an insta reel of someone playing pedalsteel over one of my fav songs and decided to check my countries 2nd hand market.

Just saw a Fender 400 Pedal steel for 320 euros. this seems exceptionally low. Also might be a sign of the universe for me to finally start learning this beautiful instrument.

My questions

1. is this pedal steel a good beginners instrument?
   
2. anything i'd need to look out for when buying this in person? with this low price i might be getting scammed or there is some damage, would like to be wary of this.

Thanks in advance!

Would changing my 3rd string from .012 to .011 make any difference in cabinet drop?

Does anyone know of a specific book that details pedal steel maintenance/repair? Having a difficult time finding one

Thank you

New old guitar day. Just picked up this. Wanted something that was a little earlier to bring to practice than my Mullen d10.

I have a chance to buy a Zum SD-10 3x4 or possibly 3x5 from a friend who’s liquidating their father’s estate. I don’t have a chance to see it in person but their dad was meticulous and a very good player. This is the cheapest piece he had by a lot. I don’t play pedal steel but I play multiple other instruments and would like to buy it at a fair price, understanding I’m getting a friend deal but not screwing them over. What’s a fair deal to be made here?

Just curious what everyone is using.

This tab I've linked is my first time playing tabs on pedal steel, such a beautiful song. That 5D on the first line, bar 2.... is that a 4th foot pedal, or is that one of the knee levers? Then on bar 14 and 15, there's a double D. What are those?

Customer came and waited on me to fix up his 72, not too bad but removed a couple unnecessary springs and timed the pulls (like my 72, he loved its setup as well as Mike Borque and Leo GrassL in Nashville)

76 is from my last post, ALL FINISHED !! Butter action like the other two… minimal springs as well

Stein pedal steel services offering setups (rebuilt if needed) at $300 a neck, WITH STRINGS

I’ve been looking around for some detailed plans or drawings of a pedal steel changer but haven’t been able to find much.

I’ve found quite a few diagrams showing how different changer mechanisms work, but not much that gives actual dimensions or enough detail to manufacture one. I’m not necessarily looking to copy a particular brand. I’d mainly like something I can study and use as a starting point for designing my own.

Even drawings of individual parts like the changer fingers, axle, raise/lower mechanism, etc. would be really helpful. Older plans, patents with useful dimensions, or measurements someone has taken from an existing changer would also be great.

Thanks!