Advice on what a beginner should buy...

[Dan Price]

Hey all,
I am new to steel and bought a Growler Steel guitar and have learned enough to play with a band that is touring now, and although the Growler has been great. I've had some trouble getting the knee levers to work without going out of tune, and the guitar is pretty noisy, and I had to buy an EXH Hum Debugger to minimize the hum, but it also hurts the tone a bit... Anyway, I'm not a rich man, so I'm trying to figure out what guitar to buy that will be good for playing in the band, but not break the bank. Or, do I need to sell a kid and just buy an expensive steel? Any thoughts on this would be super helpful!

Dan

[Peter Murphy]

I’m just getting into Pedal steel too and was looking around for a pedal steel. I decided on a Mullen Discovery because the feedback on them seems good and they’re lightweight comparatively. It’s taking some time because it’s being built though.
I’ve seen some of them on the forum for sale but I’m already in so I have to wait.
I played a little on a stage one and it seemed good.
I’m going to borrow an MSA universal 12 string today but I’m told it’s very heavy so it probably won’t leave the house.
Good luck on your search and hopefully you get some more feedback!
Pete

[Chris Brooks]

Peter, I have an old MSA 12 string set up at home as a practice guitar. But you are right: for regular gigging, they are heavy.

[Jack Hanson]

If it's a brand-new, reliable, modern instrument that you're after, a new Discovery or a new Stage One would serve your purpose quite nicely. If it's vintage tone to the bone that punches your ticket, it's hard to beat an old Emmons GS-10 (quirkiness and all) -- especially if it's been upgraded with a couple more knee levers, a Black Rock-style neck, and adjustable pro legs -- at roughly the same price point.

[Paul Strojan]

How important is it to your band that your are playing with pedals? I would recommend going with a double 8 console steel in C6 and E13. There is a lot of good sophisticated music that can be played without pedals.

[Henry Schuellerman]

Hi Dan- that's a great thing to play with a band early on. I've been playing a little over a year or so on a GFI S10 student model. I think it's in a comparable range to your growler. I do a ton of shows and short tours with it, and home recording. While I don't use all 4 of my knee levers a lot yet (I'm a simple man) it has been really reliable. If you find one locally, you def wouldn't regret it.

That being said, if I were in your shoes, I would try to make your instrument work out before buying another one. Maybe a setup/run thru from a tech or mechanically inclined steel friend would help the tuning stability? If yes, then I'd look into fixing or swapping the pickup. Noisy signal can be a pain to figure out. Assuming you've narrowed it down to the pickup by testing different cables/amps, maybe the pickup grounding is loose, or it just needs replaced? Good luck with it!

[Christian Pacifico]

I agree with Henry! Reach out to Kelly over at Growler. He can definitely help you resolve your issues with tuning the Knee levers.