How many of you own an Excel steel without pedals ?

[Larry Lenhart]

I am curious how many of you own an Excel non pedal steel. My good friend Margie Mays , RIP, owned one and she loved it....it sounded great in her hands, but she could make anything sound wonderful...one of my favorite players of all time....I took a few lessons from her in mesa, az.

Anyway, I have found a beautiful Excel D8 but alas its located in Japan, and I am afraid of the import fees, etc. involved in purchasing. On a side note, if any of you have experience lately with that, I would like to know how it works and how I could find what the actual cost would be before I purchased...I wouldnt want a big surprise on fees after I bought it.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

[Steve Lipsey]

Check with Toshiyuki Shoji at Shoji Workshop...He probably knows that instrument (he worked at Excel for 13 years), could check it out for you, and knows all about shipping, I recently got a Shoji pedal steel (amazing instrument!!) from him.
contact@shoji-workshop.com

[Rick Aiello]

I have an earlly Excel JB Frypan … same pickups as Double Necks sans faux horseshoes … extremely well built

I always wanted a white D8 JB
one

[Larry Lenhart]

I found out that Excel sold,,,so I was too late...oh well....if I am patient (which isnt my norm !) one will show up, probably after I have pulled the trigger on something else...ha

[Stephen Cowell]

Does a JB Frypan count? I've got Dave Giegrich's old guitar, what a piece.

[Joe Cook]

I've got a Fuzzy JB Frypan 8 string that I love. My favorite!

[Mike Neer]

Does this one count? My friend Chris Templeton recently made me custodian of this one-of-kind Excel that he had Mitsuo build him in 1990.

[Toshiyuki Shoji]

During the 13 years I worked at Excel, we received only a few orders for non-pedal, console-type lap steel guitars.
The JB Frypan, however, was relatively popular — at most, we produced around three units per year.

Each Frypan was made from a heavy aluminum casting, which had to be hand-shaped and polished entirely by hand. The process required tremendous physical effort, and I was personally responsible for all of that work. To be honest, building a Frypan has become quite demanding for me physically.

I’m also not sure whether the company that used to produce the aluminum castings for the Frypan is still in business.
So, to those who own one — please take good care of it.

In the future, if aluminum 3D printing becomes more affordable, I would love to bring the Frypan back to life.

[Larry Lenhart]

Mike
That definately counts ! Wow, what a great guitar....that is really special...I am sure you enjoy it a lot.
Thanks to all for taking the time to post it.

I wonder what happened to Margie Mays (RIP) Excels....she had 2....one was D8 and the other was a pedal steel that had the lever to change it from E9th to B6th I believe it was....they sounded great in her hands !