Who's the steeler ? And what is he playing there?

[Gil James]

Was watching The Porter Wagner Show this morning, and noticed this guy playing a Sho-Bud standing up! Pedals are under the changer side of the guitar. Someone please enlighten me on this cool setup.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Don Warden. See this thread here:
viewtopic.php?p=2562139

[Gil James]

Thanks Jerry, I had never seen that before. I forgot to include to photo I snapped from the TV.

That's definitely someone forging their own path. I guess it never caught on with anybody else. I could see that being pretty dang handy,setting up these days.

[Rick Abbott]

Jr Brown had one built, but I don't know how much he actually plays it.

[Brett Day]

I think if I remember right, Don Warden had the very first Sho-Bud steel. Junior Brown's got a pedal guit-steel where the steel is a Sho-Bud ten string pedal steel and the guitar part of it was built by Michael Stevens. According to Junior, Duane Marrs worked on the pedal guit-steel before he died. Don Warden also had a Multi-Kord steel, which was seen in a museum several years ago at Dollywood.

[Rick Campbell]

Don was a "different" kind of player in a lot of ways, but I was always impressed at how he, and the Wagonmasters, played the guest stars songs when required to. His steel guitar was 8 strings, played standing up, 2 pedals on the right, no knee levers, no volume pedal. I often thought Buck Trent's electric banjo, with the tuners, sounded more like the steel guitar we know today. Don left the show when Dolly left to be her manager. He was her manager until he passed away in 2017. He was also a member of the steel guitar hall of fame. Don accomplished a lot in country music. RIP

RC

[Gil James]

I have seen the video of Junior's combo guitar/steel. Looks like it would be fun to play around with, but I don't know about gigging with it. But that Sho bud of Don Warden's has really grabbed me. I would love to see a photo of the changer and underside of it. On a clip from one of the videos in the thread that Jerry mentioned, it looks like he's got a volume control on the side. I've got an lightweight,8 string,3 pedal,no knee lever, with volume and tone controls steel just begging to be played standing up. Just need some extra long pedal rods.Curious as to why he had the pedals and rods installed on the right side. I play acoustic and teles in our band,but not steel, because I cant sing and play steel at the same time,but to be able to step over to a pedal steel for an occasional song or solo is on my radar now.