? for BE - travling lite

Joe Fortune · Post by **Joe Fortune** » 13 Jul 2002 1:00 pm

Buddy, in our brief conversation at Bell Cove
the other nite, you mentioned that you transported your guitar already setup. Would you please explain how you did that. I have a Tahoe, similar to your suburban, and am interested in doing the same thing when playing locally. Did you turn guitar upside down in the case, use tie downs (and how), set the guitar upright, ect. Any info would help. Thanks.

Timmy Witt · Post by **Timmy Witt** » 13 Jul 2002 1:55 pm

Well, I am definetly not Buddy, but I have transported my steel in the back of my rodeo like you are describing, worked well, I would only do it locally, I also saw Scott Sanders at a session one time and he had carried his to the studio like that, in the back of a campertop pickup.

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Tim
1990 Lashley Legrande D10 8 & 4. Profex II, Blue Tube II, Nashville 400

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 13 Jul 2002 6:07 pm

I have been carrying my steel to jobs all setup in my car trunk(I take off the back legs) or my van for at least 25 years. I only used the case for travelling Fl, or Az...al

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 14 Jul 2002 4:33 am

Joe,
My Suburban has metal triangular shaped thingies embedded in each side of the floor near the back doors. I set the steel facing the back and run three bungee chords across the pedals. Then I tie a small pillow to the top door latch and let it hang between the doors and the front of the steel. On rare occasions, I've had to brake in a hurry, which made the steel tilt forward and then slam the front against the doors. The better way might be to place it upside down in the case, but I would still secure it to keep it from shifting.

It was nice seeing you again. As you can see from the charts I gave you, we didn't get to all the tunes. Time sure does fly when you're having fun.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 14 Jul 2002 9:09 am

I used to do what Buddy does when loading my steel into the Explorer... the bungee cord routine, hanging padding around, etc... then I realized that there was more effort involved in doing that than there was in just tearing down the steel and doing the traditional route.

Also, since I have a two-door Explorer, there's not that much distance between the front seats and back. With the higher center of gravity with the guitar fully assembled, how much kinetic energy would it take in a rear-end collision (my fault) to have the steel come flying over the back seats and... well, y'all can see the scenario.

Headline: "MUSICIAN DECAPITATED BY OWN GUITAR IN NEAR TRAGEDY. FILM AT 10."

And I also have a feeling that the energy transferance of constant motion of the vehicle on the road does not do any good for the fit of the legs in the leg sockets, or the screw holes in the cabinet where the endplates attach. The vibration of the parts would have to loosen the fittings, and I believe how the body fits into the endplates has a definite effect on the sound of the horn... I mean the steel guitar, not the horn in your car, silly!!

I did the upside down thing also, but that too is a pain in the ass, plus placing the undercarriage in harm's way.

I've been playing my Fessenden at gigs lately and the best thing I ever did was getting Tim Cushenberry to make me a set of cases like the old Fenders had... body in one, legs and rack in the other. Now, since I don't carry a rack anymore, I still have only 4 pieces to carry in to the gig, and each is a reasonable weight.

Of course, carrying a Fessenden in a two-piece case probably qualifies me as being a tone-deaf wimp on another forum, but that's just a reputation I'll have to endure I guess.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 14 Jul 2002 9:31 am

.......NEAR TRAGEDY.......

Good one, Herb

. It's not like it's the pizza maker or brewmeister something.

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 14 Jul 2002 11:58 am

I always wonder, isn´t it a lot more awkward to lift an assembled steel into a car than a case? And to carry the thing out of the venue in the first place... imagine if there are some stairs... I don´t really understand why anyone would want to transport it that way.

Tony Dingus · Post by **Tony Dingus** » 14 Jul 2002 12:14 pm

I heard that Lloyd carried his steel setup when he was doing sessions. Anybody know anything about this?
Tony[This message was edited by Tony Dingus on 14 July 2002 at 01:15 PM.]

Tony Farr · Post by **Tony Farr** » 14 Jul 2002 1:30 pm

Buddy, it was sure good to se you the other night at Bell Cove. As always you sounded SUPER. Just wondering if you remembered, back several years ago, when Neal Flanz and I came over to your house when you lived here in Madison. My wife tried to get me to let her talke a photo of us together, I didn't want to bother you, but I don't guess you would have mined it to much. Where is the NAMM being held, I might drop by , if I'm not busy.

Rob Hamilton · Post by **Rob Hamilton** » 14 Jul 2002 1:37 pm

Well, dog-gone it, I can't find it now, but a few months ago, while seeking out a new case for my Sho-Bud, I'm sure I came across a web site for a company that sells a case for a fully-setup pedal steel. Presumably for working musicians who need to quickly roll in and play. Has anyone else seen this?

--Rob

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 14 Jul 2002 2:26 pm

Here's the site: http://www.fasteelcases.com/about.html

Rob Hamilton · Post by **Rob Hamilton** » 14 Jul 2002 3:22 pm

Yes, that's the one! Thanks Jim.

Fred Jack · Post by **Fred Jack** » 15 Jul 2002 6:17 am

All of this conversation of transporting steels reminds me of an old friend I worked with in Colorado Springs. Tony F. you should remember Whit Taylor?? He had a triple neck bigsby , had it cut down to a single ... I remember he had a knee lever shaped like a horseshoe that fit over his right leg. Pulled both directions. Whit was so absent minded ( and wierd) that he lost his guitar legs and had four galvanized pipe welded on.I hauled that thing all over the country w/o ever taking it apart. Regards, fred