Bobbe's Tips

by Bobbe Seymour

In this issue: Emmons push-pull pedal steel

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Bobbe Seymour's
Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Midtown Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075

The world's largest steel-only music store, featuring the finest steel guitars and accessories available, online at www.SteelGuitar.net.

Call 615-822-5555 or email sales@SteelGuitar.net

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2011 June 16

Hello fellow players,

This newsletter may seem like a sales pitch but it is absolutely not. I'm just going to give you some straight facts the way they are. Many people say they will not buy push pull Emmons even thought they know that the tone is superior to anything and the playability can be very good if adjusted correctly. Dependability can be excellent if the stops are set perfectly. Once these guitars are setup, they have a tendency to stay put better than about any guitar that I know of.

I do not sell these guitars new, but I sell several other brands new. I am telling you this about this great little guitar after spending nearly fifty years playing it professionally under some severe conditions. I have owned serial number 1554D since the early seventies. It has been in eight countries, been on over 3000 recording sessions and been responsible for my entire professional career in steel guitar.

I feel I am qualified to make a lot of the statements that I am about to make. When a person buys one of these guitars used, he may be biting off more than he can chew if he doesn't buy it from a player or company that will stand behind it totally. Like I say, adjusted correctly it will stay that way for many years.

They are much harder to make big changes to underneath, but done correctly by a professional technician, they will continue to perform very well. All the people that I have ever seen that have complained about the guitars are people that really don't even know how to tune one, much less set one up underneath.

If you buy one off eBay, you're really drifting into dangerous waters unless you are a serious technician yourself. If you buy one setup perfectly from a reputable source, you can be happier than you'll ever be with anything. I have played many guitars in addition to my Emmons over the past fifty years. Several I have really liked, but to me serial number 1554D p-p is a priceless commodity in my professional playing career.

So the underlying current of what I'm saying here is the more complicated the setup on the guitar and the more perfect you want it, the more you have reason to purchase it from me or someone with the talent to do complicated setups on these great guitars. As I have said, this guitar can be the greatest friend you could ever have in steel guitar or a bad enemy if you don't have it setup and working correctly.

If this guitar is working perfectly, it can do wonderful things for your playing career that no other guitar can really do. There are going to be several of you out there that may want to argue with me about this, but believe me nothing could sound better, play any better and do anything more for your reputation that this guitar will.

I can name many, many professional steel guitarists that have played the Emmons p-p for a good part of their careers, then tried other guitars and then gone back to the Emmons push pull guitars to spend the rest of their career with it, but you have to have it setup and working correctly. This is why you buy from a fanatical dealer or player. You may have noticed that the prices of the little Emmons push pull guitars are now surpassing the Emmons LeGrande guitars.

The LeGrande is also a wonderful steel guitar for tone and playability, but the hardcore old pros are preferring the p-p. I wish I had fifteen of them on my floor to sell right now, but unfortunately I only have two. There are many other guitars that I love and have in stock and actually may be better for the non-professional player that doesn't want to learn servicing of the p-p.

There's no one guitar that is perfect for everyone, but if you know what you want or if you want a push pull guitar, I'll do my best to see that you are taken care of in your purchase.

I can't help but remember John Hughey coming in my store shortly before he passed wanting me to help him find either his old Emmons p-p or another one in equal condition. Then I think about many great players that have come to me looking for these wonderful guitars.

There is one substitute for the guitar that sounds very, very good, possibly equal or better, but it's made in Bosnia by a great craftsman, Dusan Papac. His guitar is exactly like as high a quality push pull as can be. The only major difference is a difference that you cannot see with your eyes and does not affect the guitars tone or anything else. It is a metric guitar. All screws, leg threads, legs and all machine work on the guitar is done to metric specs. As easy as metric nuts, bolts and screws are to obtain today, it should make no difference. Personally, I'd play one in a second.

Purchasing a steel guitar is not the simplest thing in the world but I try to make it as simple as possible for you. It can sure make your life extremely happy or if you buy the wrong guitar from the wrong person, it can make your life miserable.

Did you hear about the steel player who bragged that he could play thirty second notes? The rest of the band didn't believe him so he proved it by playing one.

I want to announce that we have an exciting new product that will very positively make a better player out of you. It's very inexpensive and made by Tascam. See all about it in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkje1we7G2g

And read all about it here: http://www.steelguitar.net/tascam.html

Check out our monthly specials at http://www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we'll try to save you a lot of money.

Your buddy,
Bobbe
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour
www.myspace.com/bobbeseymour

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM - 4PM Monday - Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday

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