NGD - Doozy content

Keefy · April 16

Duesenberg Pomona! I've tried a few Duesenbergs, including a couple owned at various times by @dazzajl, but they never seemed to sound or play how I wanted or expected. This, however, is another box of frogs altogether.

I remember seeing this model reviewed in Guitarist when it came out and thinking 'ooh', but funds and availability of one to try had never coincided until last Sunday at Bristol Guitar Show. Big Deal Music actually had two, a Pomona and an Alamo. The main difference is the pickups - I tried both and couldn't hear a huge difference through the headphones provided, so I went with what I thought would be a safer option for live use, i.e. humbuckers.

Having acquired the beast (the price was right!) I now have to learn to play it, and that means some decisions.

It came tuned to open D but I've gone for open E - more tension in the bottom string, and half the notes are in the same place as on a guitar in regular tuning. I'd quite like to try 'D over G' at some point though (G-B-D-F#-A-D low to high).
I have a long Moonshine ceramic slide that works quite well for now, but I've ordered a Dunlop 920 bullet-shaped tone bar.
For picking I've settled on a plectrum and a couple of fingers, as I often use hybrid picking anyway. I've never got on with bare fingers, and thumb- and finger-picks just feel too clunky.

I worked my way through some beginner lap steel vids on YouTube last night and came across the technique of angling the bar. I was kind of aware of this anyway, but that got me playing licks in 6ths. I treated Mrs Keefy to an intonationally-challenged rendition of 'You Are My Sunshine' using that approach. Using a volume pedal and the palm levers it's possible to get close to the sound of a pedal steel.

My plan is to to concentrate on the basics before inflicting the sound of feline torture on a nearby open mic...

Lewy · April 16

Nice. I have that palm bender bridge on a standard guitar which lives in Open D and it’s brilliant. B lever raises a tone, G lever raises a semi tone which means from a straight bar across, the levers give you the the IV, and if you slide two frets up and use the levers, you’ve just played a II V progression, and once you know that, you’re off to the races, finding different places to play chords, swooping up to a fret and then adding the bars when you get there.

I tend to think of bar slants as more of a Hawaiian thing, I don’t think pedal steel or the more western lap steel players use them that much.

dazzajl · April 16

That really does look like many bags of fun and cool as a deeply cooled bag of cool things.

Keefy · April 16

Lewy said:

Nice. I have that palm bender bridge on a standard guitar which lives in Open D and it’s brilliant. B lever raises a tone, G lever raises a semi tone which means from a straight bar across, the levers give you the the IV, and if you slide two frets up and use the levers, you’ve just played a II V progression, and once you know that, you’re off to the races, finding different places to play chords, swooping up to a fret and then adding the bars when you get there.

I tend to think of bar slants as more of a Hawaiian thing, I don’t think pedal steel or the more western lap steel players use them that much.

Cheers! I'm happy to use any technique if I can make it work for me

gatheredinsong · April 16

Woah, I'm crazy jealous, really want a Duesenberg lap steel and I think these yellow ones look the coolest. Intrigued to know how much it cost you, and what they were asking for the Alamo?

gatheredinsong · April 16

By the way, Luke Cyrus Goetze posted his preferences on Facebook the other day and he tunes his Fairytale G-B-D-F#-A-D

Amazing player!

Winny_Pooh · April 16

Damn! I always wanted one of these but could never justify the price considering how often I'd play it. Cool bit of engineering.

Keefy · April 16

gatheredinsong said:

By the way, Luke Cyrus Goetze posted his preferences on Facebook the other day and he tunes his Fairytale G-B-D-F#-A-D

Amazing player!

Yes, he’s one of the players who have come up on my lap steel radar.

PM’d re price

guitars4you · April 16

I saw you walking out with that case - Have fun as I'm sure it's a challenge

gatheredinsong · April 16

Keefy said:

gatheredinsong said:

By the way, Luke Cyrus Goetze posted his preferences on Facebook the other day and he tunes his Fairytale G-B-D-F#-A-D

Amazing player!

Yes, he’s one of the players who have come up on my lap steel radar.

PM’d re price

Thanks

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

NGD - Doozy content

Comments