Post #136458 by Kanekila on Thu, Jan 20, 2005 5:48 AM

THIRTY!!?? Now I see how legends like Paul Bunyan, et al, come about. Man, I WISH! :)

No, I don't have thirty of them, but I think THIS GUY does:

http://rickalexander.com/BigSteel/

Rick lives down here in FLA, over on the Atlantic side, near Miami. He does more old-style country with his. I've never met him, but I thinks he knocks down some good cake on his day gig. Them's a lot of steels! He could damn near open a museum. Beautiful collection.

I do have two Fender Stringmasters (a triple neck longscale, and a doubleneck shortscale), a resonator (Dobro-type instrument), and a six-string Chandler that's finished in a beautiful Koa. I did have a 5th one (Melobar - nice steels), but just sold it to a man in Dallas. It's perfect for blues/rock, but not so great for Hawaiian.

I suppose if you just count necks, then I have "seven," but that's cheatin'! :)

I'm really partial to the Fender Stringmasters. I just love everything about them - tone, spacing, construction. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other folks, so the prices are starting to really jack up now. Then again, a 1956 Fender Tripleneck Stringmaster for $1500 or so is a true bargain, if you compare that to a '56 Stratocaster at about $30K!!!

If you're looking for a lapsteel, the old Supro's and Valco's are great bargains. National's are nice, too. Hell, even the old Gibson BR9 student models have a cool, old time funkiness to them. You can find these all day on Ebay in the $200+ range.

I'd like to make a trip down to visit Rick, and check out his collection sometime. Mind boggling...

Aloha!