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John Myung Bongo 4

I Had No Idea EBMM Made These!

Hey that's cool.

I'm not a fan of steel guitar as it's usually employed, but I'd love to learn how to play it. It's a rather difficult instrument to learn.
 
My grandfather taught hawaiin guitar in the thirties and forties. After my grandparents divorced my grandfather had a batch pad where all of the cats of the day hung out. My father soaked it all in and in addition ot hawaiian he was a big western swing fan. Heis real name was Roland Sherwood Ball. He got the name Ernie while making his debut on a live radio broadcast. My great granfather was Ernest R. Ball who was a very very famous songwriter. He wrote When Irish Eyes Are Smiling nad many other big songs. The Dee Jay said "we have a new steel player who goes by the name of Sherwood Ball, ut his grandpa pa was Ernest R. ball so Lets just call me Ernie Ball. It stuck.

When he was 19 he went on the road with the Tommy Duncan band. Tommy Duncan was Bob Wills bandleader and most of the band were Texas Playboys and this teenager from California on steel. He was staff guitarist/steel guitarist at disney and ktla in la.

In the 70's about the time of earthwood he bought out a steel guitar make named Chuck Wright and produced a limited number of custom steels. When Chuck Wright left the company Dan Norton and Ron Saul made this good quality enttry level steel. It was using the technology from the volume pedal, Just a bigger aluminum extrusion.
The maple neck was tone wood.

Sunday morning history class is out.......
 
Thanks for the history lesson Big Poppa. I for one, appreciate it. Nice to hear how things come about. :cool:
 
I love history. Thanks !

I heard a guy at a blues club play a steel guitar with distortion and it sounded really great but it would never stand up to the old school guys.

(tips his hat to the older generation)
 
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