After many years of wanting, I finally scored a vintage, late '60s ZB pedal steel like Jerry's. This one could possibly be very close in production date to Jerry's. There weren't many made. This one has been dated around late-'67 early '68. It was a double neck, but the C6 neck has been replaced by a pad as so many steel guitars are. Jerry never cared for the C6 voicing anyway. We only heard him play the E9 neck. Mechanically it's a dream, very precise and tight and in-tune. These ZB steels are tricky to tweak mechanically. The cult of owners reminds me of VW Microbus owners, where it takes a degree of mechanical inclination. It's been said that if the ZB was easy to work on, they'd still be in business. The company migrated from Phoenix (circa '66) to Scranton, Arkansas (circa '67-'69), and then out to Bakersfield, CA for a long stretch thru the '70s. These Scranton models are said to be quite desirable because of the nickel content in the endplate castings, a major contributor to tone. Also Zane Beck liked to use birdseye or normal hard rock maple for the top layer and that's also said to be a good tone factor. In later years the ZB's got real pretty with flamed maple tops, but some say the flame maple doesn't necessarily have the ideal tone compared to the birdseye or non-figured type. This is the exact type guitar that we hear on "Teach Your Children", Wheel, To Lay Me Down, Dire Wolf, early NRPS, etc. Jerry's actual ZB steel lives in the Bay Area and is owned by a guy named Pete Grant. Pete tells the story of him and Jerry driving around in the mid/late '60s when they heard Tom Brumley play the classic steel part on Buck Owens' "Together Again". He said Jerry was hooked instantly and soon dove in and bought and learned the instrument. Incidentally, it was Tom Brumley who soon bought the ZB steel guitar company and ran it for about 10 years in California.
Brad
Brad
Last edited by SarnoMusicSolutions on Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
... and it's just like any other day that's ever been...