rips…

…and other disturbances…

I need another hobby…

You can probably make out the picture of an old steel guitar here. Yeah, I have one of those instruments – a single 10 Dekley 1978-79 “road” model, and right now I'm not sure if having it is a blessing or a curse.

We all need hobbies, and it isn't always necessary to come up with entirely new ones. I have played this pretty unique instrument since back in 1979, until I tried to retire it some years ago by placing it in the basement. Now I'm giving up trying to get rid of it, and have moved it back into the living-area.

After having been left for more than 7 years with strings at full tension in a room with far from ideal conditions, that “thing” was still pretty much in tune. Not bad. Can't say the same about myself, but I don't think it's so bad that time, and lots of practicing, can't fix it.

Once I've found time, and spare parts, to bring the instrument up to its former glory, I think I'll invest the time necessary to brush up on my own skills with 3 picks and a steel bar. My hands are still shaped by steeling this instrument, and its sound is still in my head. May take a while to get up to speed though.

Pedal Steel Guitars have many moving parts and rods, that can jam if one doesn't clean, oil and maintain the instrument somewhat regularly – two-three times a year or so. My converted Dekley has more, and more tightly packed, moving parts and rods than most steel guitars inside its old black/chrome-lined aluminum body. Consequently; it must be kept perfectly clean and correctly oiled at all the right places in order to work. Needless to say it didn't get any of that treatment down in the dusty and sometimes damp basement.

Even the finest oil dries up and turns into something that resembles sticky tar over time. As a result the complex mechanism is now jamming slightly during pedal induced chord changes, producing slightly sour chords. Can't have that, so now I have to find time to partially disassemble the mechanism, so I can clean up and undo the damage caused by years of neglect. It's a meticulous and slow process, but necessary to keep tuning vs. action within the very narrow tolerances I have defined for this instrument.

To fellow pedal-steelers and other interested:
I do not temper my steel or mask sour chords by adding bar-vibrato or electronic effects while playing. Instead I use a couple of mechanical compensators to get all pedal/lever combinations “close enough” so I can get the strings in tune with my fingers and bar while playing.
It is the crystal clear, perfecly clean tones and natural harmonies from the instrument itself I'm after. I know the right sounds are all there – just waiting to be released, and if anything in the instrument or elsewhere in the chain is disturbing, it has to be fixed or removed. Then the rest is up to me.

During the refurbishing process I will of course also replace all worn-down parts. Some I have to find and buy as spare parts for other brands – which can be a bit complicated at times, and some parts I have to make from scratch. I'm familiar with such work, as I converted and customized this instrument myself two decades ago. Took nearly 4 years to get it right though, and I don't think I'll dare take such and a complex and sensitive instrument this far down the conversion-road again – ever.

My steel guitar is re-built, re-rigged and tuned to my exact specifications – and ear, and this is the main reason I want to fix it instead of just ordering a brand new steel guitar. Sure, I may buy a new steel guitar – if and when I find one I think is really good and suits my style, but it'll be as an addition to the old one.

One of these days I also have to test my old amplifiers and other gear, as time takes its toll on those units too. I used amplifiers and speakers made for hi-fi connoisseurs a decade or so ago, but I'm not sure if the old units have survived well enough for comfort. They're almost as old as my old Dekley, and even harder to find spare parts for these days.

May have to settle for the small amp I used for practicing, for a while at least. At least I know that one is still working, and practicing comes first anyway – once the instrument is back in shape.

farming is a hobby too, kind of…

Farming pays a little better than some other hobbies, but not all that much. Farming brings other advantages into ones life though, and plenty of challenges too. We could do without some of the toughest challenges, but I'm not sure that would do us any good in the long run.

A cow came down hard with milk fever, late last month. Despite proper treatment and lots of care, we didn't expect her to survive, but we decided to give her a chance and repeated the treatment. She recovered from the milk fever condition, and is still around as I write this, 3 weeks later, .

The tough ordeal left her with a wounded hind leg and some necrosis in the skin of her udder. The skin is renewing itself - dead skin falling off and fresh skin appearing underneath, and we treat her to avoid infections and further complications, and to reduce pain.

The wounded leg is worse. Damaged/stretched ligaments low down bends the foot somewhat backwards, and she has a tendency to trip over. We can only do so much to stiffen up and correct the leg, and hope that it will straighten and heal itself over time. May take weeks and months before she can walk with the herd, but she is doing reasonably well on her own fenced-off pasture, and returns to the barn twice a day to deliver milk for the calves.

The weather is “on and off”, switching between mostly sunny days and mostly rainy days. No real reason to complain about that, so I won't.

sincerely 

Hageland 20.may.2009
last rev: 21.may.2009