Nashville,TN. USA
Nashville, TN
United States
damirzan
1976 Dobro 60
~ guitar was played, and owned by Buddy Emmons, so you know that tone of this
instrument is amazing... guitar is very solid, heavy, beautiful, and have a tone to die for... comes with a certificate of
authenticity from "Buddy Emmons Estate" ,and original case...
this is a superb instrument, owned by the best pedal steel guitarist that ever lived, ....
guitar is in original condition, never restored or messed with.... Buddy's fingerprints are still on it....just professionally installed Fishman Nashville
bridge pickup by Glaser Instruments shop in Nashville ... Beard classic new cone (original one included) ... awesome isntrument, with great history...
Don't Want To Be Late ~ Buddy Emmons dobro
Buddy Gene Emmons (January 27, 1937 – July 21, 2015) was an American musician. He played several instruments, most notably pedal steel guitar.
Emmons was called the world's foremost steel guitarist[2] and his talent was greatly admired by fellow steel guitarists.[3] His musical versatility spanned genres such as country, swing, jazz, folk, and country-rock, and he has performed or recorded with a wide variety of vocalists and musicians including Linda Ronstadt, The Everly Brothers, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, Ray Price, Judy Collins, and Lenny Breau. His innovative musical stylings ranged from tasteful ballad accompaniment and classical music to be-bop jazz, big band swing standards, and Western swing. He also made significant contributions to the design, development, and evolution of the pedal steel guitar as a musical instrument.
Harper Valley PTA ~ Buddy Emmons dobro
Childhood and early musical career[edit]
He was born Buddy Gene Emmons.[4] When he was 11 years old, his father bought him a 6-string lap steel guitar and arranged for lessons at the Hawaiian Conservatory of Music in South Bend, Indiana, which Buddy dutifully attended for about a year. Buddy then began figuring out on his own how to play the country music that he heard on the radio. Buddy has said that Jerry Byrd and Herb Remington were among his first major musical influences.[5] By age 15, Buddy's playing had progressed considerably and his parents bought him a triple-neck Fender "Stringmaster" steel guitar, and he began performing with local bands in South Bend such as The Choctaw Cowboys.[5] Bored with high school, he left at age 16 and moved with a childhood friend to Calumet City, Illinois, where he was soon hired by Stony Calhoun to play in his band. At 17, he moved to Detroit to play with Casey Clark.[5] During his stint with Clark, Buddy purchased a Bigsby steel guitar with pedals similar to the pedal steel guitar that Bud Isaacs had used on the Webb Pierce hit song "Slowly". (The pedals on a pedal steel guitar allow the player to change the pitch of one or more strings while playing the instrument. A separate volume pedal is also used, compensating for the attack and decay of the strings for a smooth, constant or creative near-constant volume.)
Wabash Cannonball ~ Buddy Emmons dobro
1955: Little Jimmy Dickens[edit]
The next year, Little Jimmy Dickens heard Emmons playing with Casey Clark and offered him a job with his band, so at the age of 18, in July, 1955, Emmons moved to Nashville. Dickens' band was then considered one of the hottest bands in country music, with complex arrangements and fast twin guitar harmonies.[6] Dickens arranged for his band to record several instrumentals on Columbia Records under the name, The Country Boys. The first tunes recorded included three of Emmons' originals, two of which, "Raising the Dickens" and "Buddie's Boogie", quickly became a steel guitar standards.[5]
In 1956, Dickens dissolved his band to perform as a solo act, and later that year Emmons and Shot Jackson formed the Sho-Bud ("SHOt-BUDdy") Company to design and build pedal steel guitars. Meanwhile Emmons began doing recording sessions in Nashville - one of his first studio sessions resulted in Faron Young's hit version of "Sweet Dreams".[7]
In late 1956, Emmons contributed a major innovation to the evolution of the pedal steel guitar by splitting the function of the two pedals that changed the pitch of several strings from a tonic chord to a sub-dominant chord. This "split-pedal" setup is now the standard pedal arrangement in the E9 tuning, since it allows greater musical flexibility than the earlier pedal setup pioneered by Bud Isaacs. Emmons recalls that he first used this split-pedal innovation on Ernest Tubb's "Half A Mind (to Leave You)".[8]
1957: Ernest Tubb & The Texas Troubadours[edit]
In 1957, Emmons (by then nicknamed the "Big E" for both his 6-foot height and musical prowess) joined Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours.[4] His first recording with Tubb, "Half A Mind (to Leave You)", quickly became a hit record, and has since become a classic country standard. In 1958, Emmons quit Tubb's band and moved to California. Eight months later, he returned to Nashville and rejoined the Texas Troubadours as the lead guitar player for the next five months, at which point he returned to the pedal steel guitar chair in the band.[7]
1962: Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys[edit]
In 1962, he left Tubb to join Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, replacing his long-time friend, steel-guitarist Jimmy Day. His first recording with Price in September, 1962, produced the hit song, "You Took Her Off My Hands". On this song Emmons used another of his major steel guitar innovations- adding two "chromatic" strings (F# and D#) to the E9th tuning. These "chromatic strings" have since become part of the standard 10-string pedal steel guitar tuning.[3]
His playing over the next several years with Price set the benchmark for sophisticated and tasteful steel guitar accompaniment on many of Price's hits. His unique moving counterpoint intro on "Touch My Heart" and his jazz-based bluesy intro and solo on "Night Life" established Emmons as one of the most innovative musicians in Nashville.[3] Price soon appointed Emmons to be his bandleader, and Emmons created many of the arrangements on Price's recordings over the next several years.[9]
After trying without success to get Shot Jackson interested in his new guitar design ideas, Emmons left Sho-Bud in 1963 and formed a new guitar manufacturing company, the Emmons Guitar Company.[8] The Emmons steel guitar soon became the instrument of choice for many professional steel guitarists, and the early Emmons steel guitars with Emmons' original "push/pull" pitch-changer design are highly sought-after instruments today—due to their outstanding tone and durability.
Another musical milestone was Emmons' Steel Guitar Jazz album, recorded in New York City in 1963. The first jazz album featuring a steel guitar and recorded with established jazz session-players, it received praise from Downbeat, the highly respected jazz magazine.[7]
As Lloyd Green, a highly in-demand studio steel guitarist said of Emmons in 1977, "He's not an ordinary guy. In my opinion, Buddy Emmons is probably the most intelligent and talented musician who's ever played the instrument. He's like Picasso or Michelangelo. That might be laying it on a little thick, but he's just flawless in his playing. Nobody is the composite player he is. He was the first modern great steel player and nobody's surpassed him yet. Emmons just, by God, came along and sounded like a 1977 steel player when he came here in 1955."[7]
Emmons' son, Larry, from his first marriage, later became a professional musician, playing bass with Ernest Tubb. According to a 1965 interview, Emmons and his second wife, Gigi "have two children, Buddie Gene and Tami."[4] Emmons continued to record and tour with Price until 1967,[9] and, between tours with Price, did recording session work with many Nashville artists such as George Jones and Melba Montgomery. Emmons left the Cherokee Cowboys largely due to his disenchantment with Price's growing interest in performing pop-style country with string orchestrations. [10][11]
1967: Moving to California and Roger Miller[edit]
Meanwhile, he began living the fast life. "I spent most of my time with a drink in my hand. I just liked to have fun." Life in the fast lane brought Emmons a second divorce, problems with booze and pills, tax problems, and fewer recording sessions. "I couldn't get work for one thing," he says candidly. "My wildness had peaked. I guess everybody had caught my act. I missed sessions, and I was having troubles at home with my second wife."[7]
In 1967, he married his third wife Peggy, who brought twin girls, Debbie and Diana, from her first marriage. Emmons credited Peggy with calming his wild streak. "It was the way she handled things when I first met her. When I got in one of my stages she knew how to handle it - and very quietly, too, which I wasn't used to."[citation needed] Meanwhile, Emmons' long-time friend, songwriter Roger Miller, offered him a job in his band in California. Emmons moved to Los Angeles, playing bass in Roger Miller's band and doing studio work on pedal steel. His first recording session in L.A. was on Judy Collins' classic "Someday Soon".[citation needed] He soon began recording with artists such as The Carpenters, Nancy Sinatra, Gram Parsons, John Sebastian and Ray Charles, as well as recording jingles, commercials, and movie soundtracks for Henry Mancini.[citation needed]
1974: Return to Nashville[edit]
Emmons returned with Peggy to Nashville in 1974, where he quickly resumed studio work with artists such as Mel Tillis, Donna Fargo, Duane Eddy and Charlie Walker.[10] Beginning in 1974, Emmons became a regularly featured performer at the annual International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis, and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981.[2]
In 1976, Emmons recorded a highly regarded tribute to the great Western Swing artist Bob Wills, on which he sang lead vocal and played steel guitar. He continued to do session work throughout the 1980s and 1990s with artists such as John Hartford, George Strait, Gene Watson and Ricky Skaggs.[10]
1977: Redneck Jazz Explosion[edit]
In 1977, Emmons teamed with Danny Gatton for occasional gigs, and then in 1978 they toured as the band Redneck Jazz Explosion. On New Year's Eve 1978, they recorded the album Redneck Jazz live at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C.
Also in 1977, Buddy played steel guitar and resonator/dobro on Christian singer Don Francisco's album "Forgiven". This album was recorded in Nashville.
1990s: The Everly Brothers
In 1990, Emmons and Ray Pennington formed the Swing Shift Band, and began producing a highly regarded series of CDs that included Big Band Swing, Western Swing, and original country songs. Emmons began touring with The Everly Brothers in 1991, which continued until about 2001. Emmons discontinued doing regular session work around 1998 to tour with The Everly's.
Emmons' zealous practice schedule caught up with him around 2001. He began suffering from a painful repetitive motion injury to his right thumb and wrist, which caused him to stop playing for over a year.Though fully recovered, Emmons chose not to return to regular recording session work, but did record with some artists he had known for many years, such as Ray Price, Johnny Bush, and Willie Nelson. He continued to perform at steel guitar shows, and occasionally on American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion, until his death.
Emmons has three granddaughters, Crystal, Nikia, (who died in 2004) and Brittany, and two grandsons, Levon and Buddie III. Emmons' wife Peggy often accompanied him to steel guitar shows and conventions, and helped Buddy meet fans and sell recordings and videos. She died unexpectedly on December 19, 2007.
Emmons died of a heart attack in Nashville, Tennessee on July 21, 2015
Selected recordings
Buddy Emmons, Buddy Emmons (Emmons Guitar Company) [Often referred to as "The Black Album"]
Steel Guitar Jazz, Buddy Emmons (as "Buddie Emmons"), 1963 (Verve)
Touch My Heart/Burning Memories, Ray Price (Audium/Sony)
Steel Guitar, Buddy Emmons (Flying Fish Records)
Swinging Our Way, Buddy Emmons & Ray Pennington (Step One Records)
Minors Aloud, Buddy Emmons & Lenny Breau (Flying Fish Records)
Buddy Emmons Sings Bob Wills, Buddy Emmons (Flying Fish Records)
Buddy Emmons with Mac Wiseman ~ "Remembering"
awesome playing and sounding 1995 Scruggs here ... this is a great banjo, probably one of the best sounding and playing banjos I ever had...
this banjo was just adjusted and serviced, with new head and medium JD Crowe strings installed... original Gibson HSC in nice condition...
these are the best selling banjos Gibson had before closing down and stopping banjo production in 2010 after a big nashville flood... if you
are looking for a great professional banjo, you can't go wrong with Gibson ESS ... Gibson stopped banjo production after big Nashville flood in 2010 flooded the Opry Mills mall in Nashville, where they were making banjos, there is, nor will be,anymore new Gibson banjos ... and these will go up in value ...get you one while you can ..
beautiful 1982 Stelling Staghorn in great condition... no cracks or damages of any kind... spikes on 5th string... virtually no fret wear ... original Stelling HSC ... awesome sounding, and playing banjo... these are just about, impossible to find for sale, I've been looking for one for years, and finally was lucky enough to find one for sale, and I grabbed it ... fantastic banjos ... just found out Geoff is getting out of the banjo building business, and there wont be (just like with Gibson) any more new Stelling banjos made, I'm expecting for the value of these banjos to skyrocket in near future....
absolutely stunning 2002 Gibson Flint Hill Special ... mint condtition, one owner banjo, signed and checked out by Earl himslef ... less than 50 of those ever made ... fantastic instrument...
2002 gorgeous Stelling Virginian in mint condition ...original Stelling Cooperman rim ... you don't hardly ever see one of these for sale ...
~ from Stelling web site :
" inspired by master banjoist Bill Emerson, the Red Fox outsold every other model in 1996.
Although new models tend to do that, we think that this model will join the Staghorn
with its universal appeal and acceptance as a classic banjo design. The fancy curly
maple used in this model is enhanced by the reddish stain. The Red Fox in the peghead
and the abalone maple leaves in the fingerboard help to make this a very striking model."
~ absolutelly gorgeous, all original 1975 Guild X-175 sb .... serial number 121211 .... comes with a beautiful original HSC ... this is a
awesome instrument, near mint condition, great sounding and stunning in apperance ... these are hard to find, especially in this
condition.... guitar is all original as well ... many musicians say this guitars sound and play better than any Gibson in that category....
don't miss your chance to own this beautiful vintage Jazz guitar....
~ gorgeous curly maple, five string banjo Stelling Sunflower... banjo has railroad spikes on the 5th string.... gorgeous
Sunflower mother of pearl inlay... this is vintage 1989 Sunflower in excelent condition, sounds great , and plays super smooth...
Stelling is one of the best banjos on the market... this banjo comes with a original Stelling case as well ... beautiful professional
banjo ... Sony Osborne, Tony Trischa and many other top pro players played Stelling Sunflower... best of the best...
This is a beautiful reso made by Bobby Wolfe from Macacauba wood, which is a very dense Brazilian hardwood. This guitar is about 2 years old, and I bought it directly from Bobby. When I went down to pick it up, he had just set it up, and he was playing it out in his shop, and he liked it so much he offered to give me my deposit back and keep it, based on how good it sounded. This guitar is unusual for a Wolfe because it has a solid headstock, which I prefer, over Bobby's usual slotted headstock design. If you've never played a Wolfe guitar, they are excellent instruments, and this one is no exception. It has a strong bass, a crisp midrange and the treble end is clear as a bell. The guitar has absolutely no issues. I did replace the nut because of a string spacing preference, and added a straplock. Paul Beard did that work at Resosummit last year....
~ Lee Cecil ~
and this is the story behind this gorgeous guitar, I really don't play it enough to keep it.... so here is your chance to get a super nice custom built professional resonator...
This Gibson Mastertone was born a 1978 RB-250. Several years ago it was upgraded with a Maple Hearts & Flowers (Prewar Granada Style) neck and resonator. The neck and resonator was made by Jim Grainger from Sparta, Tennessee. Mr. Grainger does outstanding work and does complete restorations of vintage and pre-war instruments. He makes custom instruments and does work for high end instrument companies (Martin, Fender, Taylor, etc).
All of the original hardware (pot, rim, flange, tailpiece, tuners) are still in use. I used Schaller D tuners on the banjo for several years. Once I decided to thin out my collection, I installed the original Gibson tuners back on the banjo. Included with the banjo are the Schaller D tuners. The banjo is in overall very good condition. It shows minimal amount of wear and tear. The inlay and position markers are brilliant, the binding shows aging and is the nice cream color now. It has Railroad spikes installed (A,B, C, and even D). I never capoed to D, but the railroad spike is there for a player that desires to.
~ very nice Gibson RB-250 five string bluegrass banjo here ... this banjo plays, and sounds great.... it has been upgraded
witha custom tailpiece , and Keith-Scruggs tuners on 2nd and 3rd string... original tuners will come with the banjo...
RB-250 is known as a Gibsons "work horse" banjo, and this banjo has been working hard, it has its share of dings and bumps,
banjo sounds and plays great, and has a tons of character.... if you are looking for a safe queen, this is not for you, but if
you need a great sounding, and playing banjo to go to jam sessions, or festivals, or just to jam around the front porch, this
is it.... this banjo will also do a great job on any stage, or in any studio .... few scuffs, and dings, but never the less a great
professional instrument....
Advanced Jumbo In the mid '30s, Gibson luthiers set about to build the best-sounding, most powerful flat-top acoustic ever. The result was the Advanced Jumbo. Widely known today as one of Gibson’s most powerful acoustics, early catalogs proclaimed, "You have never heard a guitar like this …a bass so deep and full that it can be felt as well as heard." The catalog didn't exaggerate. What Gibson’s luthiers discovered was a resonance-enhancing, advanced X-bracing pattern that had not been used before. The results were a deeper bass and increased projection. During the three years the AJ was in its first production run, Gibson made about 300 of them. It wasn't until 1990 that Gibson reintroduced the AJ and their value as a vintage-tone time capsule was recognized. The AJ offers rich harmonics with excellent punch and presence. A Historic Collection headstock decal pays tribute to what many consider the ultimate flat-top.
The spruce top and rosewood back & sides are finished with a simple, singly-ply binding. A traditional sound hole rosette, mother-of-pearl diamond and arrow inlays are handset in the rosewood fingerboard and the classic MOP script logo with MOP vertical diamond and arrow inlay make this limited edition instantly recognizable as a classic.
Each guitar includes a signed Certificate of Authenticity, hardshell case with plush-lined interior, an owner's manual, Gibson's Gold Warranty and Gibson's 24/7/365 Customer Service.
Handcrafted by the acclaimed luthiers of Gibson's acoustic facility in Bozeman, Montana, production is limited in 2013.
~ beautiful, professional five string, bluegrass banjo made by Gibson in 1994...this is a famous "Earl Scruggs Standard" model...
these banjos are known for their great tone, and beauty....this banjo has been recently set up, and refreted...
banjo was signed by great Earl Scruggs himself at some point... this is a wonderful playing, and sounding banjo, it is
a players banjo, and it has few scratches and scuffs, which don't affect playing or tone of this instrument.... banjo is all
original except upgraded tail piece ... also has upgraded compensator bridge... very nice instrument all together...
~ very nice 1993 Gibson parts five string banjo... my personal banjo, great tone, and great playing banjo...
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I had many banjos, Gibson's, Stelling's,Recording King's etc... but this is my favorite banjo, awesome tone, and fast neck....
professional instrument for a professional player.... trust cover is form an ESS banjo, but this is not ESS model.... banjo was
assambled from different mostly Gibson parts, with resonator possibly not being a Gibson.... great playing and sounding
professional banjo...
~ super nice 5 string bluegrass banjo by Mark Platin from his "Wildwood" shop in Oregon.This banjos are simply great, they look and sound awesome.
Finish and mother of pearl inlay are absolutely gorgeous, and tone of this banjo is amazing thanks to "Wildwood" tone ring, and solid block rim...
great tone balance...this banjo new, with the same upgrades would cost over $4,000.00 ...
you can save hundreds here by buying this beauty...
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Nashville, TN
United States
damirzan