Toy of the Month: Multi Kord Pedal Steel

It's an old six string pedal steel. Pedal Steel guitars don't have frets. Instead, you slide a peice of metal or bakealite down the strings, which are usually strung in an open tuning (mine is Open-A I think). One steps on a lever, which then tightens or releases ONE OR MORE strings. You have screws which you can adjust to determine exactly how much the pitch on the affected strings should change. Check te pedals:

It's very 'country', 'trancy', and just plain cool. This pedal steel is very old, and very simple. It looks like a toilet seat, with cigarette burns, a crack in its formica finish, and that ludicrous pink/red top. It's a one-of-a-kind. Sounds very pretty tho. I fed it into an Access Virus Ti Desktop (next month's toy of the month, even though I bought it a while back) and it really blew my mind, esp on the vocoder patches.

This one has rusty strings, so I'll need to get some new ones.

Anyway, pedal steel guitars can get very complex. Some have five or nine pedals, and separate knee levers, and TWO necks. Check how ultra-complex it is from the bottom:

This Guitar is machined aluminum and carbon fibre. It's crazy!

I think Pedal Steel guitar (the Steel is for what you hold in your hand, not the construction of the Guitar) is about my favorite stringed instrument. Sounds beautiful.