Why Hold Back? Why not Hold Back?

While developing the prototype for Version 1.0 of the OnePSG, there were some design elements of a traditional PSG that were kept even though they were no longer technically necessary. But before describing them, let's talk more generally about disrupting a beloved paradigm.

Despite the fact that several of the world's undeniably greatest players were fully on board with the concept of the OnePSG, we knew there would be some players who would be less than enthusiastic. Why?

The PSG is a relatively new instrument (developed mostly during the second half of the 20th Century). Nevertheless, as steel players, we all appreciate its (short but) deep history and the tradition of the players and music it's been associated with. We all love the quirkiness of the instrument (both mechanical and musical). There is a sense of being "in the club," knowing and loving/hating the idiosyncracies of such an esoteric instrument.

Some PSG players will undoubtedly bristle at the thought of something that is even in part very different from that history and tradition, and will rebel against removing the obstacles that make entry to the "club" difficult (such as, difficulty in learning to play, the technical aspects of maintaining the instrument, etc.).

There are folks who aren't interested in experimental PSG music or players. There are folks who think playing anything other than country music on the instrument might very well be blasphemy. There are folks who think, if the Pedal Steel Guitar ain't broke, don't fix it.

On the other hand, there are players who push the instrument into new territory. If you believe that an electric guitar is a kind of guitar, then you are not like André Segovia, one of the greatest classical guitarist who ever lived. André Segovia supposedly thought the electric guitar was a terrible thing. The story is likely apocryphal, but here goes: Segovia once said that if he'd known Chet Atkins played electric, he wouldn't have given him a lesson.

We can hope that those who think the OnePSG is somehow perverse or wrong or just not "the Cowboy Way" will consider the closed-mindedness of a world class guitar master as he looked down on the likes of the Telecaster (Bill Kirchen's "Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods"). One person's icon is another's abomination.

So, the OnePSG is electric, like any other pedal steel. It looks and plays like a traditional PSG. It has metal strings and magnetic pickups (that's right, no piezos or optical pickups). It has pedals and knee levers. The intent and logic behind the how and why of pedals and levers changing the pitches of strings in combinations are exactly the same as that of a traditional PSG. The only part that is different is the "mechanism" that changes pitches. That mechanism alone just happens to not be, well, "mechanical."

If you think Country is all that should ever be played on a PSG, you can have your E9 and play it too. You can even capo it up ... or down. You can instantly add a Franklin 4th pedal just to try it out and instantly remove it if it's not your style. You can instantly see what it's like to play Lloyd Green's un-lower-able fourth string. You can do all that without worrying about messing up the tuning you're used to.

On the other hand, you can create a copedent no one has ever even dreamed of. You can be free of the tyranny of limiting your creativity to only two standard copedents, or to only four or five changes per string, or to how far you can reliably stretch or loosen a string. A PSG could be in a backline, because everyone could instantly have their own pedal and lever set up, their own one, or 50, favorite copedents immediately available. You can experiment. You can toss your PSG in the overhead on an airplane. You can change tunings five times during a song. You can adjust each string's volume and EQ in your quest for the Holy Grail of String Separation. You can ....

If you find the whole idea a little unsettling or even heresy, please remember that though the OnePSG could replace your traditional PSG, it doesn't have to. It could be your only PSG (with an infinite number of necks...) but it could also just be your extra steel, the one you have for experimentation or for those non-cash neck gigs.

So, now, what about those changes we didn't make to the design that we might have made?

First off, there isn't really any need for tuning pegs. We could have made a headless instrument. It would have made it ligher in weight, shorter in body. Secondly, there isn't really any need for pedal rods. We could have put the sensors inside the pedal bar. So, why didn't we?

We figured we didn't want to freak anyone out any more than they were already going to be freaked out ... on the first go round. Imagine sitting in an audience, watching someone play a pedal steel without pedal rods. It would look like magic, or worse. The keyless PSG isn't quite as strange (some traditional PSGs are made that way) but some don't like it, for aesthetic reasons if nothing else). So, we figured we'd hold back on at least these two possible features and leave them for a future model.

Moral? You can't help but freak out some of the people some of the time. But you needn't freak out most of the people the first time.