Vintage ZB Custom Pedal Steel Guitar

Description

ZB Custom Vintage Pedal Steel guitar, dating from the 1970s, so at least 50 years old, but quite robustly made by a pioneer of the steel guitar called Zain Beck, now sadly gone on. It's a student model with retro fitted knee levers and with a, well regarded, replacement Tommy White, George L pickup imported from the USA. The original pickup is included.

It's often not possible to fit knee levers to a student guitar but, apparently, Zain used the same changer (pulls and lowers) on various models. The allen key heads used to adjust the string (see picture) pull up firmly against a steel plate at the rear of the guitar; which likely aids the tone and, if you're trying to adjust a particular lever or pedal (lot's of strings so don't laugh) , it's easy to see which is moving. Allen key supplied.

At the core of the instrument is a sturdy (perhaps over engineered) aluminuim frame and, happily, equally sturdy, adjustable legs. The machine heads work fine.

An orginal ' Custom' volume pedal, (made with a substantial aluminium casting), is included which shows signs of use but works OK. There is also a nice steel stamped, by hand, 'ZB.' The guitar is heavy compared to more modern instruments, but that's fine if you want to set it up at home or, as I was once, are young and strong.

The guitar is set up in the Emmons configuration and the pedals and levers are adjusted to the Jeff Newman tuning chart - lots of info online. Everything works.

The original case is in good structural condition. As the photos show the fittings have become tarnished but it's basically sound otherwise.

This is a good guitar which, at this price, would be fine if you want to see if you're going to be a steel player. As a comment many of the older steels that are sold online have issues that the buyer only finds out when they get home which is, potentially, disasterous if you're beginning. That's my experience anyway.

I'm not an expert, and I'm sure some who are could set this up a little better than I have, but it's set up according to most commonly used teaching materials and, as defined by Jeff Newman's chart, it plays in tune. It is, however, a vintage instrument and the buyer needs to take this into account as, down the road, something might need fixing which, however, is doable . I'd be happy to go over the ins and outs of the thing, or support and advice, can be found online.

The steel can be viewed by arrangement at Hersham Surrey but ID may be required. There's usually some demand for steel guitars but, depending, I might accept a sensible offer.

Thanks for reading my ad

Ray.