Derby pedal steels ??

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 3 Jan 2021 6:41 am

would like to know the history of Derby P.S.G what year did
they start making them. how do they sound. are they easy to work on. ect let's here from all your Derby players. i know B.E played one for awhile and Terry Crisp.... pictures too please...

p.w

Lee Warren · Post by **Lee Warren** » 3 Jan 2021 6:50 am

I have a Derby sd-10 4 and 5, that I feel compares quite favourably with my Emmons Lashley LeGrande in both build quality, and playability.
It seems a bit brighter than the Emmons, perhaps due to the E-66 pickup (my LeGrande has standard factory pickups).

Scott Hiestand · Post by **Scott Hiestand** » 3 Jan 2021 11:29 am

Paul

I'm not sure of the year Charlie Stepp starting building Derbys. I've owned and played a number of steels over the years (well, decades)...Emmons P/P, ZB Custom, Sho-Bud, Carter. The Derby D10 (the only guitar I still currently own) is the most reliable and trouble-free of them all. While I can't say it has a "superior" tone to say the Emmons or ZB, it has a "warmth" all it's own and great sustain. Very sweet sounding. I rarely have to adjust anything and if I do, it's easy.

I've never played an Emmons Legrande but I've read on here Charlie kind of modeled the Derby after the Legrande? At some point the front decal got changed (I have the "newer" one) and a big "D" was added. I like the older one lol, wish I could swap it out.

Too bad Charlie still isn't with us, he built a great guitar!

Scott Hiestand · Post by **Scott Hiestand** » 3 Jan 2021 12:09 pm

Oh yeah here's mine..

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 3 Jan 2021 2:54 pm

Heres mine, (borrowed picture) it plays like a dream, smooth, stays in tune and sounds awesome. My only complaint is the location of the left knees compared to my other steels. These sit more to the right. I'm looking into changing that. Otherwise she's a fine piece of machinery.

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 3 Jan 2021 3:06 pm

Scott & larry.
Nice looking guitars. Beautiful. There are two on bobby reid for sale just looking in to them
Paul Wade
https://bobbyreed.net/pedal_steel_guitars

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 3 Jan 2021 4:15 pm

Here's some old threads about his patent etc

viewtopic.php?t=173360

viewtopic.php?t=165192

serial number roundup (maybe 500+ out there): viewtopic.php?t=310127

Scott Hiestand · Post by **Scott Hiestand** » 3 Jan 2021 4:36 pm

Just checked that link - I forgot about those early Derby's with the hat and cane screwed on logo! - I guess those were the first (someone more in the know could comment).

It's funny, I like the location of my knees on the Derby more than other steels I've played, probably just how I sit at it more than anything else.

In any case, would never try and talk anyone into a particular brand because we all have our opinions but I've been very happy with mine and I've owned it longer than any other steel I've had...I guess that says something!

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 3 Jan 2021 5:10 pm

I live pretty close to the Derby operation. I got to know Charlie somewhere in the early 90s.

I have a newspaper article that I can't put my hands on presently that has an interview with Charlie and tells his start up date etc. I'll look around more.

As I recall, he started building Derby guitars somewhere around 89, 90.

He built an average of about 25 guitars a year. Just over 500 up until his passing in 2009. A local craftsman built the bodies until his death at which time another gentleman built them, and he had help from 2 or 3 others at times in his shop. The cabinets are constructed from hard rock mample.

There are at least 3 logo/decals. Derby hat and cane badge, script crown, and big D decals.

Charlie did all the assembly and set up himself. He built the changers and several other parts in his shop. Things like necks, keyheads, end plates etc. were done in a local machine shop.

You could walk into his showroom and sit a basic Emmons or Day setup, both SD10 or D10 at just about any time.

He would commonly have at least 10 guitars at the St. Louis convention every year. I know for a fact because I helped him set them up a couple years and spent a lot of time in his display room at the St. Louis shows.

At the height of his business, his guitars could be seen and heard live and on recordings all over the world by many professional players with the Nashville elite entertainers.

E66 was the choice for pickups. Derbys are known for their crisp clear tone.

I played #72 for a few years. The harder I leaned on it, the better it got. It had a character like no other guitar I ever owned out of 14 or 15 different guitars over the years.

Many of the mechanicals are stainless steel. The bell cranks are H style with a brass barrel/set screw so it can use straight pull rods. This makes adjustment easier and pull rods do not have to be exact length.

They are relatively simple to work on as pedal steels go.

There are tunable splits on all strings.

Here's a shot of the man next to his new shop in Brooks Ky.

Jerry Van Hoose wrote: I'm at a loss for words. My thoughts and prayers are with Margit, their children and grandchildren.

Jeremy Moyers · Post by **Jeremy Moyers** » 3 Jan 2021 5:57 pm

I played a Derby for a long time back when I toured with Lonestar. Tommy White, Robby Flint with Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn’s steel player Troy Klontz got me hooked on them. Mr. Charley was a great man and his guitars were great! I really really liked it a lot! Wish I still had it....

Here’s a picture of my much younger self playing my Derby.

Jerry Van Hoose · Post by **Jerry Van Hoose** » 3 Jan 2021 7:45 pm

Oh my, thank you Jerry O. from the bottom of my heart. Although my memory is fading, I remember taking that picture of Charlie during his block party. I have the original 8x10, framed and hanging on the wall at my home in The Great Smoky Mountains in TN. His guitar was black mica, front & back with a red top, Day set up of course. I hand delivered the very first of many Derby Steels to Billy & Wanda Cooper before Charlie eventually chose UPS as his means of delivery to them. Charlie & I attended so many shows together, I can still remember the fun times we had there as well as the many miles we traveled in his van. Here’s a picture me, Charlie & Margit, taken at Charlie’s family reunion of one of the many Derby’s that he built for me. May Charlie Rest In Peace.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 3 Jan 2021 8:24 pm

Thanks Jerry. I know that you traveled to the Texas shows and many others with Charlie besides the things you already mentioned.

I didn't name you because I didn't think it was my place, but thank you for coming in.

Feel free to correct any errors in my entry as I only got to know Charlie later than you.

I never got to attend any of the block parties, matter of fact I had forgotten about them.

I know you were great friends with Charlie and Margit and your photo with them there is pretty special.

Jerry Van Hoose · Post by **Jerry Van Hoose** » 3 Jan 2021 8:51 pm

Jerry, you’re very welcome. It wasn’t until I noticed the caption that I had written years ago above the picture that I began to recollect those things. I couldn’t hardly bear the loss of Carl, let alone Charlie too. Unfortunately, I didn’t deal very well at all with their deaths.

Scott Hiestand · Post by **Scott Hiestand** » 4 Jan 2021 6:01 am

These are great photos, and some nice background info. on Derby's and Charlie.

I never met Charlie although I spoke with him on the phone once or twice, he was always very nice to me. Basically I was (am) a steel "nobody" so I appreciated that. I bought my Derby new in 2008 (#390) just a year or so before he passed. It was from a music shop up in ME (now defunct, I believe) so at that point he must have been distributing them to a few places.

In any case it has served me well, both for personal pleasure, live performances and one album the band I was in made back in 2013. I doubt I'll ever sell it.

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 4 Jan 2021 7:52 am

FWIW, I heard Buddy Emmons was a consultant on the design

Graham Bland · Post by **Graham Bland** » 4 Jan 2021 8:09 am

If you want to hear first hand how a Derby steel guitar really sounds there is a video of Buddy Emmons playing one at the International Steel Guitar Convention on You Tube from 1997....You be the judge!!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3pxAEdKbcE

Richard Alderson · Post by **Richard Alderson** » 4 Jan 2021 5:54 pm

I got this one when it was an 8 month old baby; I used to just stare at it sometimes and couldn't take my eyes off it. One of the last guitars or the last guitar assembled by Mr. Stepp and had to be finished by Bob C.
Update
Dan Galysh was the original owner and he says it was the last Derby ever built, and that Bob Calloway put it all together.

Leo Grassl · Post by **Leo Grassl** » 5 Jan 2021 12:22 pm

I had a killer Derby D-10. I never ever should have sold it. It sounded better than most of the many guitars I’ve owned. It was a lot like the Legrande 2 I have now. I’ve played others. Some sounded great and some sounded not as good but that goes for every guitar company in history IMO. The one I had was special. Lynn Owesly has a rosewood mica D-10 and it’s also exceptionally good sounding.

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 5 Jan 2021 2:16 pm

Hey Larry, I wanted that axe when it came up on the forum. That's a great looking guitar.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 5 Jan 2021 5:22 pm

Thanks James. I plugged into my old 74 Fender Twin Reverb today and the magic came pouring out of the speakers. This Derby has tone to the bone.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 5 Jan 2021 6:19 pm

I haven't found the news article yet. Still looking.

That teal color is nice. When I bought mine, I was considering that color or a red lacquer one he had in stock. I chose the one below because it had more cabbage underneath and I wouldn't have to add levers.

Here's a shot of #72 that I bought from Charlie somewhere in the middle 90s. Charlie told me it was Terry Crisp's studio axe that he traded in for a new one. It was loaded up with 10 & 10, but I had Charlie take it down to 8 & 8. It is black with woodgrain top. It had 5/8 in. pedals on it which I had Charlie swap out for the 7/8 size later.

I played it for a few years then sold it to Boogie Sherrard later on to match up with his #27 which was nearly identical to it. He played both of them up until his health failed and he ultimately passed.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 6 Jan 2021 11:31 pm

I remember in the 90s, early 2000s, there were a lot of Derby steels on tour with recording artists-in Alan Jackson's band, The Strayhorns, Robbie Flint played his Derby D-10 until Rusty Danmyer joined Alan's band in 2016, Gary Carter(now with Connie Smith) played a Derby steel with Faith Hill, Monte Good had played a left handed Derby with John Michael Montgomery, Jim Vest, the man who had played on Vern Gosdin's "Set 'Em Up Joe", played for two different artists-one was a man who wrote hit songs for Tracy Lawrence named Elbert West, and the other is a lady from Texas, who was signed to Asylum Records in the late nineties into the early 2000s named Chalee Tennison-Jim played his Derby with Elbert and Chalee, Tommy White had played a blue Derby on the Opry for a few years. Terry Crisp played a Derby with Reba and he was also seen in Linda Davis's video, "Love Didn't Do It", playing his Derby D-10. I think the first time I saw Robbie Flint playing a Derby was in 1996, when Alan released his video of the song "Little Bitty", then the Derby Robbie played was featured in a few more videos with Alan. Troy Klontz's Derby was seen on the 2001 CMA Awards with Brooks & Dunn and on tour with Brooks & Dunn until November of '05 when Troy left Brooks & Dunn's road band and Gary Morse came to their band. Robbie and Troy Klontz both played their Derby guitars at the CMA Awards-in '01, Troy played his Derby when Brooks & Dunn opened the show with their song "Only In America" and Robbie played his Derby with Alan on "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning". In '02, Robbie and Troy were at the CMA Awards again-Robbie played his Derby when Alan sang "That'd Be Alright" and Troy played his Derby with Brooks & Dunn and Kim Richey when they sang "Every River Runs Dry". On Faith Hill's third record, where it talks about equipment the band uses, Derby Steel Guitars is listed

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 7 Jan 2021 8:00 am

I wish I had the extra pedals to explore some additional changes. My search for parts has come up dry.

Jerry Van Hoose · Post by **Jerry Van Hoose** » 7 Jan 2021 12:09 pm

Jerry O, My wife, Tammy told me the newspaper article you mentioned regarding Charlie and Derby Steel was written in 1992. It was well written and included color photos. I have it in its entirety but she said it was at our home in TN.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 7 Jan 2021 12:22 pm

Thanks JVH. I have it here somewhere, I just can't find it. I remember saving it when the CJ published it and have come across it a few times in the past. I'm not very organized anymore. I guess I'll eventually dig it out though.

The Steel Guitar Forum