Here is the "SS HAWAIIAN" as promised

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 30 May 2000 5:04 pm

Well here are some pics of my new toy. My partner Archie Cox and I designed this steel after the Fender Deluxe-8; but this one is 10-string and several other differences. David Parker machined all the metal out of Pure Brass and bridge and nut out of Stainless Steel, on his CNC milling machine. Jason Lollar made the two pick-ups with blend control and wound them perfectly for a awsome sound and responce. The fret board is stainless steel and silkscreened background and colored palm trees for fret markings. This wood is Australian Silky Oak(the wood that almost killed me

; and three leg inserts and telescopic legs stands this baby up.
I hope ya'll enjoy the pics and it was a very long process and very very expensive to build this Hawaiian Steel.
Ricky

Thanks to Jon Light and b0b Lee for helping me post these pics; your entrance at our show in NYC is on me pal.

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 03 June 2000 at 12:42 PM.]</p></FONT>

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 30 May 2000 5:07 pm

<H2>Beautiful!</H2>
Congratulations! You must be very proud.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

John Hanusch · Post by **John Hanusch** » 30 May 2000 6:10 pm

Hey, Ricky, Congrats to you & the gang for sure. That guitar is stunningly awesome. A masterpiece of art. That wood is georgeous (tell us a lttle more about it, if you get a chance).

Mike Black · Post by **Mike Black** » 30 May 2000 11:06 pm

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 31 May 2000 4:11 am

Wow!! Congratulations to you and everyone who helped bring this beautiful guitar to fruition. Hope to see/hear it some day.
Enjoy!

Dana Duplan · Post by **Dana Duplan** » 31 May 2000 6:08 am

Great job Ricky. It's nice to see a guitar built with the very finest materials and with the utmost care. I can hear it now....
DD

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 31 May 2000 6:22 am

Ricky,

Time to go into business. I'm sure you would have no trouble selling these instruments.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 31 May 2000 6:58 am

Congratulations Ricky. That is one gorgeous guitar. I dig the gold hardware, it's not something you see every day on a steel.

-Bill

PS Please repost your tuning for this beauty.

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 31 May 2000 8:51 am

What tuning are you going to use on this beautiful steel?
All the best,-Andy

Bob Kagy · Post by **Bob Kagy** » 31 May 2000 10:02 am

Man that is beautiful! The photos are excellent. Many thanks for posting them Ricky, Jon.

So here we go with another severe case of guitar envy

Joe E · Post by **Joe E** » 31 May 2000 11:47 am

Nice job Ricky, Bet it sounds great through the old Fenders!

Tell us more about the wood. I would have guessed maple from the pic's.

Any future thoughts on availability of the SS Hawian?

Joe

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 31 May 2000 12:43 pm

Woouuwee! man that's purty. Do ya ever find yourself just staring at it instead of playing it?

Was the engraving done on the CNC too?

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 31 May 2000 1:14 pm

I'm using this particular tuning for my new 10-strings SS HAWAIIAN steel guitar. I keep the same string guages and retune between the two different tunings as the gig style requires. This steel is a perfect 24" scale and any other scale length would be subject to a guage or two up or down per tone.
For the 10-string:
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
C6th D6/9 Guage
1) G down 1/2> F# .012p
2) E down whole> D .014p
3) C down 1/2> B .017p
4) A stay same> A .020p
5) G down 1/2> F# .026w
6) E stay same E .030w
7) C up whole> D .036w

Bb up whole> C .038w
9) A stay same> A .042w
10 F up 1/2> F# .054w
</pre></font>
As you can see the C6th tuning has the best of both worlds with the flat7th and sixth tone near the bottom. The D tuning has the 6th tone and 9th tone and flat7th tone in the tuning with the low 3rd and 5th tone at very bottom which is waaaaay cool.
I have experimented with different guages to fight between moving a tone up or down and what it does in it's playability; but I had no problem on this scale length with the guages above and it's my preference of feel anyways. One can use a gauge or two heavier on most of the strings but I wouldn't suggest any lighter.

Wow thanks guys, those compliments mean alot to Me and Archie Cox and David Parker.
Yes the engraving was done on the CNC machine. David Parker is a genious programmer and machinist and he can do it all.
We are working on a production of them and will be announced on the new website; "Mighty Fine Music".com; soon to come. There will be an explaination of all process and possibilities for a custom built SS HAWAIIAN for those who are wanting one.
My guitar is made out of Australian Silky Oak, that I got when I was down under last. It is very hard to come by. The beauty of this steel is the consumer can find or pick out what ever wood they want it made out of and cut it to size and send it to me and we go from there.
There is more info on this steel over on Bar Chatter where I also posted the pics(trying to convert some pedal players to our side

)
Ya'll are too kind and I am flattered.
Ricky

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Ricky Davis
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com

Mike Tatro · Post by **Mike Tatro** » 31 May 2000 2:13 pm

Awesome.

Hey, anyone seen John Tipka recently? I thought he'd be all over this. 'Hope all is well with you and yours JT.

Cliff Swanson · Post by **Cliff Swanson** » 31 May 2000 6:37 pm

Beauty Ricky! Way to go man.

cat

Will Houston · Post by **Will Houston** » 1 Jun 2000 1:09 pm

looks like your showing off a big lunker you just caught. man what a beauty, i'd love to hear that thang. nice goin. will

Rich Young · Post by **Rich Young** » 1 Jun 2000 8:47 pm

Glad to see ya got it finished. Can't wait to hear you playing it! Looks great and I can see where the extra low strings would come in handy on chords.
See ya soon.

Mark Davis · Post by **Mark Davis** » 2 Jun 2000 10:10 pm

WOW Ricky my bro you outdid yourself on this one!!!!!

Excellent!!!

Where did you get those custom tuners made?? Way cool!!

Wanna trade for my 39 Ric Silver Hawaiian? LOL

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 2 Jun 2000 11:52 pm

Hey Brother Davis; thanks my friend that means alot coming from you. Those tuners are Kluson; just like the ones Fenders put in and I got them from "All Parts".Gold plated.
Hey folks; sorry if your not getting those pictures up there; were working on it.
Ricky

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 3 Jun 2000 11:44 am

Ok got'em back up for a little while longer for all to enjoy. Soon to come is a website and more explaination of this steel.
Ricky

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Ricky Davis
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com

John Borchard · Post by **John Borchard** » 7 Jun 2000 1:23 pm

Ricky, HOLY-MOLY! What a drool-fest! That is one fabulous looking instrument! I'll never look at my Deluxe the same way again.

John Borchard

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 8 Jun 2000 2:30 am

Hey John thanks pal. I know what ya mean. I probably have the best sounding a playing Deluxe-8 there is; and I have'nt even took it back out of the case since I got this SS HAWAIIAN steel guitar ready. I'm loving it more and more everyday and I hate looking around my room and seeing my Triple in the case and my Deluxe in the case; but I'm on a roll with this and can't imagine playing a gig without my new steel yet.
Have fun.
Ricky

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Ricky Davis
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com

David Biagini · Post by **David Biagini** » 12 Jun 2000 9:59 pm

Hey Ricky, does the SS Hawaiian have legs or is it truly a lap steel? Awesome piece of work!

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 12 Jun 2000 10:16 pm

Hey David it does have three legs that screw into the inserts that are inset underneath; just like the Fender Deluxe.
Thanks for the nice words pal.
Ricky

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Ricky Davis
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com