Who's played Steel w: Pee Wee King ?

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 6 Mar 2003 6:46 pm

I forgot to tell you guys that Jody lies a lot.

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 6 Mar 2003 8:22 pm

Yeah Right..next thing you'll tell us that
you designed a guitar for Leo..lets see you deny that one.

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 7 Mar 2003 10:12 am

Jody: Like George Washington said, "I cannot tell a lie!" Fender Marketing found a large storage room filled with rough cut bodies for various solid-body guitars. They had been overlooked when the inventory was done at the time CBS bought Leo out. Marketing asked me to design a less expensive guitar short-scale guitar that could be cut out of the various body blanks, so the bodies could be salvaged. I designed the "Bronco" and Leo approved everything about it except the name. He said, "A Bronco is just a fancy name for a donkey. Why did you name it that?" I couldn't give him a good answer, except that I thought it was about as good a name as "Mustang." The name stuck and several thousand of them were manufactured.
(Jody, If you were not so old you would probably remember the Bronco. . . . Oh, I almost forgot: It's me that is old; it's you that is ugly.)

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 7 Mar 2003 5:46 pm

Of course I remember the "Bronco" guitar..nice guitar and priced for the low end market. My sample was Fiesta Red and had
a tremolo ...Retail list was $149.50 and the case $35.00. This was app 1967 to 1968,and the Bronco guitar was Fenders entry into a market that was being saturated by Hagstrom guitars as well as those "ZimGar" horror's.

Hagstrom was digging into Fenders low priced market. The Duo Sonic was a three quarter size guitar and retailed at $164.50 case $35.00 and had dual pickups, The next one and least expensive was the MusicMaster guitar which retailed at $134.50 case $35.00

Both the Musicmaster and Duo Sonic were available with standard or 3/4 size necks.

The Bronco was available with standard neck and by far was one of my biggest sellers.

You may or many not know this,but each salesman was assigned a quota for his territory. I was assigned to sell $475.000 per month of Fender merchandise not including
Rogers Drums or Rhodes Pianos. Quite a high
quota,but I did it and more. I didnt win salesman of the year award for picking my nose. And that was for a period of Five (5)
years. Bragging???you bet and dammed proud of it.

It was the salesman that did the job for Fender NOT the suits on the inside.
Did you know Don Randall?? Stan Compton? Jim Williams? Roger Rossmeisel??

FYI I sold more Bronco's than anyone in the USA. I never knew it was Roy Ayers who gave
the Bronco the start.

I had heard it was some Donkey that designed it and when I asked Paul Spranger he replied
that some Horses $ss had the idea.

Leo had a thing about Mustangs,Broncos, and Automobile names,,,such as the Sabre guitar at MusicMan and the Stingray guitar and Bass
taken from the Thunderbird auto models.His next and last guitar was going to be named
The Impala. Do you remember the "Marauder"?
The pickups (two) were under the pickguard and it looked weird,,but like everything else
Leo did,it sounded great but the strange appearance shot that down.

They should have given you a plaque for the Bronco as it earned me the reputation as being another "Horses $ass", that makes two of us.

All things said,those were great days CBS or not. It still had the Fender name and thats why it is still the best. I hope this convinces you that I am younger than you think I am ...and what difference does that make anyway..remember my friend.

We Dont Stop Playing Because We Get Old
We Get Old Because We Stop Playing.

Now go mount your Bronco and ride down the
Navajo Trail

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 07 March 2003 at 09:03 PM.]</p></FONT>

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 7 Mar 2003 6:10 pm

Hey Jody, didn't Roger Rossmeisel design a couple of arctop Jazz guitars for Fender?

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 7 Mar 2003 9:02 pm

Andy
Yes he did,they were the "Coronado" guitars
in the "wildwood" finish..great looking. What
hurt the sales of the Coronado was the pickups, they looked cheap,chrome covered,Roger also designed the "Kingman acoustic guitar line,,Malibu,Shenandoah, Palomino,Newporter,Antigua,Newporter,Redondo,
Villager, Concert. Roger came from Germany and his first job was with Rickenbacker,he

then came over to Fender and once again the
mighty arm of CBS stepped in.

Roger passed away a number of years ago at the age
of 51. He had returned to Germany.Roger and myself had Attila Zoller a great jazz guitarist endorsing his semi acoustic guitars
in addition to "Toots Thielman" the well known harmonica jazz player.The Kingman was a great guitar,its only drawback was a pipe
going through the body into the heel of the neck. It didnt catch on but was a great idea.

We had a difficult time trying to convince dealers and customers that this feature was two fold,first off it gave the guitar rigidity and secondly a pickup could be attached to the "pipe" (rod) and the resonance was great.The guitar had a mellow sound and it cut very good as well. We had Tex Ritter endorsing it for us and I had Elton Britt useing one as well..They were starting to sell but again the "suits" made their presence known.

Roger was overlooked and underestimated he gave his all for Fender and CBS did him in.

But once more the "suits came in" and they fluffed it off as they did with the PS 210
Gene Fields steel guitar.

You are aware of how the wildwood guitars came to be?? I can tell that story and its interesting.but would tale up additional space here and I dont want the locks to be put on me.

A better description was that the rod was a tube type metal and that resonated.It was a great guitar for the depth and tone,but also it cut through
for rhythm as well..gotta go here comes the
Sheriff...are you not glad you asked?

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 8 Mar 2003 5:58 am

Jody:

We have drifted off of the topic started by CrowBear, but you are right about the chrome pickups on the Coronodo series. One of the problems was that you could not get a sharp tone with a lot of highs out of them. Dick Evans set up a test system using a B&K analyzer, and I ran hours and hours of experiments on the pickups. As you no-doubt know, a shorted turn in the pickup winding will knock out some of the highs. Well, I found through the emperical experiment that the chrome case, which completely surrounded the pickup, acted as approximately 20 shorted turns. Thus, the pickup would not allow any highs to come through. I required the vendor to start putting a saw cut through one side of the case, which eliminated the shorted-turn effect and improved the response of the pickup. It still didn't help a lot though, because the Coronado had already established its reputation. The pickups just were not Fender pickups.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 8 Mar 2003 7:38 am

good to see this thread goin' on as it is

Maybe as this Forum moves onward, Jody's got even more to add to his book and that's what's holdin' back it's publishing ?

When it hits the market, i know a bunch of Folks that are gonna Scramble
Will b0b be the first on the block to have em'??

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 8 Mar 2003 8:58 am

The design of the guitar was not intended to have the traditional Fender sound. Roger was
looking for the "semi electric" sound as Gibson,D'Angelico and Gretsch. The Coronado Wildwood these days are going for big bucks
in spite of the lack of the Fender sound.

The sound had nothing to do with the lack of sales,,it had no eye appeal with those pickups and people called them KMart guitars.

DeArmond sound,,Gibson flat jazz sound and the sound of guitars such as those were what
Roger was seeking.The high bite sound was not
what Roger was looking for,,we were looking for the Gibson Market,we had the solid body
market why have a semi acoustic sound like a solid body when you can have a solid body guitar? in any Strat Tele etc.

You see,the pulse of the public came from the field and not from the factory. The pulse was weak and the Wildwood was no more.

Many people buy with their eyes as well as their ears...OK so its back to TOPIC..Im outta here.

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 8 Mar 2003 9:40 am

Roy
Since I took this thread off topic,,one more
question for you.

Did you play a role in the development of the
Scorpio Solid State Series of Fender amps?

I know Paul Spranger played a major role,was
Dick Evans and yourself invloved in this project?. And if so, who was it that decided
to bring the Solid State amps into being?. I
know for certain it wasn't Leo or Don,do you know who presented this and why??

Don resigned from CBS in 1969.Leo left after the takeover,but according to CBS propaganda
"Leo was Close By Overseeing Fender as a consultant"

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 8 Mar 2003 11:11 am

OK, Old Double-Ugly Carver, I'll go along with just this one more off-topic post.

Paul Spranger was the impetus behind the solid-state amps. Dick supervised the young
engineer who did most of the design (I don't recall his name) but Dick had very little to do with actually pushing the idea. I recall that the young engineer built up the first Fender amp using an integrated circuit, which was a tiny element that may have added a half pound to the weight of the case. My old-school reaction was, "Damned thing can't be that good; it ain't heavy enough."

When I went on board, CBS had just taken over and Leo had signed a 2-year contract to stay on as a consultant. If fact, Leo was just in the process of getting his lab set up a block away from the Fender lab.

These facts are the best I can remember. Correct me if I'm off base in any way.
=============================================
By the way, you guys, Jody recently told me how great that Viagra is. I said "That sounds like great stuff. Can you get it over the counter?" Jody answered, "I can if I take two of them."

R. L. Jones · Post by **R. L. Jones** » 8 Mar 2003 8:58 pm

To Ray Montee . I cant really be sure of my story on the Tennessee Waltz, I read that story off an album cover. It has been a long time, but i think some of the other posts may have cleared up the thinking on the writing of yhe song.

I`ve enjoyed all the stories . Thanks

R. L. Jones

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 10 Mar 2003 10:58 am

CrowBear:

Thanks for starting this thread. It gave me a chance to boast about my years with Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys – and a chance to bug Jody Carver a little. I love that guy, even if he is uglier than me.

I’m no real authority on all of the steelers who played steel with Pee Wee over his many, many years in the business, but I can speak rather authoritatively about the years between 1946 and the point where Pee Wee dissolved the full-time band in the mid ‘60’s. He finally determined that his other enterprises such as his Ridgeway Publishing, his Pee Wee King Record Shop in Louisville, his package liquor store in Louisville, and other investments were carrying the financial weight of the band. He had reached the point where his music and records were no longer a viable business with regard to income, so he disbanded the Cowboys. Of course, Redd Stewart stayed with Pee Wee through the years until Pee Wee’s death. Pee Wee continued to book occasional big venues using a pick-up band – either musicians out of the Louisville vicinity or from the town where he was booked. By the time he totally retired I had spent 10 years in California and had been in the Dallas area for a few years. Sometime in the early 1970’s Pee Wee called me in Dallas to act as his local agent for the grand opening of the large, new “Town East” mall in Dallas. I coordinated the deal with the mall’s management, rented and set up a sound system, and hired a good 4-piece local band to play the gig. Pee Wee carried band uniforms with him, in which the local band was dressed, and he presented the band as the “Golden West Cowboys.” Redd and the Collins Sisters (one of which Redd was married to) did the show to a crowd of several thousand in the center of the mall. I am certain that most of the steel men reported above to have played with Pee Wee did exactly that, especially during the years following my tenure with the band.

Pee Wee King gave me my first truly professional job with a nationally known band and, therefore, kept my career from being one of local nightclubs and private parties. There was no way my playing could come up to that of greats like Don Davis (who preceeded me) and Bob Koefer (who followed me) but Pee Wee complimented me many times for my loyalty and my willingness to play the way he wanted me to play. Perhaps, if I were asked to give advice to young musicians now-a-days, that would be my best advice: Play the way your leader asks you to play: if he says “Play chords” then stay away from single-string rides; if he says “Stick to the melody then hold off on hot licks. And dedicate your full loyalty to the man who signs your paycheck. If you can’t do that and if you don’t look forward to every gig he uses you on – then look for another job where you and he can both be happier.

Thanks, again, Crowbear.

Roy Ayres

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 10 Mar 2003 1:14 pm

Well i thank You Roy !

i started this thread cause of 2 young French amateur musicians i met not too long ago.
Now every time they come and visit they bring me some Cds.
Just how many youngsters do you know nowadays that are gonna bring you some Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant,Pee Wee King,Al Casey, Spade Cooley and Bob Wills to listen to ?
Roy, them youngsters were a might surprised when i showed them this thread.
it's a small world ain'it ?
well it's even better here on the Fo'...rum
Hey Jody you want Locks or you got somethin' else ya'wanna say ?