When was the steel guitar sitar bar first fabricated and used.

[robert kramer]

Does anyone know when or what year the steel guitar sitar bar first fabricated and used, and does anyone know who came up with the idea.

Here's a 1964 Buck side with a sitar sound recorded possibly before the actual steel guitar sitar bar was "invented" and before "Norwegian Wood" (December 1965) and "Paint It, Black," (March 1966).

"Understand Your Man" Buck Owens and The Buckaroos (July 8, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGjN89EEh2c

[Peter Freiberger]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VGAyhE-6A ... lvdXIgbWFu

[Earl Briggs]

Hey Robert ,I use one I bought from norris family music in mesquite tx 30 years ago,made by Dunlap still use it but I don't know if they make them anymore, you could check with the Dunlap company know they still make the regular bars if that helps....Earl Briggs.
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[Kenny Davis]

Pretty sure what was used on Doyle Holly's song wasn't a sitar style bar. More like a Chapstick tube or something plastic. Probably imitating a reso sound based on the style played. I got my Hughey sitar bar sometime around '74 or so. If I recall correctly, Doug Campbell (OKC) was friends with Conway's pilot who also was a machinist. I got mine through Doug.

[Gary Spaeth]

i remember first hearing them around 69 on waylon's version of delia's gone. at the same time joan baez made albums in nashville with hal rug with some sitar sounds on it.

[Gary Spaeth]

here's one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJfd1Ke ... VHT2LOz29U

[Gary Spaeth]

waylon album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_LRf5R ... Q&index=28

[Dave Grafe]

Great rabbit hole and worthy of a deep dive. I can't establish dates so far, but I do know that in early Sho-Bud days Shot Jackson made "big square bars" such as Mooney and others are seen using in several video clips. Mine is a standard Dunlop bullet with a milled flat stripe about 1/8" wide along its length, given me by Harley James many years ago. My understanding was that this is what Pete Drake used on Joe South's hit record "Games People Play" ensuring that every cover band steeler had to have one.

Addendum: I have since learned otherwise, see the conversation below.

[Clyde Mattocks]

I certainly don't claim to be the first with anything. I was playing with a duo in the mid fifties that did a lot of Johnnie & Jack songs and in an attempt to get a Shot Jackson dobro sound, I tried a lot of things, like a Vicks inhaler, medicine bottles and other household items. One of my tries was just a piece of 1/2" X 3/4" aluminum stock and I noticed it had a Sitar sound. I discarded it and went back to the inhaler.

[Bob Hoffnar]

………….. My understanding is that this is what Pete Drake used on Joe South's hit record "Games People Play" ensuring that every cover band steeler had to have one.

https://youtu.be/vDeVonv3kY0?si=hHuY7aHiqE0zhh-0

Dave , Are you sure about Pete Drake on that tune ? “Games people play “was used pretty heavily as a promotion for that danelectro coral sitar at the time.

[Dave Grafe]

………….. My understanding is that this is what Pete Drake used on Joe South's hit record "Games People Play" ensuring that every cover band steeler had to have one.

https://youtu.be/vDeVonv3kY0?si=hHuY7aHiqE0zhh-0

Dave , Are you sure about Pete Drake on that tune ? “Games people play “was used pretty heavily as a promotion for that danelectro coral sitar at the time.

I was told the Pete Drake story years ago and I never doubted it, and yesterday when I checked with Google's answer bot before posting it assured me that Pete played steel on that recording, but your comment prompted a deeper dive that suggests "Games" was an early multitrack experiment produced by Joe. His brother Tommy played drums, guitarist John Mulkey likely played bass, and Joe played everything else with Tommy South's wife Barbara joining on vocals. This version of events is borne out by the Danelectro demo video now on YouTube. Sorry to hijack the thread but happy to have learned something.

[Donny Hinson]

There was no pedal steel (and no Pete Drake) on Joe South's "Games People Play". That was Joe playing his electric sitar-guitar doing those iconic licks. The original version, recorded by Freddy Weller almost a year earlier, featured Red Rhodes on pedal steel.

As far as the sitar-bar which was used on pedal steel, I'd have to say it was first made in the late '60's. And though I never owned one, I got a similar sound years ago by using anything with a flat on it, and even cutting off a short piece of a guitar string, and "weaving it" over and under the strings near the changer. It's a novel sound, but grows old very quickly. The licks Brumley's doing in "Understand Your Man" sounds like he's playing with a pen or marker, which I've done often myself to get a banjo sound.