Gene Fields / Mr. Pathfinder Light Years Ahead Of His Time

Reprinted from Steel Guitar World Magazine Volume # 6, Issue # 36, December/January 1998. Used with permission.

*Please note that some of the steel guitar model and price information mentioned later in the article is outdated.

I was anticipating to have this done a few months back, about the same time the Pathfinder had landed on Mars. At that time, it seemed to be a fitting tie-in for this article because, Gene Fields has spent most of his years embellishing the steel guitar and we all benefit from his years of development and toil. I don't hesitate a bit when I say Gene is, "Light Years Ahead Of His Time". When you get a chance, reflect back a few issues for more information. We had two other features on Gene Fields in Volume No. 5 - Issue #27/28 page #9 and Volume No. 5 - Issue #29 on page #13. And I would like to say "Thanks Gene" for working with me to get this finished. I appreciate your time and effort, I know you're a busy man.

Russ Rask (Editor)

"My first pedal guitar was an 8 string Multi-chord. I bought it from Norm English in 1954. It was not set up to my tunings. I retuned it and started experimenting with the pedals to find something to fit my tuning. I soon learned about the problems with this instrument. The basic design was far ahead of its time, but had many problems as the parts were not made well, made mostly of castings and were too weak for the job to be done. I also learned very quickly, that when raising and lowering the same string, it would not return to pitch. The pedal cable pulled from the center. If two strings were pulled from one side, the set screw bar would bind. I set this guitar up with all pedals raising, no lowering, and balanced the pulls on each side of center and learned to live with it until 1956 when I built my first pedal guitar. The changer in this instrument was an all raise changer as I could not come up with a raise and lower design that was true."

"The first pedal guitar that would raise and lower accurately was the Fender 1000. As there were no tuners available at the time, this guitar seemed reasonably accurate. I saw the Fender 1000 at the KXLA studio where I was on a recording session. This instrument belonged to Speedy West. My first experience with the Fender 1000 was one that Al Petty brought to me for help with a double row of pedals, (heel & toe). After satisfying his need on the pedals, he expressed a desire for two position raise and lower. Together, we designed and made a second set of levers that attached to the bottom of the original set. The first stop had to be on the added lever, allowing the original lever to move under it to a second stop. It was not pretty but it worked. To the best of my knowledge this was the first two position raise and lower changer of its kind. The Multi-Chord and Gibson Electric Harp would raise and lower any number of times but they were very inaccurate."

"Al also complained about string breakage on the Fender 1000. This changer had two moving parts. It also required a bridge. The movement across the bridge was breaking the strings. I designed a changer system with no shaft, instead it used a knife edge plate in place of a shaft. The changer pawl had a "V" groove on the front side that rested on the knife edge plate. The top radius become the bridge. This provided a 7/8" diameter bridge which almost eliminated string breakage. A single string model was all I ever made. The knife edge plate and pawl became the heart of the Fender 2000 changer. All of these things were shown to Leo Fender by Al Petty, resulting in a position in Fender R&D in May 1961. I have been involved with pedal guitars and design ever since."

During Gene's 23 years at Fender, he was involved with the design of many instruments including the Mustang bass, the Music Master bass, the Marauder, the first solid state three speaker bass amp cabinet. He had control of the P.S. 210 keyless pedal guitar, the Starcaster guitar, a keyless bass and other prototypes that were never produced. Gene left Fender and joined Sierra in 1984 to build custom electric guitars and basses, only to find out he did not have enough money to promote the product in that field. Gene joined M.C.I Intertek as head of R&D on pedal guitars in July 1985, with complete freedom to redesign. Gene added the welded frame and butcher block body plus a new pedal board and pedal design. The changers and linkage were designed by Bud Carter and as Gene said, "I saw no need to change it."

After the Fred Gretch Co. bought EMCI, Gene started a guitar and steel guitar repair shop. In 1989 he started building an economy model pedal steel guitar. Gene says, "What made this model different from the student pedal guitar in the past was a maple body supported by an aluminum frame, a pro guitar pickup and the ability to have 3 pedals and 4 knee levers. The strength of this cabinet will match that of any pro guitar on the market. The leg sockets are a part of the end plate extrusion for greater stability. The changer is limited as any lowering must be done on knee levers moving to the right only. This is not a problem with a standard Nashville E9th tuning."

"The pickup on this "Econo" model is the same pickup we use in our "Pro Model". This was a Barcus Berry until two years ago when George "L" agreed to make a pickup to our specifications. We offer two versions, GFI 1 is standard while GFI 2 is heavier wound. Any George "L" pickup can be ordered at no extra cost. This applies to both our Econo and our Pro Models. A friend of mine (Coy Howard) owns a steel rule die company. He asked me several times to try die board in the pedal guitars. As it was a form of plywood I refused because my past experience with plywood had been negative. I finally built two pedal guitars, identical except one was solid maple and the other was 5/8" "all maple die board." DeWitt Scott "Scotty" was here when we tested them. We were both pleasantly surprised to find the die board superior to the solid maple. The tones were similar except with the die board, the strings seemed to come alive. We have been using all maple die board ever since, both in our Econo and Pro Models."

"With the stability, the pro tone and minimum retuning, we have quite a few Pros playing our Econo pedal guitar simply because of the weight factor. "Scotty", Jeff Newman and Winnie Winston have all written articles stating that the tone of this guitar is comparable to the pro guitars."

"Die Board seems to be a dirty word to those that have no experience with it. There are different kinds of die board. The most economical is birch, similar to birch plywood but much higher quality. To me birch die board is a dirty word for our purpose. "All maple" die board is another story. Every ply is maple with absolutely no voids or patches. It is tough enough to drill and tap, and hard enough to have a resonance. When strumming the strings, more vibration is felt through out the instrument than with solid maple. The last sheet of all maple die board I bought cost $106, wholesale. The sheet size was only 4 ft. by 6 ft. If I did not think it was superior, I would not have paid this price for it".

"Blackie Taylor tried several times to get me to build a pro model. I told him I would as soon as the Econo model paid the way. I refused his loan offer as I did not want to gamble with his money. In 1992 he wrote me a letter stating that if I waited for the Econo model to support a Pro model, I would be too old to build it and he would be too old to play it. He offered to contribute to the project with no cash payback. Instead of money, I was to pay him back with pedal guitars, as he owns Blackie Taylor Music in Riverside California. He contributed at least $22,000 over the years, maybe more, with no contract signed and no interest demanded. I am thankful to have been able to pay this all back. I gave him three extra pedal guitars, all twelve strings, one with a 8 string fretted neck and a 12 string steel guitar neck. I also wish to thank him as the Pro Model probably would not have happened without him".

"The Pro Model is constructed with all maple die board bodies, supported by a welded 6061-T6 aluminum frame, consisting of four different extrusions. A 1/4" thick center strip extends from the top of the bodies, down through to the bottom and has "T" flanges on the underside to support both necks. This center strip extends from one end of the bodies to the other and anchors to the frame on each end. The bodies are anchored to the frame with stainless steel screws. All other screws in this instrument are also stainless steel. This body and frame combination provides about as much stability and strength as can be provided in a 40# package".

"All frames are sanded to a brush finish and coated with a gloss epoxy, baked on at 400 degrees, providing a lifetime finish with reasonable care, no more aluminum to polish. A wide variety of Mica type inlays are available. We do not offer lacquer finishes, but we have some wood grains, including figured maple, plain maple, rosewood, cherry wood and others. These Mica type inlays are much more durable than lacquer finishes and look like the real thing."

"The pedal board is extruded 6061-T6 aluminum with a 5/8" diameter three quarter circle down the middle. The three quarter circle provides a holder and pivot point for the pedal which is also extruded. The pedal is machined then Delron bearings are bolted to each side. This assembly slides into the three quarter circle providing a stable smooth pedal that is adjustable from side to side, no pedal brackets required. After epoxy coating, matching inlay is added to the pedal board."

"The changer has 3 raise and 2 lower positions. The strings are suspended 1" above the body instead of the normal 1.5". This provides even greater resistance to body bending. The playing clearance is normal, compared to other pedal guitars, while the aluminum neck is thinner. In order to lower the string profile, I had two choices, build the body thicker and give up leg room or drop the third raise position. I chose the later and have never yet failed to meet a pedal setup demand".

While at M.C.I. Intertek Gene built a double neck for A-B pickup testing only. He left the aluminum necks off as all he needed was the same environment for both pickups. Gene was surprised to find little difference in tone. With further experimenting, Gene found that removing a wood neck made a big difference while adding the aluminum made very little difference. The conclusion was the aluminum allowed the body to resonate while the wood neck dampened the resonance. Gene says, "You can feel the difference in vibration by strumming the strings and placing your hand on the flat surface of this body. The GFI neck is not connected to the bridge or nut and cannot have any effect on thermal expansion, (detuning from temperature change)."

"The changer and nut housings are extruded aluminum. After machining, black epoxy coating is applied and baked at 400 degrees. This provides an excellent bearing surface on the side walls of the housing. The return to pitch after raising and lowering is excellent, and no strings rattle has ever been detected at the nut."

"We make our own legs to standard height. Special height is available at no extra cost if specified with the original order. The legs are also extruded aluminum with a 3/16" wall thickness. 5/8" threaded studs are provided. The front leg is fixed length while the rear legs are adjustable to plus or minus _". This leg assembly provides greater stability at about 2/3 the weight of commercially available legs."

"We also make a keyless guitar. I find the keyless to be superior when referring to string breakage, pedal action, tuning accuracy, and many other points. However, this has been discussed extensively throughout the industry as well as on the internet. I will not argue those points except to say don't knock it until you try it. I will respond to the claim that keyless tuning destroys enhancing harmonics. There are 10 out of tune harmonics generated on any instrument with a conventional key head. These harmonics vary with different string gauges, different key head lengths, and different tunings. They also vary every time a pedal is pushed. There is no way for all of these varying out of tune harmonics to enhance, especially when relativity changes with every movement of the bar."

"The feature that sets our keyless tuning apart is two rows of 5/8" diameter turning knobs (no tools required for tuning), two different lever lengths mounted on separate shafts for matching leverage ratios, all nickel plated for greater durability and appearance. The bell crank is combined with a brass ferrule to provide a lock for the pull rod as well as excellent bearing surface. This bell crank also allows much more freedom when locating knee levers in tight places. All knee levers on the GFI are mounted on their own brackets with stop screws for both directions, built into the bracket. This new bell crank will also become a connector for pedal to cross rod, adding six leverage ratio choices to the knee levers. Don't be surprised to find this linkage system on the Pedalmaster pedal guitar as Roy Thomas and I worked together to develop it and will share it in the future."

"Only top quality materials are used. 19 different extrusions are used, 24 on the keyless. Our prices range from $775.00 for the Econo model with 2 pedals and 2 knee levers (or 3 and 1) to $3195.00 for a D-10 Pro Model with 8 pedals and 4 knee levers. We are mostly dealer-oriented, but we will offer some discount in areas where there are no dealers."

"We are adding an economy pro model to our line. This will be an S-10 with 3 pedals and 4 knee levers. This instrument will have the same precision mechanism and pickups as the pro model but without the aluminum neck. Instead, it will have a black acrylic riser under the fretboard. All frames will be gloss black epoxy-coated with either maple or deep red mica type inlay. The unit will have a list price of $1,695.00."

"Seven of my Fender years were with the string division, designing tooling, fixtures and machinery, as well as string design. I built my own machines and tooling for the guitar venture at Sierra. I have also designed and built several machines for Robin Guitars in Houston. This experience allows me to build instruments with quality second to none, in less man hours than most."

"I searched for and wide for a computer program that would design pedal guitars and I failed to find it. I had to design this one the hard way, with trial and error. This is no (Blah)!!!"