Hello fellow players, Well I see on the steel guitar forum the subject of steel guitar strings has come up again. It seems like this is happening again and again and again and people are missing the boat on quality of the wire it takes to make a good steel guitar string. A steel guitar string has to be much stronger than a regular guitar string. It has to have a stronger winding so the bar won�t flatten the windings. It has to have a certain kind of ball and be wound correctly on the end of the string. And then it comes down to the most important things of all. Tone and timbre. Of course, it�ll be nice also if the strings will not rust and corrode because of perspiration coming off your hands. I just saw where three or four players on the forum were using D�Addario string. There are about five brands of strings available that are truly not good. This is one of them. There are about four brands that I wouldn�t let near a steel guitar. These strings work fine for electric guitar and probably every other kind of Spanish guitar, but not steel guitar. If you want the steel guitar string to make your guitar sound big, rich, full and clear, I recommend Cobra Coil, George L, the new Jagwires and GHS premium. If you don�t use these high quality strings, you�re not going to get the sound that your steel guitar and amp are capable of. You�ve heard people say that all strings are the same, they just have a different name on the envelopes. This is no more true than it is if you say all brands of tires are the same for your car. Coopers are just as good as Michelin. No way. It�s like saying a McDonald�s burger is the same quality as steak and lobster from a fine dining restaurant. It just isn�t so that all strings are the same. Strings have improved greatly over the past twenty years. I mean some strings have. If you use a premium string, any breakage problems you may encounter will be gone, this problem will be a thing of the past. I hesitate to name the five bad strings so I won�t. Just be careful what you buy and buy them from a reputable steel guitar source. Don�t buy them from a guitar store that�s never sold a steel guitar in its existence. I know of many guitar stores that don�t even know what a steel guitar is. I just read the January-February issue of the Pedal Steel Newsletter number one of volume 37. I was very impressed to see the great players that were booked on the 37th Annual PSGA Steel Guitar Show. I�m positive this was a wonderful show and I probably did it good by staying away. However, next year I need to attend and terrorize as many good friends as I can. I can�t stand to see everybody have so much fun without me being there. And by the way, the newsletter that this club puts out is about as good as anything you can find in print about steel guitar anymore at all. You can sign up for this newsletter by writing to: The Pedal Steel Guitar Association Inc. P.O. Box 20248 Floral Park, NY 11002-0248 Our stock is growing well as it usually does this time of year. People are selling guitars that have been under the bed I would guess. This time of year after a hard winter, a lot of people�s bank accounts dwindle somewhat. The extra steel guitar in the house is like having money in the bank. You can always let one go to pump up your funds for a fun summer, which is just around the corner. I have one model of MSA that I like many times better than any of the rest of them. It�s the SS. This guitar is super small and light for a double ten, but maintains all the beauty of any other high quality steel guitar. They have birdseye maple bodies with birdseye maple necks. The fretboard is silk-screened on top of the neck so it will not hide any of the beautiful birdseye maple in the neck. One of the two guitars that I have is stained red see-through maple and looks brand new with the standard Buddy Emmons Nashville setup, 8 pedals and 4 knees. Then I have one natural blond with 9 pedals and 5 knees. Like I have done before, I will offer these guitars to our readers at a great savings. $2999 for the red one and $2499 for the 9 pedal blond one. These guitars are about the only collectible MSAs that I know of. Here�s a link to see the guitars. www.steelguitar.net/others.html Let me know if I can help. Overall this is a wonderful time to buy a steel guitar from Steel Guitar Nashville as we have many great guitars to choose from at very good prices. Being an Air Force veteran and having gone through some overseas skirmishes, I hope you realize that a soldier that has been exposed to mustard gas and pepper spray will come out very well seasoned. Check out our monthly specials at http://www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html We can save you a lot of money. Your buddy, Bobbe www.steelguitar.net sales@steelguitar.net www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour www.myspace.com/bobbeseymour Steel Guitar Nashville 123 Mid Town Court Hendersonville, TN. 37075 (615) 822-5555 Open 9AM � 4PM Monday � Friday Closed Saturday and Sunday