Zane Beck

Zane Beverly Beck (1927–1985) was an American steel guitarist and builder of pedal steel guitars.[1] He is best known for his 1952 innovation of adding knee levers to the pedal steel guitar to alter the pitch of certain strings,[2]: 2  a feature which has become a standard on all modern-day instruments.[3]: 115 [1] Other inventors had patented crude knee-operated devices as far back as 1933, but none were successful. Beck revolutionized the concept into a durable and reliable mechanism and was the first to put knee levers on production guitars. He became a member of the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1991).[4] As a musician, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry and Shreveport's Louisiana Hayride. Beck formed the ZB Music Company which manufactures steel guitars, later called BMI (Beck Musical Instruments).

Zane Beck
Birth nameZane Beverly Beck
Born(1927-12-24)December 24, 1927
Clarksville, Arkansas, U.S.
DiedMay 26, 1985(1985-05-26) (aged 57)
Little Rock, Arkansas
GenresCountry
Occupation(s)Musician, steel guitar manufacturer
Instrument(s)Pedal Steel Guitar
Years active1947–1975

Early history

Beck was born in northwest Arkansas, near Clarksville, in 1927. He became proficient in playing the steel guitar and became a staff musician on the Louisiana Hayride, a country music show broadcast from Shreveport.[5] He was a frequent musical guest on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.[5] He became interested in the mechanics of steel guitars by (to use his words) "just fooling with them"[5] and used his knowledge as a guitarist to address the instrument's limitations. In the late 1940s, he began repairing and modifying steel guitars for friends. About 1950, he was hired by Buddy Emmons and Shot Jackson to work in manufacturing of steel guitars for their company called Sho-Bud.[6]: 92  Beck left Sho–Bud to form his own company, ZB Music Company.[6]: 92 

Innovation
For a more detailed explanation, see Steel guitar.
Pedal steel guitar. The pedals are at floor level; the knee levers are seen pointing downward just under the body of the instrument.

Pedals were first added to a lap steel guitar as far back as 1941 to make more notes and chords available to the player;[7]: 242  thereafter, the pedal instrument became known as pedal steel to differentiate it from lap steel. The pedal instrument is a console steel played while seated. The foot pedals independently raise the pitch of certain strings on the instrument by a mechanical linkage to increase string tension. Beck extended the pedal concept by recruiting the player's knees to control a separate mechanism to lower[8] the pitch of certain strings in addition those controlled by pedals.[9] The levers are located unobtrusively underneath the body of the guitar, protruding downward on each side of each of the player's knees (see photo).[10] The invention essentially doubled the performer's available options for chords by using his knees to participate in controlling the instrument in addition to both hands and both feet. The knee levers work independently of the foot pedals. Each knee can move medially or laterally to move the four levers;[lower-alpha 1] the player learns to lean his knee against a lever and, if needed, push a pedal with his foot at the same time.

Tom Bradshaw, author and music industry veteran, said some form of knee levers may have existed in the 1930s, remembering a Hawaiian guitar with "crude" knee levers stamped "patent pending".[11] The device was the "Harmolin" invented by Arthur R. Harmon and patented in 1933[12] but it was not successful and the patent expired in 1950. Beck's Steel Guitar Hall of Fame plaque reads, "He pioneered the use of knee levers, and was the first to install them on production guitars".[4] For the story of how he came upon the idea, Beck said there was a musical job he wanted but the bandleader, Paul Howard, wanted a lap steel player and did not want a pedal steel guitar in his band. Beck wanted the job, so he designed a hidden pedal he could operate with his knee without being noticed.[5][11]

Commercial production

In the 1940s and 1950s several companies contributed to the practical evolution of the steel guitar, including Epiphone, the Harlin Brothers,[13] Fender, Paul Bigsby, Sho-Bud as well as Zane Beck.[14]: 837  Beck's first commercial installation of knee levers was in 1952 on the guitar of Kansas city guitarist Ray Noren.[3]: 115  One year later, he added four levers to guitarist Jimmy Day's non-pedal guitar.[3]: 115  Day was a well-known steel guitarist who had backed Hank Williams and Elvis Presley and had played on Ray Price's classic hit, "Crazy Arms".[15] Each lever lowered one of four individual strings on Day's guitar by a semitone.[3]: 115  Day's endorsement was a valuable asset for Beck's reputation. In the 1960s Beck sold the manufacturing rights to his first pedal steel model, the ZK, to Tom Brumley who took over the ZB Music company.[5]

Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead played one of Beck's guitars.[6]: 92  It was a custom-model D10 with ten strings on each neck, C6 and E9 tunings, eight pedals and two knee levers. The pedals raised the pitch of certain strings on that instrument while the knee levers lowered the pitch.[6]: 93  Beck was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1991.[16]

Notes
  1. Later models added additional levers actuated by raising the knee upward under the guitar as well as side-to-side.[10]

References
  1. Sowa, Tom (July 3, 1983). "Steel Pickin' After All These Years". No. 101:46. Spokesman–Review (Spokane, Washington). p. E–10. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  2. Ross, Michael (February 17, 2015). "Pedal to the Metal: A Short History of the Pedal Steel Guitar". Premier Guitar Magazine. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  3. Winston, Winnie; Keith, Bill (1975). Pedal steel guitar. New York: Oak Publications. ISBN 978-0-8256-0169-9.
  4. "The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame / Inductees". scottysmusic.com. The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  5. Cox, Dorothy (December 16, 1984). "Musician Builds Pedal Steels for the World". Arkansas Gazette. p. 1–C. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  6. Jackson, Blair (2006). Grateful Dead gear : the band's instruments, sound systems, and recording sessions from 1965 to 1995. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 9780879308933. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  7. Cundell, R. Guy S. (July 1, 2019). "Across the South: The origins and development of the steel guitar in western swing" (PDF). b0b.com. Adelaide, Australia: University of Adelaide. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  8. Jarnow, Jesse (January 7, 2020). "The Endless Potential Of The Pedal Steel Guitar, An Odd Duck By Any Measure". NPR. National Public Radio. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  9. Borisoff, Jason. "How Pedal Steel Guitar Works". makingmusicmag.com. Making Music Magazine. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  10. Fabian, John. "What's this part?: Knee Levers". steelguitar.com. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  11. Bradshaw, Tom (January 6, 2009). "Evolution of Pedals and Knee Levers". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  12. Harmon, Arthur R. "Musical Instrument". patents.google.com. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  13. Defanian, Christie (March 13, 2019). "Music professor traces early pioneers of pedal steel guitar". sdstate.edu. South Dakota State University. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  14. Martin, Andrew R; Mihalka, Matthew (2020). Music around the world : a global encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CIO. ISBN 9781610694988. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  15. Ankeny, Jason. "Jimmy Day Biography". allmusic.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  16. Scott, Dewitt (1992). Back-Up Pedal Steel Guitar. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-61911-598-9.

Beck Musical Instruments: https://beckmusicalinstruments.com
How to Use Knee Levers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jBVabxMFw

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