Palm Steel Guitar
 
I'm betting you never saw one of these before.  This guitar was made by Chuck King in 1993.  He made it entirely by hand, right down to the machine work for the levers.  It says Patent Pending, and I believe it.  The levers work great for the IV, V, and 1m chords in the E9 configuration.  The machines are adjustable (see picture #5) by set screws.  The Seymour Duncan pickup is one of the highlights, it's got a really nice warm sound through my Fender DeVille 212.  It's heavy and not super well balanced, but Chuck also made an L-shaped steel piece which mounts on the guitar so that you can play it standing up.  Note the belly-shaped curvature in the guitar's body.  It's a real pedal steel guitar, make no mistake... only the pedals are palm levers.  It's one of a kind, as far as I know.  Click on the little pictures to see the bigger pictures.  If anyone has information about this guitar, or wants more information, please feel free to email me, it's "jon -at- planetbanjo.com".   The guitar and I are near Boston Massachusetts.
 
  Here it is! The ubiquitous palm steel guitar. It's a real pedal steel, set up for E9, three levers for the IV, V, and 1m chords.  
  A close up of the levers, and the very wam sounding Seymour Duncan pickup.  
  I bought this directly from Chuck King in the early 90's, he made this creation entirely by hand. I mean machine work and all. Well, maybe not the tuners.  
  Model #1, Serial #1, Patent Pending. I don't know if Chuck ever got his patent. But if he ever gets famous, well then, this is where it started!  
  Chuck machined the levers by himself. They're adjustable with the set screws you see, but I've never had the nerve to change the tuning. I usually play C6, but this guitar is set up for E9.  

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