I first wanted to play steel guitar after listening to Steve Kimock. Without the existence of frets, it had more of a vocal quality. The pickup in it is an Alnico pickup. Alnico was making the best pickups then, so much so that they would later be bought by the Fender guitar company and used in their new electric series, the Telecaster. The pickup is worth more than the guitar. Back then they used to make matching guitar/amp combinations; mine has what's called "ribbon binding" around the edge and if anyone can find the matching amp, let me know. Oh there is one other thing: it's signed by Robert Randolph and the Family freakin' Band!!! If you've never heard of him check it out; he's like Hendrix on the pedal steel. To make a long story short, I snuck backstage at the Northrup Auditorium and basically sat knee to knee with one of my heros, while he showed me my favorite song of his on my lap steel! This was another one of those days.