This is "The Wiz"
Hi, I'm the steel guitarist known in the music business as "Wiz". I have been a professional pedal steel guitarist since 1974 and have played all over North America with numerous bands. I now live in Mid-Michigan, where I play with various Country Music groups in night clubs, beer tents, casinos, County fairs and recording studios.
Click here to see where/when I will be playing this weekend, and /or in the near future.
My current steel guitar is a 1983, Rosewood, Emmons Push-Pull, with 8 pedals and 9 knee levers and Lawrence LXR-16 humbucking pickups that are totally quiet in otherwise electrically noisy clubs. I use Peavey Nashville 112 amplifier to impart my audio offerings to the public.
I use a variety of effects pedals, which include:
- 6 outlet surge suppressor, which limits the input AC voltage to around 140 volts, to protect my equipment from over-voltage burnouts or overheating.
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I run from my steel, thru the plug-in buffer /compressor /fuzztone, to the Boss Tremolo, which plugs into the Bobro Dobro Simulator (it really sounds like a Dobro, but without the feedback problems), the ouput of which feeds into the volume pedal input. I send the output of the volume pedal directly to the amplifier's input jack. This pre-volume pedal group is at a high signal level, direct from the pickup. I have found that very few effect pedals can take that input level, without clipping (with the exception of the Bobro and Boss Tremolo).
Since the Peavey 112 amplifiers have a front panel effects loop, I take the signal output from the amp's "pre-eq" patch to the input of Boss Delay, which feeds into the Boss Chorus or Tremolo (depending on the nature of the gig) pedal, which feeds into the Boss Reverb. The output of the Boss Reverb feeds back to the effects input jack on the front of the amp. These patch cables, all Belden 1/8" low capacity cabling, are tied together in a 15' long bundle. I use Bill Lawrence and George L Quick Connector jacks on all of my cables. The placement of the AC adapter powered digital effects into the effects loop reduces the AC hum and electronic circuitry noise from them to almost inaudible levels needed in recording studios or practicing.
When I play steel guitar I always wear Cowboy boots. I just can't pivot my feet properly, without heel strain, wearing flat shoes with low or no heel height. My boot preference is an E or double E width, pointed toe (to fit between the pedals and rods), a walking heel about 1 1/2" to 1 5/8" tall (to position my heel where it needs to be to comfortably pivot on the floor pedals and volume pedal), a 12" or 13" high all leather uppers and quality leather outsoles (so I can feel the pedals).
Since I only wear my stage boots onstage they tend to last a very long time! However, even the best pair of boots will eventually wear out, which is what has happened to my favorite pair of black boots. I began looking for suitable replacements that fit my preferences, at a reasonable price, with all leather soles and uppers. After a lot of searching I discovered that the best deal for what I wanted was at BootBay.com,
in a new pair of Justin Western boots.
BootBay has the Guaranteed Lowest Prices on all kinds of boots, including Western, Work, Police and Hiking. Bootbay is located in Tennessee, has been in business over 23 years, carries most of the major boot brands, and offers a money back guarantee if the boots aren't up to snuff, or free exchange if they don't fit right, and free UPS Ground shipping (within the continental US).
Click the button to hear Wiz playing "The Boiler", in its entirety. (347kb)
This is an original instrumental, written by Wiz Feinberg, and recorded, live, in 1980.
Click the sound button to download a low-quality wave file (298kb), of me playing Leather Britches, recorded live in 1983.
Click the sound button to download a better quality wave file (745kb), of me playing Leather Britches, recorded live in 1983.
Click the sound button to download a sample wave file (351kb), of me playing Leather Britches, recorded live in 1987.
Click this button to play Wiz's original instrumental - Opryland Ride, in mp3 format (2.1Mb).
These audio files may take up to a couple of minutes to load on dialup, but they will remain in your temporary files, or browser cache, for instant replaying, by clicking the sound buttons again. Broadband customers will have fast or instant loading, depending on your download bitrate.
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Over a period of a few years, during the late 1970's through the early 1980's, I was a staff writer for Al Brisco's "Steel Guitar Club Of Canada", with a quarterly circulated newsletter, containing my series called "Wiz's Workshop". These were technical articles, for steel players, to help them to repair their instruments, while on the road, and also on how to hook up effect devices properly, and on my own special tuning techniques. One of my most famous Wiz's Workshop articles is called "The Adventures Of Steelman." I have reprinted it, with Al Brisco's permission (now-"Steel Guitars of Canada"). If you would like some brief amusement, with a combined, embedded repair article, click here, to read a reprint of The Adventures Of Steelman.
Click this to read about my history in the music business. I believe all musicians will find it interesting. 
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