Derby Pedal Steels

[Kevin Raymer]

Hi All,

Does anybody know where Charlie Stepp cam up with the Name “Derby” ??

I know he was in Louisville..

Maybe after the KY Derby ??

Maybe an homage to the late great Buddy Emmons’s faithful chapeau ??

Both ??

Neither ??

[Jerry Overstreet]

It is my understanding that because he lived, worked and built his guitars in Louisville, and Louisville is the home of the Kentucky Derby and unofficially known and nicknamed "The Derby City", he decided to use the name Derby for his steel guitars.

This is what he stated in a Lonnie Portwood interview in an issue of Steel Guitar World magazine.

The Louisville Courier Journal did a story on Charlie and Derby Steels somewhere around 1990 right after he started building Derbys and he told the same story there.

[Bill Ladd]

Wow. For almost 30 years I’d assumed it was ‘cause of Buddy.

Learn something new every day, huh?