A Conversation With Joe Glaser & Steve Wariner - Ask Zac 194 

This is the sort of video that makes the internet a better place. Thank you Zac, and of course thank you Joe & Steve!

I wound up in Nashville in the early 80's, and the second day I was there I got the gig of lead guitar player for Ed Bruce (short boring one in a million story). I had and still have a '53 Tele that I had been using 5-6 nights a week for years (in house bands, I got it from Johnny Meeks in '75) and it needed serious fret and nut work, it was pretty worn from all those hours. I asked the other musicians in Ed's band, on the bus one day, where I should take it and they all said "Joe Glaser"!!! at the same time, in unison. At that time Joe was working by himself in a little house in the country that he converted into a shop, some miles out of town. I dropped off the Tele and it seemed like about one or two days later he called and said "it's ready to go". He must have been working some long hours because there were several guitars in his shop waiting for work. A little later he installed a strat pickup in the middle, like you see now. At that time I hadn't seen anyone else with a tele with 3 pickups, I shouldn't have had him do it, but that tele is an old beater anyway (we did use a new pickguard so the old one wouldn't get cut up). After he did it I started seeing all these other cats with strat pickups in their teles. I'm not saying I was the first, I'm sure other guys did that years before, but I didn't see another one until sometime after mine was done. I did it because Ed's recordings had Fred Newell on tele and Brent Rowan using a strat, so I though I should try to get both sounds from one ax, and I didn't have the extra $$$ for a strat at the time. One night at the Opry leon Rhodes came up to me asking "how do you get that sound from a tele"? so I showed it to him back stage and he played it and said he was going have it done to a tele too. I said "well, take it to-" and he cut me off with "Joe Glaser, right?" . I liked Joe right off, as you can easily see he's a good cat. I didn't last too long in Nashville, I only worked for Ed for around 3 years then went back to the west coast to play nothin' but the blues.

Great conversation, Zac! Thanks for doing it! I met Steve Wariner when he and I were on opposite sides of a gas pump at a Mapco in Franklin, TN one day. I said "Mr. Wariner?" and he shied away bc he thought I was gonna gurm him for an autograph or a picture. I said "I wanted to thank you for recording that John Hall composition "Sails" on your Drive CD.” His face lit up with a big smile and he warmed up to me instantly, saying "Chet would make me play that song every time I visited him in his office on Music Row. He loved that song."

Zac, I really enjoyed this interview. One thing that stands out is that you are a great listener. I appreciate that you give your guests room to share their experiences without cutting in too often as other interviewers tend to do. When you do interject, it always enhances the discussion. You and Rick Beato both share that quality which compliments your guests. Excellent job, as always.

OMG! All in one room??? All 3 reasons I play a Glaser Bender, (2) Peavey Special 130 amps and a Telecaster! You men are my heroes!!!

Zac, I don't even know where to begin. The interview with Steve and then cap oi off with Joe and Steve is over the top great. You sir, are a master of your craft. You know just how to wind them up and then step back and let the greatness flow. They are both genuine and humble and obviously very comfortable with you. I happened to be home recovering from surgery and you guys really lightened my day. Thanks for everything you do for this music community.

I love these kind of shows…just sitting around talking guitars--Love it!

Thanks Zac for putting us in the room with legends.

Thank you Zac!!! Never get enough Steve Wariner!!! One of the best of the BEST! Mr. Glaser is quite a craftsman, never knew that.

In ‘82 I asked Brent Mason at the Stagecoach about his 3 pickup tele, and he told me about Joe - I was over at Corner Music the next day to have Joe add the middle pu and extra volume control which is there to this day! Thanks Joe for your brilliance and kindness! 😎🎶

This past August, I went by Joe’s shop so he could tweak the bender on my Music City Jr. He gave us a tour of the shop and talked with us for a long time. Such a nice guy and a great experience for me. He’s just plain COOL!!!!

I was one of those lucky enough to hang at Joe’s shop in the early 1980s. I was playing guitar and fiddle for Jerry Reed at the time. Steve was opening for us. Thank you for the excellent interview Zac. Kudos.

I could listen to Joe and Steve talk all day. National treasures. Thanks Zac!

I did a drive in and dropped off my Tele in the morning for a bender. Joe was one of the nicest persons I've ever met. Not only did he get the bender installed that day, but he treated my friends and I like we were special (we aren't LOL). One of the best gear experiences I've ever had. Thank you, Joe!! And thank you Zac for doing these videos! I still want to take you out for tacos next time I'm in Nashville.

One of the best, and most natural interviews of two significant musical icons--who just happen to be old friends--I've had the privilege to view . . . Well done, Zac!

Bravo! I absolutely loved this. Incredible to hear Joe’s story. And Steve, just an awesome guy, always been one of my favorites. Thanks Zac. 🎸

Enjoy seeing a couple legends sitting around just talking about guitars and telling stories. Great interview!

Zach you are killing these interviews! You actually let people talk and only interject when necessary. Great stuff!

Great to hear the praise for Paul Craft at the beginning of the episode. He also wrote "Through the Bottom of the Glass" and, of course, "Dropkick Me Jesus". Thanks Zac!

I had no intentions of watching this entire video, it just came on at random after watching another vid of yours.... but this is the best interview I've seen in a long time, from anyone! Joe Glaser should write a book. The stories about the early years, sourcing bobbins for Paul and the secret wood supplier was fascinating. Awesome content.

I loved this conversation. The stories and banter between Joe and Steve are fantastic. I’d like to see an interview with Steve and Ryan.

Steve was such a huge influence on me and I would soak up everything of his I could. Thanks for this great interview.

Another amazing video. Can’t thank you enough for bringing all my childhood heroes to RU-vid.

Thanks so much, Zac! I recently had a Glaser G Bender installed in my Brad Paisley Telecaster, and your videos were super helpful leading up to that. Mr. Glaser was so humble and lovely when my family came in to pickup the guitar a couple weeks ago.

Those top fret marker dots are really cool & unique.That sets that guitar off as highly customized.

Such a cool conversation, thank you for sharing. I’m a 61 year old civil engineer, who has played since 1972 and been building partscaster Teles along with doing mods, setups etc since around 2000. When I was younger, I also had a passion for woodworking. So all this stuff fascinates me. Amazing guys, with great instruments and awesome stories. So glad, the YT algorithm set us up for this 1 hour and 40 minutes. Thumbs up and subscribed. Great job to all three of y’all!

Thank God we got Zac and the other two guys were great too🎸 Thanks for sharing 🎉👍

One hour and forty-odd minutes just went by in the blink of an eye. Two wonderful guests and a fantastic host. Great job!

One of the best interviews I have ever seen. It was just plain epic.

This is awesome!

It's interviews like this one that make me a big fan of Zac's channel. Being a guitar geek he knows exactly the right direction to go with these type of interviews. Just like being in the room!

All I can say is Wow.....Thank You Zac.

this is fabulous - thanks for making it happen Zac!

Absolutely wonderful interview. Thank you so much Zac for getting these two music icons together for this candid interview. I give it 100% thumbs up. ❤

No worries on the name forgettin', Joe ... we all get there eventually. Love your work on guitars, by the way. I have a '73 Stratocaster that my late brother gave me as a birthday present that really needs to come see you for new frets. I am in my 63rd year of playing. I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the older guitars have the sound they have, from heavy rhythm chords being played on them, and with BIG strings, which vibrate the wood harder and work the magnetic pickup fields harder. Just my opinion, of course. BTW: I started life playing my brother's 1960 Jazzmaster through his year-matching PRO. My very first guitar was a 1954 Stratocaster. My J-200 became a lesser guitar when I put Grovers on it. The density of the tuners choked off the vibrations down the neck, somehow. In 1970-71 or so, I built a Telecaster in the back of my brother's Tallahassee music store, out of a huge, solid chunk of mahogany and loaded it with a Tele bridge pickup and TWO Gibson SG Standard humbuckings, with an extra switch to add in that middle bucker. What a beast. I always moved my belt buckle to the side, so it didn't rip up my guitar back! I have a feeling that these are three of the nicest guys Nashville has to offer ... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9cQWrXxbAfw.html

Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing with us true fans…

Well done, Zac. Kudos galore. I showed this to my wife, who was mentored by Paul Kraft, and Claire, the acoustic Bluegrass artist, just ate it up. Thanks bunches ! BTW, we took two of Claire's gig guitars to Joe, and he and his staff were so sweet, accommodating, and efficient, that Claire still talks about Joe's service and demeanor....even up here in Toronto, years later.

That Telecaster sounds fantastic. Great guys!

You can't predict how great these conversations will be until you watch them. Three very thoughtful, introspective gentlemen. All with something meaningful to say. Excellent episode, Zac. thanks to Ryan also.

LOVED THIS!! Thanks Zac :) These guys are legends in my book. These are questions I've wondered about for years :) So cool to hear the first hand stories from Steve and Joe. Steve mentioned "Rip" Wilson as being an influence of his with the B Bender tele he owned. "Rip" was my guitar teacher many many years ago! I used to drive up to Nashville every Saturday and take lessons from him at Huegley's Music store. Rip was a great guy and a great friend of mine as well. I remember that Red Telecaster with the B Bender that Steve spoke about. I LOVED that guitar. Sadly, Rip past away in 2011. I talked to his son a couple months ago and asked him about that Red Tele and he said that someone stole it out of his house before he died. I really hated to hear that. So that guitar is out there somewhere ......and his son would love to have it back in the family. It was an awesome guitar and Rip is greatly missed.

Great interview- Steve Hennig in Austin turned me on to Joe in the early 90’s when he did a tele for me b&g benders- I remember Joe trying to talk me out of doing both- but I’m glad I got them- Joe is a really cool guy- I called him recently because my b bender got a squeak- when we started the conversation he asked me what I’m doing now and I told him I was building teles- he said I don’t remember, fly up if you want , but you’re a luthier now you fix it! So I figured it out and called him back- he said no way that fixed it - lol great guy - he inspires

Thank you, Zac... this is solid gold!!!!!

Fantastic: with those two you don’t need to ask even one question. Just sit ‘em together and they’ll switch themselves on. 😂 Great interview! So nice as well to hear their appreciation for each other’s part in their careers.

Great interview Zac, thanks Joe and Steve!

This just made me smile!! Great episode Zac!!!

This is probably the best thing I’ve ever seen on RU-vid! 👍

Top episode Mr! Absolute joy to hear the backstory of all of Joe's adventures as well as the great Mr Wariner, who was looking great and sounding so good on those guitars. Wonderful stuff, well done. 👍

Zac, Thank you so much for allowing these legends to share portions of their musical life. I am so thankful for the fact that you always know when to let the interviewee continue to tell their story. Once again, thanks!

Really enjoyed the show! Cheers Zac, Joe and Steve!!

Zac always puts out great content but I think this is the best yet!

Great job everyone !🎸🎸🎸

This was Great! Thank you!

Thank y'all so much for making this. Made my afternoon.

Thank you for this interview.

Great episode thank you

AWESOME job Zac, AWESOME !!

This is a tremendous interview!

Zac, thank you soooo much for putting this together. What wonderful stories.

A great interview

Legends! Brilliant interview.

What an awesome interview and get together! Great insight and people!!

This was GOLD! (Thanks Ryan, and everybody.)

Well, Zac, you always do the best interviews. This one here was just outstanding...❤️👍

Just freakin awesome! Thanks so much to all 3 of you! So many wonderful stories and great insight and history! I have a Glaser bender in one of my Teles along with the Glaser 5 pos switch and wiring harness I installed along with the Seymour Duncan hot rail middle pup. Steve did my fav version of Tips of My Fingers along with many others! And, Zac, you always deliver. You have added so much history to my knowledge of the Tele! You share your love for the instrument in a way that deepens my love and appreciation for the Tele.

Great hang Zack!

Thank Zac the Tele sounds fabulous

Wow that was amazing, thanks guys for doing it.

This was such a cool interview. Extra special it was for sure.

Zac. Thanks so much for this and all the other videos you have contributed. I drove over to Joe's place a few weeks ago from Arkansas to have a bender put in and was talking to Aaron. I said I sure would like to meet Zac someday and he said I had just missed you. Maybe one of these days. Take care and Thanks.

Best seen to date! What a treasure Joe is!

I played a bender in 80 in Cali - it was left in an actress’s house that l was staying alone in…youth…l loved that guitar…but l don’t remember much about it today…

Thanks Zac- really loving the channel Steve wairner was on of my biggest influences from the 80s - such a great player and humble man.Joe is a legend and Nashville treasure:)

So nice , I watched it twice!

Man, what a lesson that was! Thank you for putting this together! As always, I really enjoy your videos!

This is absolute solid gold, Zac. Thank you so much for this one!

Absolutely amazing. Thank you Zac

❤this was wonderful!

REALLY enjoyed this interview so much!! So much history and time line conversations and innovators! Joe's just brilliant plane and simple and Steve's imput and brilliance as well in the early days being involved and getting certain sounds just amazing and big fans of Joe and Steve! Loved every second of this!! Thanks Zac and Ryan Wariner's suggestion !

Happy Birthday Zac.

Two good fellas right there. So much knowledge and history!!

Delightful - thank you, gentlemen!

Hello Mr. Wariner. I have your signature Gretsch 6120, and I love it. Wonderful guitar!!

That was so cool !!

I forgot who else you interviewed, that also has a little masco practice amp,on a shelf in the back ground, I have one too and it's a wonderful little tube amp,tag on the back claims it's 65watts, sounds more like 5watts, only one volume and one tone control, great interview thanks Zac.

Amazing!

I remember buying flame maple in the hardwood store’s discount bin, because the cabinet builders didn’t want it. They eventually figured out what that had and now they no longer sell it for a discount.

I'm late to the party on this one, Zac. A couple of days ago I bought a beat up 1974 telecaster custom, and it needs lots of love. Thanks for this great bit of history.

I wish you could’ve seen my eyes light up when I saw this! Thank you, Zac!!

Just picked up my 30 year old Guild acoustic that Glaser did a setup and small repair. It has never sounded better even when it was brand new. They are the best! 1:35:45

What a treat! And both the cool Fender Telecaster bass ánd the beautiful Jazzbass in the back in this video are great extras to me!! 😉 🖖

Hey Zac watched that desert rose band video at austin city limits thank you so much my friend !!!

Zac You are the grestest.... thanks god for your work and dedication ❤🙏🎵

Don’t get no better than that, Music City Royalty. Appreciate it, Zac.

Way cool Zac! Steve and Joe!! Holy Smokes!

this was great

Great vid Zac.Our other guitar player is getting his Bbender today.Now I see this video,the next day,so I don’t know if it’s an omen for me possibly getting one.

Zac, this is just such GREAT STUFF! Go JOE & STEVE. :)

Awesome Zac ❤

fascinating from minute one to minute last. thanks from a neighbor.

3 sweethearts - great talk gentlemen - be well and be safe.