Zane Beck

[1] He is best known for his 1952 innovation of adding knee levers to the pedal steel guitar to alter the pitch of certain strings,[2]: 2  a feature which has become a standard on all modern-day instruments.

He became proficient in playing the steel guitar and became a staff musician on the Louisiana Hayride, a country music show broadcast from Shreveport.

About 1950, he was hired by Buddy Emmons and Shot Jackson to work in manufacturing of steel guitars for their company called Sho-Bud.

[10] The invention essentially doubled the performer's available options for chords by using his knees to participate in controlling the instrument in addition to both hands and both feet.

[5][11] In the 1940s and 1950s several companies contributed to the practical evolution of the steel guitar, including Epiphone, the Harlin Brothers,[13] Fender, Paul Bigsby, Sho-Bud as well as Zane Beck.

[3]: 115  Day was a well-known steel guitarist who had backed Hank Williams and Elvis Presley and had played on Ray Price's classic hit, "Crazy Arms".

In the 1960s Beck sold the manufacturing rights to his first pedal steel model, the ZK, to Tom Brumley who took over the ZB Music company.