Roy says, "My wonderful wife, Laurie, secretly had this great steel guitar built to specifications she had found on my computer, and (together with designer/builder Mitsuo Fugii and friend Bill Stafford) unveiled it at the 2004 St. Louis convention as a birthday gift from her for my 75th birthday. It is a single neck, ten string Excel Superb keyless with an E 6/9 copedent and a lock-in lever that pulls it into an A6 copedent. It has six pedals and five knee levers -- and it still gets a good workout by me every day. The two things I couldn't survive without are Laurie and my steel."