The Hawaiian steel guitar was invented about a century ago, and reached the height of its popularity during the 1920s and '30s. Many of the HSGA members are in their 80s, and Ruymar feels fortunate to pick their memories and collections now, before it's too late. Oh, they remember well what it was like in the early days, and their collections are usually considered trash by their kids. The entire effort took about five years to collect and collate data, and two years of massaging it with the publisher. Both musical publishers she offered it to were interested, and she chose Centerstream because it had an in-house distribution system worldwide.
People are concerned about the steel guitar's longevity.
The steel guitar was invented in Hawaii, and so was surfing, and look at surfing today. I love the steel guitar. It's the signature instrument of Hawaiian music.