Emmons pedal steel guitars were a collaboration between legendary steel player Buddy Emmons and Ron Lashley, which originated around 1963. Emmons came up with the design, and created various components for the Emmons push-pull model. Ron Lashley developed the prototype and production processes for the Emmons guitar and ran the company. There were various changes to Emmons' design over the years. Buddy Emmons felt that some of these changes were fixing things that weren't broken. By 1990 Emmons thought the sound of the Emmons Original was lost and ended his association with the company. The Lashley family continued to operate as Emmons Guitar Company by Lashley.

Source: Buddy Emmons website (11 April 2017)