The Steel Guitar Forum

J D Sauser · From: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

For years, not say decades by now, I have been marveling at Speedy Wests F#9th Swing tuning and wondering what the heck and why the heck F#9th.

Well, I think I figured it out one day not too long ago. One thing that stood out is a change which raises his Bb string to B. Once you fill that in the chart all you really got is...: E13th! And then it all starts to make sense!

After looking at his tuning and setup, I am almost ready to argue that he himself probably looked at the tuning as an E tuning. The Bb to B really is just a reverse of E9th player's B-to-Bb-lower lever. The reason for his having it "backwards" may have been the mechanical limitations of the PSG's he played at the time he developed his tuning.
Really, his "E13th" (once the B's are raised) looks very similar to an E9th as most of us would know it. There even was a change to raise the G# to A.
Looking at his very old fashioned E9th, I would think that, had he had access to today's guitars back then, he might have been able to unite both E tunings in one E9th-Speedy West "universal".

So, I decided to do just that.

I based my setup experiments on a E9th/B6th universal.
First I had to add the 13th... C# in between the high B and E. I first added it as a low "chromatic" or "inside-out" on position #3 in between D# and G# to fool around with it.
Now I've moved it in-line.
I also tried to maintain all main E9th changes integer and keep most of my old B6th changes.

Bellow, for your considerations and comments is my latest E9/13th/B6th+Speedy West basics tuning & setup:

P5, P6, P7 and P8 stands for Pedals as to a classical 8 pedal double neck setup.
"SW P" stands for a Speedy West (F#9th/E13th) change.

The "D" string:
As some will have come to realize E9th/B6th does not have the "D" note 9th string. Some raise their B bellow to D to replicate it when in E9th "mode" and most will have the E-to-D-lower on a pedal in their classic B6th arrangement. I chose to ONLY have the pedaled drop version on a lever (LKL)... which freed up one pedal.

F#-to-F:
The basic B6th change dropping F# to F has been put close to the "D" change so they can be plaid together like on a classic B6th pedal setup. It is also a Speedy West F#9th forthwith E13th change.
Placing this change on a lever furthermore makes it available in combination with the classical 7th C6th pedal without using both feet.

LRV:
Raising the middle A to A# is probably the most common optional C6th lever change. Translated to B6th, it is G# to A... like the B Pedal. The problem most E9th/b6th players will however encounter, is that the change would be useful in combination with some B6th pedals. It is also a Speedy West E13th change.

A-Pedal:
Obviously, raising the top B to C# with a C# string just above it, may not always seem to make much sense. I tried several approaches and settled for Zane Beck's solution (who played an E9th+13th "universal") and added a half tone raise from C#-to-D on that new string. Not only that, I added that pull so it would kick in, only after B-to-C# had reached a tuned half stop. There is NO cluttery feel, the A-pedal has a positive feel "stop" at a tuned "C". Works nicely with LKL and also playing chord with A&B down and even adding the E-to-Eb-lever.

Speedy had 2 more pedals, which I might add in between the last and the second last pedal further down the line... for now however, I got to teach my right hand get used to the modified grips.

The setup is fairly "lite" or "stripped", but offers most of E9th/B6th and Speedy's tuning on only 6&6.

... J-D.

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