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Topic: Show us ......... your 8 String Pedal Steel |
Michael Greer
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 3:32 pm |
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I am a big fan of Pedal steels from the early days.
The 8 String Pedal steels of the 1950s and 60s certainly lack performance but not style.
This little guitar can still make music and looks good doing it
Three pedals, no knee levers, no roller nut
Show us, and tells us about your 8 stringer. |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 5:00 pm
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Picture file
another early Marlen, 3x2 tuned to an 8 string version of Hal Rugg’s tuning. it has a maple top and solid mahogany aprons.
 it’s pretty damned fun. it started out with 4 pedals and i deleted one and added two original Marlen knee levers.they are shaft collars welded to sheet steel and screwed to the lever. very simple and they work well. the guitar has a,b & c pedals and rkr raises string 2 from c# to d# with a feel stop at d and also lowers string 8 e to e flat. rkl raises string 4 from e to f. string 4 doesn’t lower to e flat. lloyd and hal showed the way. it’s a good sounding guitar when someone else plays it. came with a stutter switch, a boo-wah, a tone control and a switch tied to a capacitor the size of a lil’ smokey sausage that gives some real variation in tone. also had to get new pedal rods from psgparts.com. they are extremely well made and fit just right. it was a fun project to get it up and running with the tuning i wanted. totally worth it.
Last edited by Mark Perrodin on 8 Jul 2023 10:07 am; edited 10 times in total |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 5:15 pm
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Fender 400 with my version of Sneaky Pete’s tuning. |
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Paul Wade
From:
mundelein,ill
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 5:32 pm
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| Mark Perrodin wrote: |
Fender 400 with my version of Sneaky Pete’s tuning. |
Ha mark love the Coors can nice added touch😎 |
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Dave Meis
From:
Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 8:37 pm
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Mid 60’s Chuck Wright Sierra..
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Dennis Montgomery
From:
Western Washington
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2023 9:23 pm
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You guys are killing me with those Marlens….and they don’t lack in performance, in my humble opinion of course. I have a pair of long scale Fender 400’s and a couple of 1000 D-8’s.
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 5:24 am
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A Fender 1000 converted to an SD8 and a 400 I recently bought.
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Kevin Maul: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Decophonic, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 12:33 pm
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1959 Sneakycaster II - B6, 9+2,double-pulls set up on 4 strings, Hotone effects attached upside down (kicked in with a knee - the compressor has been removed.), 2-stage clean boost, and 2 pickups rewound slightly hotter than stock by Jerry Sentell with blend, volume and tone controls.
It's a country-rock monster. 
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 1:05 pm Willy D-8
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_________________
To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 1:10 pm
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Here's my Jackson Pro IV 8 string (from before I owned it). I have it set up 3 and 3 C6. Great guitar!
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 3:01 pm
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Williams S8 5&5......I recently sent this guitar back to Bill to add three additional pedals......Steeltronics Z8 coil tap pup......3/8" string spacing......love this little keyless beauty......
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Dennis Montgomery
From:
Western Washington
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 5:56 pm
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Dave,
that Wright Custom is great. I had a Wright S-10 for awhile. they sound great. i’d love to find an S-8 Wright one day.
Last edited by Mark Perrodin on 3 Apr 2023 6:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 6:00 pm
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guys,
your Williams and Jackson guitars are absolutely gorgeous. Do they play as good as the look? What is the string spacing? I want one set up with my Sneaky Pete tuning. probably have to sell a kidney to make it happen. |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 6:33 pm
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My Williams D-8 has Stringmaster string spacing. Tuning is E9 & A6
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To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Richard Alderson
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2023 6:53 pm
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| K Maul wrote: |
A Fender 1000 converted to an SD8.
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With Apologies to Russ Pahl !?
PS - I am also member of the 8 stringer club, although I am not half as innovative as everyone else here. Mine basically looks like Dennis Montgomery's before the mods, i.e. a new-looking Fender 400 Sunburst.
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Derby SD-10 5x6; GFI S-10 5x5; GFI S-10 5x5; Zum D-10 8x7; Zum D-10 9x9; Fender 400; Fender Rumble 200; Nashville 400; Telonics TCA-500. |
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Nathan Golub
From:
Durham, NC
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Posted 4 Apr 2023 11:21 am
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| Very cool guitars. I'd love to see the tuning charts & copedents for these if anyone feels like posting them. |
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Pete McAvity
From:
St. Louis, Missouri USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 9:54 am
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| Dennis Montgomery wrote: |
I'm guessing the most common 8 stringers out there are Fender 400's. I actually bought 2 and combined the best parts from both to make my "Super 400" (one had the best paint job and chrome on top and the other had much better pulleys/cables/hardware underneath). The threaded bolts sticking out allow individual adjustment of the tension springs. Also added a couple knee levers with about $50 of parts from Home Depot and a removable arm rest 
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I ended up w/ Dennis' other 400 in immaculate shape sans undercarriage. Was able to source old stock parts for four pedals (thanks Kelcey O'Neil!), so now both are fully functional.
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Excel Superb D10, Kline U12, Sarno Black Box, Goodrich L120, Boss DD5, Baby Bloomer, 1965 Super Reverb chopped to a head, feeding a mystery PA cab w/ a K130.
They say "thats how it goes". I say "that ain't the way it stays!" |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 11:05 am
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Here's how Mark Perrodin tunes his 8 stringers!
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 11:18 am
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| thanks Dave |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 11:57 am
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Dennis Montgomery
From:
Western Washington
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Dennis Montgomery
From:
Western Washington
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 1:45 pm
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| Nathan Golub wrote: |
| Very cool guitars. I'd love to see the tuning charts & copedents for these if anyone feels like posting them. |
Sure, I originally came up with this odd tuning that was based on stacked 7th chords:
When I presented it, I was very flattered that b0b thought it worthy of a link on the "Unusual Copedents" page  You can check out a thorough explanation of how it works here: https://b0b.com/wp/copedents/dennis-montgomerys-stacked-7ths/
I used that for a few years then one day wondered...what if I created a tuning that was built on just the common 10-8-6-5-4-3 Emmons E9 grip?
The idea is it's meant for big strummable chords across the whole neck rather than picked string grips. In open position:
LK gives me an EMaj7
P1 gives me an Em
P2 gives me an E7
P1+P2 give me an Em7
P3 functions like an A pedal in Emmons E9
P4 functions like a B pedal in Emmons E9
RK gives me an E dim
The limitation of it is most chords have to be played in root position (other than P3+P4 which is like holding down the Emmons E9 A+B pedals), but the advantage is it's a lot of fun to slide around and have easy access to the family of 7th chords at each position
If you'd like to hear it in action, this is the tuning used on the "Armistice" album linked in my signature.
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Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK
Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW
Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA |
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 5 Apr 2023 1:46 pm
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| Mark Perrodin wrote: |
guys,
your Williams and Jackson guitars are absolutely gorgeous. Do they play as good as the look? What is the string spacing? I want one set up with my Sneaky Pete tuning. probably have to sell a kidney to make it happen. |
My Jackson plays great. The string spacing is about 3/8 at the changer and 5/16 at the nut.
Dave |
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