E9/B6 Universal

Bill Atwood · From: Kingsland, TX. USA * R.I.P.

Just returned from Dallas and a great TSGA Jamboree. What a great event, hats off to all who did such a great job of putting it on. Got a little carried away while I was there, decided I wanted to learn steel "The Wright Way"! Bought a 12 string and am now having a dickens of a time trying to decide how to set up the pedals and knee levers. One prominent player suggests locating the 4&8 string lower to the RKR position to free the left foot and make it easy to reach pedals 6&7. If I move the 4&8 lower to RKR, I think I would also move the 4&8 raise to RKL. I have been playing such a short time I think I can make the change without too much difficulty. The same player also eliminated the LKR lever to provide additional left leg room. I want to be able to play B6th and my greatest concern is holding the lever in and comfortably reaching the pedals. I would prefer to not eliminate any levers. Advice from those of you already playing 12's will be much appreciated.

Jim Smith · From: Midlothian, TX, USA

I have always lowered my E's on RKR, and do it the same on my Universal. However, if I were starting again, I'd be tempted to put that change on LKR. It's a pretty natural move to hit LKR as you move your foot to the right to play B6.

Larry Phleger · From: DuBois, PA

I have been playing E9/B6 for the past 4 years. I always used the Day setup on my jloor pedals, and stuck pretty much to the setup Jeff Newman setup. The only change I made is that I lower 8 to a D with LKL instead of raising 9. I find this works well for me. I have no regrets for changing from a D10 to a U12. Don't think of it as 2 tunings on one neck, rather deal with it as a unique tuning all its own. This will open up a whole lot more possibilities for you.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

When I played a D-10 I used to raise and lower my E strings on RKR and RKL respectively.When I made the switch to a U-12 I put those two changes on the left knee like most guys do on a D-10. Go figure. -MJ-

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Larry writes:

"The only change I made is that I lower 8 to a D with LKL instead of raising 9."

This is a great change to have on a knee lever on U-12's. In fact, a U-12 would be totally unacceptable to me without this (C6th-pedal 6), change on a knee lever.

I love it. Use it with EVERY pedal and all of the other knee levers (except one) all the time. That is why I need it on a knee lever instead of on the floor as is standard on a U-12.

I do have also the raising of the 9th string to a D. I like having the choice of either. Along with this raise, I lower the 2nd string to a D and the 10th string to a B. After having it now, I really do like it.

Here is the reason: In music there are two main ways to go from a major chord to its 7th chord. One is to raise into it and the other is to lower into it. Try this:

1. Pick strings 5, 6 and 8 (U-12r's) at the open fret. While they sustain, pick the 9th string and then place your bar at the second fret. Then move the bar to the 3rd fret all the time sustaining. You went from an E chord to E6th to E7th. This is done all the time in music as a transtion from a major to its "seventh" chord.

2. Again pick strings 5, 6 and 8. Let them sustain and engage your knee lever that lowers the E's. Then engage your pedal or knee lever that lowers your 8th string to a D. In this case you went from a major chord to the (V chord's relative minor) to the one chord's 7th. Ex: C, Emin to C7th.

In both cases you are headed to the major chord's 7th, BUT you are getting their from totally different sounding methods. I use one or the other to embelish this often needed movement.

Praise Jesus' holy name,

carl

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Well I'm in the same boat. I'm kind of new to steel. I started with at S-10 E9 and last fall bought a Mullen U-12. Mine was set up with 7 knees. I see most U-12's have 5 knees. My guitar was really like a D-10 in one neck. For me to get in the B6 (C6) mode, I had to drop my left knee and move it over to the middle pair of levers. Needless to say, I rarely got into the B6 mode. My pair of left knees wouldn't let me reach the B6 pedals. So after the Dallas show I came home and removed my LKR and CKL. Since I'm totally new at the B6 neck I didn't have much preference for levers anyway. So here's what I've done and this allows me to casually drop into B6 mode momentarily if I want to and I didn't lose anything on my E9 side.

LKL E to F on 4 and 8
LKR B to A# on 5
LKV F# to G on 1 and 7
RKL E to D#
RKR Eb (2) down to D down to C#
B to D on 9

Since my LKR is what was once a CKR, the reach is a bit farther for my left knee when holding down AB (Emmons) but it's doable. The vertical gets a lot of use for the AB 7th chords. So far so good. I also have a lock for the RKL so I can stay in B6 if I wanna. I'm still experimenting and learning.

Brad Sarno
Mullen U-12

SveinungL · From: Gjøvik - Norway - Europe - Earth

In case you're interested.....
On my Anapeg U-12 7+6, I have the lowering of 4&8 on my RkR. I also have a lock there for it but I rarely use it. I don't like to think of it as two necks.... On my LkR I have lowering of sting #5 and raising #1 one half step. I've only played U-12 since last August so I'm not very experiensed, but so far I don't find it hard to reach the floor-pedals to the right. That's why I think it's OK to have a LkR on a U-12.

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Thanks SveinungL - Norway
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Kentucky Riders

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I lower strings 4 and 8 on my LKR. I also lower string 8 to D on my RKR, thus I'm constantly releasing the LKR when I engage the RKR in order to raise string 4 back up to E. (The C pedal change)

Bill Atwood · From: Kingsland, TX. USA * R.I.P.

Thanks to all for some great feedback. It seems as you would expect, we all are different. Accepting this, I decided to heve the builder assemble pedals and levers to his "standard" arrangement and go from there. I'm certainly not as concerned as I was about access to pedals 6 & 7. Again,thanks to all for you comments.

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