All 4 necks, boo-wahs and bar bounces

[John Bushouse]

All in 2:30, courtesy of Buddy Merrill. Nice close-up at 1:00 of bar bounces and working a tone knob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... k4zM#at=97

[Dennis Smith]

I was looking at this video yesterday. Look at the size of the strings on the fourth neck. Is that a baritone or bass neck.

[Doug Beaumier]

Yes the outer neck on the Fender Quad was designed for a baritone tuning, very thick wound strings. I had one years ago and the nut on that neck had extra wide slots to accommodate thick strings.

Here's another video of Buddy M. playing his Stringmaster Quad and the bass neck. This is one of my favorite youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHGpPr2xXG4

[Brian McGaughey]

I remember watching this (the OP's link) awhile back. I love it when Mr. Welk whispers in Buddy's ear to look at the camera and smile!

[Dennis Smith]

Doug, I have a 54 Stringmaster T8 and the third neck has the wide slots. What tuning would you use on it? Where would I find what the string gauge's would be?

[Doug Beaumier]

On the Quad bass neck, Fender recommended what they called A6 Major & Minor

(all strings wound)

Code: Select all

E  .032
C# .038
A  .044
F# .048
E  .055
C# .071
A  .087
F  .110

I didn't put that bass tuning on my Quad. I put some other tuning (can't remember which one), and there was no problem with the thinner strings in the wide nut slots.

[Dennis Smith]

Thanks Doug

[Jeff Mead]

E .032
C# .038
A .044
F# .048
E .055
C# .071
A .087
F .110[/code]

Those low strings would have to be custom made, I'd say - can't see .110 gauge going through the hole in the tuner or is that enlarged too?

A string would have to be wound that got thinner after it went over the nut (similar to the strings on my Danelectro Tic-Tac bass).

[C. E. Jackson]

Doug, I checked my Fender Quad, and the nut on the outer neck has extra wide slots to accommodate thick strings.

[Doug Beaumier]

Those low strings would have to be custom made, I'd say - can't see .110 gauge going through the hole in the tuner or is that enlarged too?

Those string gauges are listed in the 1965 Fender String Catalog under "Hawaiian Guitar (Bass Neck)... 8-string A-6th major & minor"

I sold my Quad years ago, but as I remember it had thick bass strings on the outer neck when I got it. As far as the holes in the tuner pegs, it's possible that those were drilled slightly larger, but I didn't notice that on mine.

[Erv Niehaus]

I played a T-8 Stringmaster quite extensively in my youth. I used bass strings on the bottom 4 strings on one of the necks. I filled in on it when playing with a polka band.

[Jay Fagerlie]

Does anybody ever talk to Buddy these days?
Wiki says he's 77 and lives in So Cal

I wonder if he still plays?

[Doug Beaumier]

I think someone on the forum said they recently spoke to one of Buddy's relatives who said he's retired from the music biz.

Here's an interesting video interview with Buddy, 2011: http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/buddy-merrill

[Stephen Cowell]

I put bass strings on my 3rd neck (SM T8 ) and they work great... you have to use some finesse to get the oversize ball-ends out of the string, then put a regular size ball-end in there. Here's how I did it:


I just strung up my third neck (22.5") with .095-.038... I was able to work the ball ends out of some short-scale bass strings (Fender 5250XL) using needle-nose pliers, mixed with a few bass singles (expensive!) and other regular strings. Very cool... my ceramic bar doesn't work so well on them, having to use a big steel bar instead. Using Gmin/Bb6 with these gauges:

.038 F
.049 D
.060 Bb
.066 G
.070 F
.075 D
.086 Bb
.095 G

The needle-nose technique involved grabbing the ball end through the 'Y' so that the tip was just past the groove... you then spin the pliers, working the wire out of the groove like a tire on a changing machine. Once you get 1/3 of the way around you can take another tool and pop the wire over the edge of the ball. Squeeze the loop so that it will hold a regular ball, then bend the loop/ball (parallel to the squeezed direction) so it will go down into the keyhole on the plate easily. You can unwind some wrap if the loop is too tight, or if the wrap wire interferes with the pliers.

[/quote]

[Bill Quinn]

Retro guitarist Deke Dickerson knows Buddy and helped him rebuild the steel Buddy built himself while in high school. i think it used some Fender parts.

[Dustin Rhodes]

My number 1 instrument is bass so the idea of a bass neck is way way cool to me. Love his playing on this. I'm 27 and I wish there were still variety shows around that brought different things like this to peoples attention and showcased talent.

[Bill Hatcher]

enjoyed the buddy m. links. watched him on welk many times when i was a kid.

[Bob Gibler]

Buddy has some of the same techniques that My dad had on the 4 neck Wright. He used to manipulate the Volume knob so much that he wore it out. and I had to rebuild it. Nice video of Buddy. Thanks for sharing.

[Jack Hanson]

You know you're getting old when you dig watching old film clips of the Lawrence Welk show on You Tube. Hated it while a kid, and mom & dad controlled the TV tuner. Although I must confess I had a crush on Janet Lennon and always dug watching Neil & Buddy playing the latest from Fullerton. And I always loved listening to Lawrence Welk talk. It was wunnerful, wunnerful!

[Bill Leff]

Anyone know how the front three necks were tuned?

[Bill Leff]

I think the first neck (closest to him) is some kind of E13 with high E (McAluffe?), second neck some kind of C6 with high E, third neck some kind of C6 with high G.

Anyone other opinions on this? Am I the only one trying to figure out how to play this?

[Brad Bechtel]

According to Stacy Phillips' The Dobro Book, the four neck steel used by Leon McAuliffe was tuned in the following tunings (bass to treble):

F# A C# E F# A C# E
E G# D F# G# B C# E
D Ab Eb F F# A C# E - note: the Ab is one half step beneath the third string
A B C D E G B D (bass tuning)

[Bill Leff]

Thanks brad. I would venture to guess that Buddy's E13 neck is tuned to the second tuning in your listing based on what I'm seeing and hearing.

[Bob Gibler]

Not sure if this post belongs here "But'I have had this question rolling around in my mind for about 2 years now.

Having had a hard time finding anyone with the knowledge of the tunings on the 4 neck 10 string steel Guitar without Pedals. I am digging deeper and Deeper without much success.

It would interest me to find someone having many years of experience who plays one of these 10 string Consoles on a regular basis.

These folks are becoming harder to find.
Most non pedal Steelers play lap 6 and 8 string steels and Dobro. Many have transitioned to the Pedal Steels in the 50s and 60s and 70s
So the tunings are somewhat different.

My Father left very few notes on this art But did leave his tunings. My Brother Jeff and I have had to work at the String size selections. I am wanting to rediscover his ways of playing this Quad steel using Bar slants to effect and Volume Tone Knobs and Volume/Tone pedal as well for effect.

I believe we did a real good job finding the String gauges for each tuning, using a lap steel string Gauge Chart, and notes that dad wrote down that we deciphered. We used Dads tunings and I purchased Phosphorous Bronze strings like were on the steel for the 10 string tunings of -C6/A7, B11, E9, E13. and used the chart for cross references, But not sure if all gauges are exact.

My desire is to play the Quad like My father did which sounded Beautiful and rich. His talent just astounded me. Tablature and other information on these non pedal tunings seem to be impossible to find.

I plan on succeeding in this almost lost art. Any help would GREATLY be appreciate. And Patience and dedication seem to be my keys for success.