My Homemade Pedal Steel Guitar

[Thiel Hatt]

10 knee lever is correct. Yes that's a lot to stuff under there. But note that this guitar is tuned to the E9th Universal tuning so it will be played also in the B6th mode. I think of it as E9th mode = 4 pedals and 5 knee levers and B6th mode as 4 pedals and 5 knee levers. I have a 12 string Dekely that has 7 pedals and 9 knee levers, and yes I use them all. But the Dekley has only triple raise, double lower capability on the changer. This new (ThielSteel) will have quadruple raise, triple lower capability. Plus it's just something I want to tinker with.

[Bill Rowlett]

Wayne,

The V7 change (P3&4 two frets back from the tonic) gives you the classic 1, IV and V7 changes in so many songs.

Bill

[W. Johnson]

Wayne,

The V7 change (P3&4 two frets back from the tonic) gives you the classic 1, IV and V7 changes in so many songs.

Bill

Oh, duh, my bad. Thanks. Well, the 4th pedal does not work with the 3rd, I didn't set it up that way. The 4th pedal gives me the 7th when pedals 2 & 3 not pressed, so, for the I - IV - V7 I have to release the other pedals. If I press pedal 1 and pedal four, I get a minor 7th chord, which I actually was using in my #3 video. I should have put pedal 4 as pedal 1, then pedals would all bump up. Then I could press the 7th and minor pedals together with one foot. As it is, I have to use 2 feet for the m7. I could change it on this guitar but it would be a hassle, and I don't have a foot volume pedal as of yet, so, it's okay for now.

Wayne

[Jim Williams]

I know this is an old post but I just had to comment...that thing is built like a tank. It has to be a joy to play with the wide string spacing and I would assume that it is extremely stable. Nice job, are you still playing it?

[Don Griffiths]

Yes, I must have missed this post the first time. Good ol' American ingenuity. Absolutely ingenious for someone who has never played a pedal steel before.

[W. Johnson]

I know this is an old post but I just had to comment...that thing is built like a tank. It has to be a joy to play with the wide string spacing and I would assume that it is extremely stable. Nice job, are you still playing it?

I was surprised to see this thread brought up. Just now noticed it.

I played the first pedal steel for a long time, until just recently, as I have finished another to replace it. My new guitar is basically the same design, except it's constructed completely of aluminum, and is a 7 string. I do not have a picture of it yet in it's completed state, as I was waiting to polish the foot pedals and rods. Here's a few pics of it I took before I completed it:







I've been playing this guitar, and have not wanted to take it apart to polish the parts, but, I guess I better do it.

As it is all aluminum, it has amazing sustain. The pickup is better than my first one, and tone is better. I made some huge changes to the rod system underneath, mainly to improve intonation when raising 2 strings at once. The intonation now seems spot on perfect. Pedal one raises the two G# to A, pedal two raises the two B strings to C#. Pedal 3 lowers middle E to D for dominant 7th, pedal 4 lowers high E (string 1) 1/2 step for major 7th. So I get the I - IV - V, chord progression, a dominant 7th, and Major 7th. All 7 strings can be played strumming, or, picked. (I only use flat pick as the finger picks fall off my fat fingers.) Lately I've been figuring out how to play melodies along with chord progressions, kind of fun, and new to me.

I'll probably play this one until I build a 10 string. I'm planning on going to the steel guitar jam in Beaverton, and may bring it along with me, maybe.

Wayne

[W. Johnson]

Here are some more photos of my PS-7 aluminum pedal steel guitar:









The pickup can be positioned closer or farther away from the bridge, or angled, as I had it in these images. After these pictures I changed the angle the other way and it changes the sound a bit.


Wayne