To Start a Journey to Steel Guitar.

[Gerald K. Robbins]

It's only been three months.

Somewhere around the last of March, 2024, I started listening to and trying to play music with a steel guitar.
I have played banjo for years, so many things transfer over.

Joined this forum,borrowed a Gretch Boxcar, and converted a 6-string banjo for using a steel.

Then came the first homebuilt lap. At first tuned to D with homebuilt benders. then to C6th.
Then trading a good mandolin plus some cash for a 2017 Weissenborn. At first tuned to D
Then a clean china flattop with a new raised nut. A big box with good middle range,
Then a "tossed out" First Act parlor sized chunk-a-junk, also converted and tuned to A.

Then in the last 3 weeks I built the second lap, to be a console also, as I have posted pics of here.

looking back that seems to be a lot to happen all at once. Or in 3 months. Is this some kind of "normal" reaction ?

Thank you all who took the time to answer me , even when asking newby questions.
Those answers and reading the many threads here have helped a lot with this new to me journey to steel.

I am hoping this post, and quick report, will be taken as a smal thank you for those answers.

I gave the "Boxcar" back, not wanting to do any damage to Jay's guitar.

The converted 6-string banjo, that I have dubbed a jobro just for fun, remains tuned to G, as in GBDGBD.
Since I have been playing this tuning for years on banjos, that might be a good place to start.
As crazy as it might sound, it sounds good enough to continue playing, is fun to play, and even has "approval" from my wife.

When watching vidios, we both liked the sound of the Weissenborn, so we bought one.
It does sound beautiful, but seems a bit bulky, and with the fancy finish we are almost afraid to handle it. Stays in the case a lot.

The parlor was set up for the cost of a set of used tuners, $6. And is a suprise, because it can still make music, has a sweet,
even if somewhat quiet tone, and NO worries about scratches. Also, the compact size fits the chairs we often use.

the new Lap / console has also been a suprise. It turned out looking good, sounding good, and I love staring at the "clouds"
when playing it. The clouds were easy to cut out, and easy to inlay. I had the hummingbirds from before.

Everything has been tuned or retuned to open G. Or A for the parlor, plays the same.
That has made a big difference when using the different instruments, and will remain my tuning of choice for a while.

The Cloudburst now has 11 strings, 1 through 8 doubled, 5-6, 7-8 with an octave. Reminds me a bit of a Rickenbacher ele 12 string.
DD
BB
gG
dD
B
G
D

This is not what I started out to do, but turns out to be the best tuning for this one steel and my skill level.
Mostly straight bar chords, and melody. It even has the high G note I am used to on a 5-string, it's just in the middle.
The double strings complicat the slants, but there are some that work.

Sorry, I don't have a simple way to add sound bites yet, but spending some time reading the "recordings" section for info.

So I have started a another "lifelong" journey at 75. Why not ? It's a bit like getting a new lease on life.
A new to me other good reason to get out of bed and continue living.

Lap number three is under construction.

gkentr

[Allan Revich]

Welcome to your new obsession. When the steel bug bites, it bites deep! Your builds looks terrific, and I like that you are finding your own way with tunings.

I’ve found that the easiest and most intuitive way to extend my open G (or D) tunings when I have more than six strings is to add a sixth as a reentrant string. Something that you might want to consider.

[Gerald K. Robbins]

Hi Allen,
I willing to consider nearly anything.
After considering all the tunings for steel guitar I got a bit overwhelmed.

That's in part how I wound up using GBDGBD, for 6-string lap and then D-G-B-dD-gG-BB-DD. for the 11 string console.

And that's how I've been tuning the 5-string banjo, sorta, just drop one B.
It also uses a reentrant G note for the 5th string.

The tuning I'm now using for the Lap/Console has a reentrant string in the mix, string 6, out of 11, a high G.

It is the same high G note that is used on the 5-string banjo.

And If I'm careful i can hit that one high g note instead of both gG strings together.
When barred up at 12 or 15 that string is still the highest note in a chord.

For now just learning to use the bar instead of 4 fingers will keep me working.

gkentr

[Jeffrey McFadden]

Welcome to your new obsession. When the steel bug bites, it bites deep! Your builds looks terrific, and I like that you are finding your own way with tunings.

I’ve found that the easiest and most intuitive way to extend my open G (or D) tunings when I have more than six strings is to add a sixth as a reentrant string. Something that you might want to consider.

What do you mean by "reentrant"? I tried a Google search, but it only returned references to computing/computer programming. I even tried "reentrant note."
I have a wealth of ignorance if nothing else.

[Bill McCloskey]

Reentrant means that the next note up is LOWER than the one before. often indicated by lower case: GBDGBDe
in this example, sort by actual pitch it would look like this: GBDeGBD, but by making the top string reentrant, you can keep your dobro tuning intact, but include a 6th when you want a minor on the top string. A reentrant can also be on the bottom strings, in which case eGBDGBD would place the reentrant on the bottom with the actual pitch order being GBDeGBD

[Allan Revich]

Welcome to your new obsession. When the steel bug bites, it bites deep! Your builds looks terrific, and I like that you are finding your own way with tunings.

I’ve found that the easiest and most intuitive way to extend my open G (or D) tunings when I have more than six strings is to add a sixth as a reentrant string. Something that you might want to consider.

What do you mean by "reentrant"? I tried a Google search, but it only returned references to computing/computer programming. I even tried "reentrant note."
I have a wealth of ignorance if nothing else.

The simplest way to explain it is that the string closest to your body is pitched higher than the bass string closest to your body. Usually indicated by a lower case letter.

BTW if you Google “reentrant tuning” you should find plenty of info.

It’s important to understand though that the higher pitched note can actually be anywhere in the tuning, as in the examples that Bill has provided.