Hand levers (Certano, Duesenberg) - novelty or the real deal?

[Ryan Radcliff]

I love lap steel. I’ve been playing for about 14 years now, and I want to stay here.

But I’d love to get some “3rd up to 4th” and “5th up to 6th” stuff happening without always bending behind the bar one at a time.

So hand levers. It looks like the Certano stuff is nice, but is it just a gimmick? I’m wary of messing with my right hand blocking. I’m wondering if these can really work in a gig.

[Sebastian Müller]

I borrowed a Duesenberg once to check the Hand Levers thing out. I realized that I have to totally change my right hand technique, bought a Emmons pedal steel instead But to. have that sound in a portable guitar is very tempting, for sure.

[Michael Lester]

Ryan.... I dipped my toes into this water a few years ago. As a pedal steel player, I wanted to try to mirror the string raises (and return) with a setup that worked for small, simple gigs using a lap steel with benders. I even went so far as to have an 8 string lap steel built with extra length behind the bridge to accommodate any of the various benders.

While waiting on the lap steel build, I borrowed a lap steel with benders from a friend, I had it for 5 or 6 weeks.

I quickly learned that the bender levers were very much in the way of my right hand - not occasionally, constantly. Playing the thing required a major shift in my hand position. Blocking was not even an option when the levers were in position. My hand position was awkwardly high while staging my palm on the levers. String accuracy was very difficult for me.

Frankly, maybe the worst of it was that the band didn't like the sound as compared to my pedal steel.

I've seen several videos featuring benders - a few were pretty good. Most were simply demos of bends - not in the context of being on stage with a band.

I'm not throwing shade on benders. I just failed to get it.

[K Maul]

I’ve had benders(Bigsby palm pedals, Hipshot, Certano) for 30 years. I don’t have them on all my lap steels. They are used sparingly, mostly in simple D or E tuning to get minor, 6 or dom7 chords. It took experimentation with the positioning but mine are not in the way of my usual right hand technique. I once adapted two Hipshots to a Supro and showed it to David Lindley at one of his shows. He tried them and said “oh… these are VERY useful!”.

[Ryan Radcliff]

Wow great replies guys - thank you.

I’ve had the same feelings about a floating picking hand.

That said - I’d love to see that hipshot install - I play a supro as well!

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha Ryan,

Just my 2¢...

There are no solutions, only trade-offs.

Both Certano and the Duesenberg multibender will do the job. They will give you the quintessential sound of the pedal steel's A and B pedals of going from the I to IV chord. You can play A LOT of music with just that. Include a handful of useful slants, and behind the bar bends, and you're cooking with gas.

Do you have to learn a new tuning? Yes.

Do you have to change how you play? Yes.

Do the benders get in your way? Yes.

Can you get used to it with a little practice and make pleasing music? Yes.

I just use it for what it is. I primarily play C6/A6 and B11 for straight lap steel. I have 2 steels set up with benders. One with Martin Huch's tuning, and the other with Luke Cyrus Goetz's tuning.

A lap steel with palm benders can indeed get all the quintessential pedal steel sounds. The player just has to know how to do it. Even musicians won't be able to tell the difference.

Is pedal steel awesome? Yes.

Can pedal steel do more than a lap steel with palm bender? Yes.

But pedal steels are also HEAVY and EXPENSIVE.

You can totally do a country gig with a lap steel with benders, or even just a straight lap steel. The audience won't care, as long as it sounds good.

At this point in my life, I don't have any desire to lug an 80lb pedal steel to a gig that takes 10-15 minutes to setup/teardown, to get paid $50-$100 to play country music. Especially if the pedal steel costs $5,000 to $10,000. Hell, I wouldn't even do it for a $250 gig. Still not worth it.

Most Country and Americana songs are going to just use I, IV, and V chords. You MIGHT have a song with a II7, iim7, a vim7 or a bVII chord in it. You don't need a pedal steel for those simple chord changes. You can do the entire gig on a lap steel with or without benders.

There are so many great players on YouTube playing lap steels with palm benders. Luke Cyrus Goetze is a very good example. He makes benders sound great on Country, Americana, Folk, Singer/Songwriter stuff. All you need are 2 palm benders, a working knowledge of a few slants, and behind the bar string pulls.

The common listener in your audience won't know the difference, and won't care.

Only closed minded and opinionated musicians will give you grief. But if they do, just tell em "Well I'll learn pedal steel if you buy me one."

Cause honestly, who the heck in their right mind is going to want to haul an 80lb, $10,000 instrument to a gig that pays $100?

All the old steel players end up quitting because they can't physically play anymore, much less haul an 80lb instrument to a gig and play 4 hours.

Pedal Steel has a gorgeous sound. I'm just being real and pragmatic.

Anytime I even think about the cost of pedal steel, and how heavy it is, I'm just like "That's a whole lotta nope."

Again, just my 2¢.

There are pedal steel players out there willing to haul their pedal steels to gigs, and I'm sure get paid more than $100 per gig.

That's just not something I have any interest in doing. To each their own.

[Bill McCloskey]

I bought a brand new Duesenberg a few years ago. I sold it a month later. The levers get in the way whether you are using them or not and string breakage was a real pain. Changing a string after it snapped from the hand pedals was a major operation and nothing you could do while on stage. Not worth it in my opinion.

[Justin Wierenga]

For me I can never mute correctly on steel or guitar with those, ditched every one I've had. I'll just pull behind the bar.

[Jack Hanson]

...bought a Emmons pedal steel instead

A wise decision, Sebastian!

There's people who can handle those hand levers, but I'm not one of 'em. Too big a sacrifice to abandon a lifetime of hard-earned right hand habits that have served me well for decades, as far as I'm concerned.

[K Maul]

- I’d love to see that hipshot install - I play a supro as well!

This is the best shot I have. I bent the mounting plate around the end of the guitar and cut back the two bender units. This was done originally in about 1990 maybe. Crude but effective. I now have a Certano on there and it works fine.

[K Maul]

Here’s closeup plus a shot of my other Supro with a Certano and a Stringtone which gives me G D and D6(Bm7) tunings.

[Tim Toberer]

Are there any that can be moved out of the way? That would be nice feature on something like this. I have never played one, but I have watched quite a few videos. My thoughts are, it is sort of a gimmick, but a very cool one. In the hands of someone skilled, it does sound exactly like a pedal steel. I don't see the harm in having them on a dedicated guitar. Can't argue with the portability of a lap steel verses a pedal steel. It seems most people end up wanting the real thing though.

[David Knutson]

I built a lap steel a few years back with the Duesenberg benders. It didn't really work for me, for the same right hand issues mentioned above, so I sold it on and got one of Jimmy Hudson's 6 string PSGs. That's a fun little steel - and it only weighs 15 lbs. I've brought it out to jams fully assembled in the back seat.
To Tim T.'s question - The levers on the Duesenberg benders do swing back out of the way at need.

[Michael Johnstone]

As primarily an E9, C6 and E9/B6 Universal pedal player for 50 years and now pretty much a non-pedal player due to left foot nerve damage during knee replacement surgery a couple years ago, my take on hand levers on a non-pedal steel is this:

If you have 8 or preferably 10 strings, a versatile tuning, you know what you're doing and can slant in tune, you don't need benders - even for country E9 pedal licks. On my Stringmasters, C13 or A6 were my primary tunings plus I dabbled with E13 and an extended dobro tuning which sounded great on a Stringmaster. For the last 5 months I've been playing the Doug Livingston 10 string C6/A7 tuning on an S-10 Melbert console steel with a pickup Rick Aiello wound for me. It's got D and B on top - kinda like the chromatic strings on an E9 pedal steel and a re-intrant F# in 10th position. These extra intervals and importantly, where they sit in the tuning, change everything. If I was gonna add any pitch bending devices it would be a couple mechanically simple knee levers. Simply because hand levers intolerably compromise a steel player's right hand string blocking as well as lacking the finesse you get with foot pedals. They're a non-starter for me. I tried Bigsby palm pedals on an electric guitar also in the mid 70s and I couldn't wait to get them off the guitar and out of my way. My right hand is already way too busy to mess with levers. And what if you're picking up over that "12th fret tone zone" - You couldn't reach them anyhow.

Here's the tuning and the gauges I'm using, and you need 10 strings. Strings 1 & 2 are self-explanatory if you're familiar with pedal E9 chromatic strings. Having the F# in 10th position gives you the note you'd get with the C6 pedal that lowers the low E string. You can also re-tune strings 8 & 9 (C# & A) to C & A# to get the Junior Brown C13 tuning. Either way the F# is real handy and having three tri-tones adds lots of close voicings and chromaticism to your meat and potatoes C6. It's the "Universal" of non-pedal guitars.
It could be transposed to any key - like E if you were an E9 oriented player and wanted familiar positions, although to my ear it has more balls tuned lower than that.
1. D .017p
2. B .020p
3. E .015p
4. C .018p
5. A .022w
6. G .024
7. E .030
8. C# .036
9. A .042
10. f# .026

[Cappone dAngelo]

Do you have to learn a new tuning? Yes.

Do you have to change how you play? Yes.

Do the benders get in your way? Yes.

Can you get used to it with a little practice and make pleasing music? Yes.

This is consistent with my experience - and for me it’s worth it to have a lap steel with benders. It doesn’t replace pedal steel, but it gives me more sounds than I’m able to get with a lap steel that doesn’t have benders.

For context, my setup (high to low) using a Multibender is:

E -> D#
B -> C#
G# -> A
E
B
E

I tried the E lower on the 4th string but found it near impossible to get the combinations I needed without shifting my hand position. But with the E lower on the high E it works much better (for me). The thumb side of my palm controls the G# raise, the other side controls the B raise, and my pinky controls the E lower. I can press both the G# raise and E lower (for example, for dominant chords), and any combinations of the G# and B raises, without moving my hand position. I use behind-the-bar bends instead of an E raise, so I in effect have the equivalent of pedals A and B and levers E and F.

I also recently added a Pitch-Key (thanks whoever started the thread about it here!) which I use to lower the G# to G, which gives me additional voicing options. It’s worked incredibly well for such a simple and affordable device.

[Michael Kiese]

If you have 8 or preferably 10 strings, a versatile tuning, you know what you're doing and can slant in tune, you don't need benders - even for country E9 pedal licks.

If I was gonna add any pitch bending devices it would be a couple mechanically simple knee levers. Simply because hand levers intolerably compromise a steel player's right hand string blocking as well as lacking the finesse you get with foot pedals. They're a non-starter for me.

My right hand is already way too busy to mess with levers. And what if you're picking up over that "12th fret tone zone" - You couldn't reach them anyhow.

Aloha Michael,

You make very good points here. I was compelled to add my 2¢ so please forgive my indulgence. To me, everything boils down to 2 things: 1) "there are no solutions, only tradeoffs." and 2) The common listener in the audience only knows whether they like the music or not. If you can get your audience to enjoy your performance, nothing else matters.

For your first point, I completely agree with you. That aligns with Jerry Byrd's philosophy. The tradeoff is that Jerry had a highly uncommon intellect and work ethic. Jerry harped on knowing your slants and multiple tunings. I'm still surprised that many players have an aversion to slants, but it is what it is. I love slants. They really unlock the full potential of C6. That said, even I'm unwilling to quickly change tunings during a setlist like Jerry did. It's very impractical, and just not worth it to me. IF I change tuning, it's in-between sets, and I stick to that new tuning throughout the next set and I feature songs in that tuning. The common listener in the audience only knows whether they like the music or not. They don't care what tuning I use, nor the type of steel I play. That said, I've studied a bunch of Jerry's transcriptions in other tunings. He has a handful of songs in 2 or 3 different tunings. Jerry may transpose the song key for different tunings, but he's pretty much applying the same diatonic approach to playing the melody in all tunings. The biggest difference is that certain tunings offer unique dominant chord voicings and V to I cadences that are very pleasing. I identify those little golden nuggets and try to get them on C6.

For your second point, there's a nice gentleman in the UK named Quen Drury who is making a lap steel with knee levers called the "AB steel". I don't know if he ever got into production yet. But the AB Steel fulfills your desire of a bending lap steel with knee levers. Actually, I just rewatched the youtube video, and there's a comment from MikeJohnstone8638, so that may be you. Perhaps you are already aware of the AB Steel. I think the AB Steel is very promising and has a lot of potential. I'll probably get one if it's ever offered. In my humble opinion, combining his RKR and RKL knee levers with palm benders would be VERY versatile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXYuLuVEQPo

For your third point, that's a valid observation. Palm levers certainly are a trade-off. You gain one unique sound that offers a new set possibilities, but you lose another unique sound and its set of possibilities. That old adage of "there are no solutions, only trade offs" just keeps popping up in life over and over, lol. That said, if you just embrace the trade-off and accept a different way of playing, you can still achieve pleasing musical sounds. Luke Cyrus Goetze exemplifies that. His videos on YouTube are VERY pleasing to my ear. If a certain song requires palm blocking, I rotate the palm benders out of the way on my Duesenberg multibender. Even though I have 3 benders on the top 3 strings, I'm still able to comfortably palm block. If you had 2 palm benders, they'd both be completely out of the way. So you get the best of both worlds.

So to sum up, my personal trade-off preference is that I'd rather just play lap steel and dabble with palm benders. At the end of the day, the listener doesn't know or care what instrument/tunings I use. All they care about is if they enjoyed my performance. I've observed many musician kupuna (elders) and have noted that age comes for us all. The old timers sometimes can no longer play physically demanding instruments like upright bass, and old steel players develop arthritis, their backs start hurting, their hands start to hurt, and their vision starts to go. I want to play as long as possible, well into old age. Jerry Byrd made it to 85 years of age, and he played VERY well into his 80's. That alone is proof that Jerry's approach works. It's far easier to travel with a lap steel than a PSG. I can easily hand carry my steel on any flight. I'll be able to continue playing far longer than if I had to lug a 80lb pedal steel case everywhere. So that's my personal trade-off.

Like I said, just my 2¢. I wanted to add to your points, not take away from them.

[K Maul]

Are there any that can be moved out of the way?

Yes, Duesenbergs and the Certanos can all be moved out of the way if you’re not using them. The old Bigsby palm pedals could not be moved out of the way but I still managed to position it so that it didn’t get in my way. If I am using palm pedals I don’t use palm blocking,…obviously… I use pick blocking.

[Michael Kiese]

Do you have to learn a new tuning? Yes.

Do you have to change how you play? Yes.

Do the benders get in your way? Yes.

Can you get used to it with a little practice and make pleasing music? Yes.

This is consistent with my experience - and for me it’s worth it to have a lap steel with benders. It doesn’t replace pedal steel, but it gives me more sounds than I’m able to get with a lap steel that doesn’t have benders.

I also recently added a Pitch-Key (thanks whoever started the thread about it here!) which I use to lower the G# to G, which gives me additional voicing options. It’s worked incredibly well for such a simple and affordable device.

Aloha Capone,

Mahalo for the consensus. Sounds like we are on the same page. Palm Benders offer a great way to get idiomatic PSG sounds while maintaining the form factor of a lap steel. It just takes a bit of practice and an open mind.

I primarily play straight steel C6/A6, and B11. I lead a Hawaiian Band that's the house band of a Tiki Bar. I was born and raised in Hawaii and live on the mainland US now. Being able to perform live Hawaiian music has been good for my soul.

That said, I was very interested in getting PSG sounds w/o the barrier to entry of cost and the physical size and weight. I am very inspired by what Luke Cyrus Goetze is doing on YouTube with his benders and tuning. Palm benders offer a great contemporary steel sound that's not idiomatic of Hawaiian/Western Swing/Jazz. I treat learning to play with palm benders as its own separate instrument for the purposeful application of playing contemporary pop music (70's and on).

The majority of my friends like to play songs outside of the Hawaiian/Western Swing genre, and I find the palm benders are a great way to get contemporary sounds. Lap Steel with Benders are very useful on songs by Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell...pretty much anything singer/songwriter with vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar (which covers A LOT of the repertoire of guitar players).

Albeit, there is the trade-off of learning a new way of playing with the palm benders. Like you, I think it's completely doable. Why not have both right?

Lastly, I love the Pitch Key as well! They are super pragmatic and simple. My main gigging steel is a RickenBacher ACE. I LOVE how it sounds (even though I also have Frypans and Bakelites). I can only fit 3 Pitch Keys on my headstock, but they add convenience for me to tune between C6, A6, and B11. I still have to manually change the 6th string, but having 3 strings that can quickly change tuning with decent accuracy is very helpful in a bind. I still don't like changing tuning mid-set though, LOL. I much prefer to change tunings between sets, and just keep that tuning for the entire set.

But it's convenient to be able to quickly change tuning if someone sits in and leads a song on a gig. Or, if I'm in a jam situation.

I'd love a device that could be added to most any lap steel which could quickly and accurately change tuning between C6, A6, and B11 with the push of a button. But I'm a market of 1 person. LOL.