I think I like Herb Steiner and Robert Martin's answers best!
Much Thanks to Reece for dispelling many "old steelplayers' tales".
Yesterday I wrote this nice long post and just about the last line, the electricity went out and I lost the whole thing and I didn't feel like re-writing it all, but now I'm back to write it all over again for you lucky folks!
My first pedal steel was an early Fender 1000 D-8, then I went to a Sho-Bud S-10, ZB D-10, MSA D-10, and have played 10 string necks whether it was on a single or doubleneck ever since, with the exception in 1978 of owning a Sho-Bud permanent D-11, said to have built for Bobby Garrett. With that one, I found I really liked having that low E on E9th. I sure wish I'd kept that one.
After selling it I continued playing 10 strings, until around 2000 I went back to playing music full-time and wanted more than my old S-10 Sho-Bud with 3 & 2 as I'd taken a job as full-time steelplayer, so I called Bobbe Seymour. I told him I didn't have much cash and needed the most steel I could get for the money. He said he had an old MSA D-12 8 & 4 that was in good shape and he'd sell it for less than it was currently priced.
I bought it sight unseen and sent him a copedant to put on it, a newer setup than I'd been using for the last 30 years, so I could get more modern sounds. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about extended tunings and didn't have the time to learn, so it was basically a D-10 setup with two extra strings each neck.
It arrived in Kansas the same day we were "shipping out" for my first gig with this new band. We just had time to meet at the leader's house, grab the steel still in the shipping box, load it up and hit the road. I hadn't even seen it yet!
We got to the location, a county fair, and I set up the new/old MSA and only had maybe 20 minutes to familiarize myself with it before the show started. I'd never ever sat at a 12-string steel or played any set-up other than my own onstage. I give myself a couple points for guts, if nothing else. Come showtime, I had to kick-off the set with a kindof tricky steel lick, and it came out fine as did the rest of the show.
I found that I really liked the two extra low strings on the E9th, and the two high "chromatic" strings on the C6th, although I don't play a lot of C6th. A disadvantage of this steel was that the E9th low strings had no pulls, the B pedal didn't raise the 11th-string G# to A, and because I only had 4 knees, the extended tunings were not really being taken advantage of. The extra low strings mainly only gave me added range when a low G# or E was useful.
I also found that after a year and a half of playing this steel full-time, I still would sometimes get lost in the middle-string grips. I have no trouble at all seeing all the grips on 10 strings, but on the 12 I can't see them as well and I'd make more mistakes on it. I thought the string-spacing might be narrower until I measured it and found to my surprise that it was the same as my Sho-Bud S-10. Can't use that for an excuse. I finally took off the two low strings from the E9th neck, just to find out if that really was my problem. As a 10-string, it instantly eliminated my confusion and I played much better, but then didn't have the low range. I tried playing more C6th to get the lower range and fatter chords.
After quitting the band and moving here, I decided to try the 12 strings again, and also to try something new. I wanted a more complete extended E9th so I checked out b0b's site at
http://b0b.com/ and liked his Extended E9 setup. (Thanks b0b for providing us all with so much great info!) I took the bellcranks and rods from the C6th neck and used them to get as close to his setup as I could, without the vertical. I liked it enough to accept my problem with sometimes missing the middle grips.
Only thing was now I didn't have any pulls on C6, leaving me a non-pedal C6...
I gave it a lot of thought because I've read all the arguments for and against the "universal" setups but I decided to try it. I checked out some of the Universal setups b0b shows on his site and re-setup my E9th with a combination of a couple of the setups shown and I like it even better than the extended E9th I had just before. Funny thing is with the U-12 tuning, for some reason I don't get lost in the middle grips anymore.
In fact, I like it enough to sell my C6 neck, changer and keyhead. I don't want to start the universal vs. doubleneck argument, that's already been done to death. I'm just saying that for me, I really like the U-12, it works for me. For others, it may not be for them.
Even if I hadn't switched to the universal tuning, I would stay with the 12 string extended tunings, for the extra range.
I think the D-10 players' defense, "because (many famous steelplayers' names here) play or played D-10s" is not applicable, unless it is added that in their prime, the D-10 had much become the standard, even though the D-10's setups have never quite had a real standard. It's probably safe to say that the D-10 is still known more as a standard than any other configuration, but this is mostly because of the past. Standards always change with time, and so will the "standard" pedal steel. Buddy Emmons himself said it best:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Archives/Archive-000003/HTML/20011227-1-008515.html
Thanks for your as always invaluable comments and insight Buddy.
...And we all know that BE doesn't stay with the "standards", never has, or wouldn't have developed the pedal steel as he has, to the instrument we have today. I'm happy to let those who prefer the D-10 play them, and those who prefer the D-12, S-12 ext. or U-12 play them.
I'm having a ball with this U-12 setup though, and plan to keep at it.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 28 December 2004 at 03:42 PM.]</p></FONT>
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