Who invented split tuning?

Doug Jones · Post by **Doug Jones** » 3 Sep 2009 1:07 pm

Most the modern guitars have a split tune function. I'm curious who invented it? Was it Bruce Z?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 3 Sep 2009 2:07 pm

i'm curious too. i think there was some contention about this between the emmons co., zumsteel and jch.

emmons had the biggest ad campaign.

at any rate...the best 'new standard' innovation to come along for steel for some time. hard to believe that was almost 30 years ago now. ...seems like just the other day...

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 3 Sep 2009 3:38 pm

I first heard about it as a feature of the all-pull Emmons. Check this out from June 1978:
http://www.b0b.com/sgwest/pp7806p6.htm

Reece quickly responded with skepticism, and described a half-stop technique that he used to get the same effect.
http://www.b0b.com/sgwest/pp7808p6.htm

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 3 Sep 2009 5:57 pm

not getting alot out of those links b0b...and now i want to know!

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 3 Sep 2009 7:36 pm

I have no idea who invented it. Emmons was the 1st to make it standard for every string on the guitar.

I seem to remember someone writing. That Emmons Guitar. toyed with the idea in the mid 60's.But never perfected it enough to make it a standard feature on the P/p's. Note the 3rd row of tuners on Dave Rollens 64 PP.Not sure when they were added. I'm sure Mike Cass knows the story..

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 3 Sep 2009 8:34 pm

I'm sure it wasn't common on any guitar before John McClung wrote that June 1978 article. It was the first that we had heard of such an advance out here on the west coast. Of course, news traveled much slower then, by word of mouth and real snail-mail newsletters like ours.

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 4 Sep 2009 12:49 pm

In 1965 or so I came up with a split tuning system that required a third set of tuners on a push-pull I had been playing and I believe Dave Robbins may still have the guitar or at least pictures of it. It worked but required more travel than I wanted to deal with. When the Legrande came out, the physics of the all pull system allowed the same theory to be applied without the travel problems so it became a standard feature.

Split tuning has been kind of an insider thing for years and didn’t start to get popular until someone revealed the advantages of it.

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 4 Sep 2009 12:53 pm

It is Dave Robbins isn't it?

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 4 Sep 2009 1:08 pm

Adding a small raise to the lever that lowers B to A# is kind of an obvious way to tune A#, C and C# independently. I'm sure it's been used for as long as there were all-pull changers.

Jay Yuskaitis · Post by **Jay Yuskaitis** » 4 Sep 2009 2:20 pm

I do not believe anyone "INVENTED IT" it was always there waiting to be discovered!
Jay Y.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 4 Sep 2009 2:36 pm

I believe it is Dave, Buddy.
Hook

John Bresler R.I.P. · Post by **John Bresler R.I.P.** » 4 Sep 2009 4:40 pm

I didn't know about it until I picked up one of Buddy Emmons courses and it was explained on the inside back cover and how to hook it up. I just assumed that Buddy invented the idea.

I went for it and have used it for many years. Thanks Buddy!!

Jack Strayhorn · Post by **Jack Strayhorn** » 4 Sep 2009 7:45 pm

Ron Lashley held the patent. It was part of a changer he designed prior to the LeGrande.

Jack Strayhorn · Post by **Jack Strayhorn** » 4 Sep 2009 7:50 pm

Dave Robbins, at one time, did have a push-pull with the third row of tuning screws. I don't know how many guitars were built like this but I think I have seen more than just the one Dave had.

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 4 Sep 2009 9:40 pm

Buddy Emmons wrote:It is Dave Robbins isn't it?

Yes, It was Dave Robbins I was thinking of. Not Dave Rollens as I wrote. Dave Rollens works on my lawn mower. But that's a different story.

And thanks for your input. It's not often we get it from the horses mouth..............bb

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 5 Sep 2009 3:54 am

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Sep 2009 4:50 am

Ron Lashley held the patent.

Yeah, I would have expected that.

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 5 Sep 2009 5:01 am

I believe that Ron Lashley made one for Weldon Myrick. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 5 Sep 2009 7:15 am

I’m with Donny Hinson. Ron applied for a patent after he left my home with a board I had constructed with the split tuning system on it. The mind blowing part was I saw Ron again a few months later and he started explaining to me how split system worked. How’s that for short term memory loss?

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 5 Sep 2009 7:23 am

By the way, that's a rhetorical question.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 5 Sep 2009 7:47 am

Buddy Emmons wrote:I’m with Donny Hinson. Ron applied for a patent after he left my home with a board I had constructed with the split tuning system on it. The mind blowing part was I saw Ron again a few months later and he started explaining to me how split system worked. How’s that for short term memory loss?

And the truth shall set you free.

Thanks Buddy for revealing what a lot of us have thought for year's....You da man.
BD

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 5 Sep 2009 12:42 pm

Buddy I sure wish that you would consider a long DVD interview and/or a book. When you post here, I hang on every word. It just makes my day, thank you.

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 5 Sep 2009 2:16 pm

Yep, what Charles said! First time I met Buddy was at the Pedal Steel Guitar Emporium on Lake St. in Mpls.
Thanks Buddy

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 5 Sep 2009 3:59 pm

Here is a picture of the endplate on my 1964 Emmons Wraparound #5 number 764005 for July 1964 #5.
Three sets of holes for tuning screws. However, I suspect that the reason for the three sets is not for split tuning. The guitar's original owner was the man who taught Buddy Cage to play steel. Buddy Cage got the guitar from his teacher and in 1965 had the two of them had Emmons replace the 1964 Wraparound changer with the updated 1965 Wraparound changer. I suspect that the improved leverages and different size of the 1965 fingers required a new row of holes in the endplate.
Or, I am wrong and the guitar had splits at one time.
All my other Wraparounds have just two rows of holes in the endplates so I cannot compare.
Chris Lucker

Mitch Ellis · Post by **Mitch Ellis** » 5 Sep 2009 4:23 pm

Buddy,
Do you still have the Blade? If so, what year model is it and do you play it very often? Did you build it yourself? What pick-up do you have on it? Please forgive all the questions.
Thank you,
Mitch