Strangest Pull On Your Guitar

DroopyPawn · Post by **DroopyPawn** » 29 Nov 2003 7:09 pm

What do you have on your pedal steel that nobody else uses? And why? Feel free to post tablature examples.

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Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 29 Nov 2003 9:14 pm

I had this cool "pedal 0" change for a while, but I didn't use it much so I took it off: <pre>
P0 RKR
F#
D# -D
G# -G
E
B +C
G# +A
F# +G
E
... </pre>I still have the RKR of course. Combining it with that P0 change gave me the top 6 strings of the C6th tuning on my S-12. It had other uses too, but I forget what they were.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 29 November 2003 at 09:17 PM.]

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 29 Nov 2003 9:16 pm

I don't have any spectacular changes on my guitar, however; the most unique factor of my steel is the positioning of the changes. My standard C6 pedals #4 & #7 are on the LKV & LKL respectively! My LKR lowers strs.#1(1-tone) #2(1/2-tone) & raises str.#6(1/2-tone), and my RKR raises str.#5(1/2-tone) The standard #4 pedal raises str.#7(1/2-tone) & #7 raises strs.#4 & #8(1/2-tone) and I have a 9th. Pedal that raises str.#6(1/2-tone). RKL lowers str.#3(1/2-tone C to B) This configuration makes playing very comfortable! Most of it is taken from the B6 part of Bill Stafford's set-up, plus a few ideas of my own! I stole it from him in 1990! Thanks Bill!

BTW: On my (9-pedal) guitar, My E9 neck uses pedals 1,2,3,4 and my C6 neck uses pedals 4,5,6,7,8,9. Plus the (5) KL's on ea. neck. It's the only PSG I own!

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“Big John” Bechtel
http://community.webtv.net/KeoniNui/BigJohnBechtels

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 29 Nov 2003 9:23 pm

Yes on my E9th....I raise my 1st string a whole tone and 2nd string a half tone and lower my 7th string a whole tone all on the up lever.
Also raise my 4th string a whole tone and lower the 8th string a whole tone on an extra Left knee..
Also; raise my first string a half tone and lower my second string a half tone and lower my 6th string a whole tone(split with B pedal) all on one knee lever.
My whole copedent is here> http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/rickydfulawkacopedent.html

But I ain't giving away my secrets though..ha..>just listen to the CD's I cut on and you'll figure it out...ah..ha

>Just kiddin'..I'd be glad to share some tab/examples.....>but don't have the time right now...Sorry; but at least I answered the first part of your question as those are some strange pulls..ha
Ricky

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 29 Nov 2003 9:24 pm

I neglected to mention that being set up in this fashion allows me pedal combinations that are not possible without having to use both feet on the pedals. I've never used two feet for as long as I've used my present set-up!

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“Big John” Bechtel
http://community.webtv.net/KeoniNui/BigJohnBechtels

John Steele (deceased) · Post by **John Steele (deceased)** » 30 Nov 2003 1:32 am

I have my 9th string set to lower a whole tone to Eb with my 8th pedal, rather than than the usual half-tone to E.
Although you lose the perfect 5th for your 7#9 "boo-wah" chord, you gain the root for the alternative 13th chord a tritone away. This combined with the alterations you can pile on top of it make it an interesting change for me.
But, with current tastes downplaying the significance of the 8th pedal combinations, perhaps I'm way out of fashion. I still think it's an unexplored minefield.
Rick Schmidt could say more about that change than I could, as he's explored it with a keen and open harmonic mind.
-John

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 30 Nov 2003 3:09 am

#1.

Half length, slim line, short pedals, mounted between ABC pedals.
Advantages characterized by easy access, when mounted properly, and utilized to eliminate the need for additional knee levers.

#2.

The "upright" fretboard. Visual advantages unlimited. Increased speed, less fatigue, much less eyestrain, make this new development in advancements for the future, a hot item to consider.

Bill H.

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 30 Nov 2003 5:25 am

While I had a T-10 Marlen, I was able to use a change Jimmy Day had shown me. On one of the X6th necks, I would change the Bob White M7/M9 pedal so that the M7th was a m7th, a half tone raise instead of the usual whole tone raise. Try it sometime...it's an unusual sound !! Just detune your M7 pull. When I went to a D-12, I went back to the normal M7/M9 pulls.

Regards, Paul

Jack Francis · Post by **Jack Francis** » 30 Nov 2003 9:18 am

Mine just keeps trying to pull away from me.

RON PRESTON · Post by **RON PRESTON** » 30 Nov 2003 9:53 am

I raise the 4th, (E), to F#, and lower the B to a Bflat on my Vertical, sweet 5 chord.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 30 Nov 2003 10:14 am

On my U-12, my 4th pedal is the B6 "D" pedal which raises the G# string to Bb and the B string to C#. By placing it where it is, it can also be used in conjucntion with the C pedal on the E9 side of the tuning.

I don't do this often, but it's nice to have when you want it.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 30 Nov 2003 10:32 am

John S...thanks for the vote of confidence!
I don't know how "keen" my mind is, but I guess it is "open"...Like a sieve.

It was you who first turned me on to that cool C6 change, I just so happened to have had a couple of other unusal changes to play in conjuntion with it (on my D12-10+6 "monster experimental living room axe") to make that pull come to life for me. Thanks again!

Holding down that low F to Eb, first I'll pull both E's to F on my LKR, which raises the b9's to a 9. I'll also use the A's to A# RKR to unflat the 5's. I use this much in the same way as the old pedal 6&7 combo. It just sounds cooler to me. The notes inside all these alt 7th chords seem to move around more fluidly (and differently)...ala Bill Evans etc.

Another thing that works great is that I also lower my low F to D on a pedal placed between the traditional 7 & 8 (my pedal 9). Also an unusual change! Great for jazzy minors! So now when I'm over on the far right side of my pedals, I've got all kinds of full voiced/open sounding chords from the bass up. It's like I'm "kicking" bass pedals by moving around from my 9th to 10th pedals. These days when I'm working out solo jazz chord melody stuff, I find myself using all the usual pedals 5,6, & 7 alot less since I stumbled (thanks to you John) on this great group of changes.

[This message was edited by Rick Schmidt on 30 November 2003 at 10:46 AM.][This message was edited by Rick Schmidt on 30 November 2003 at 10:55 AM.]

Bengt Erlandsen · Post by **Bengt Erlandsen** » 30 Nov 2003 11:41 am

Instead of the regular E9 raise on both F#'s I have one guitar w RKR = 6 G#-A# & 1 F#-G#.
One can feel a sort of half stop when used together w A+B so I can get the G on string 1.
And the 6string G#-A# can be used together w A or A+B or A+F.

Bengt Erlandsen[This message was edited by Bengt Erlandsen on 30 November 2003 at 11:48 AM.]

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 30 Nov 2003 1:14 pm

I put on a Knee lever that turned my Legrande II into a Maverick. But once I had activated it, it wasn't there any more and I could'nt get back to Legrande... so I can't really recommend that change.

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 30 Nov 2003 1:37 pm

Mine is becoming one of my favorites.

I ONLY needed 5 pedals to achieve the copedent I wanted when I ordered my universal 12 (Excel). But the price included a 6th pedal.

So after thinking about it, I decided to do something I had long wanted to do on my C neck on my D-10 LeGrande. And that is a "blues" pedal.

On the standard C6 neck I have long wanted to lower the 2nd string E to
Eb; along with lowering the 6th string to Eb. But because there was no way of doing this without giving up something else, I never did it.

Since I had already decided to relocate pedal 6 (C6) to RKR on my U-12, I decided to make the new 6th pedal a blues pedal. However, it required something that is rarely done on a PSG.

And that is; lower a string a full tone and a half. IE, lower the 4th string from E to C#. Then splitting this lower with RKR (C6 6th pedal) to a D note.

This permits me to go from an Eb note (4th string in the B6 mode) to a D note; AND have the octave D note on the 8th string as well. Or a really great blues change. I do this by engaging RKR and the 6th pedal which lowers the 4th string from and E to an C# note while the string is being raised to an E note (when the E's are held to Eb in the B6th mode).

After I got it; I noticed that it even works using E9th sounds. Kinda like PF's knee lever with the 1st string F# to G# licks. When using the 6th pedal by itself, it can give some haunting sounds when using harmony strings with it. It also works well by itself when in the B6 mode.

So it ended up being much more than I ever thought when I was simply trying to get a "Blues" pedal.

To Summarize:

1. E9th--engage pedal 6 gives a haunting sound either down and up. Or Up from Down. Or Down to up. It is such a great lick; in and of itself.

2. B6th--engage pedal 6 gives a suspended and really works great in a lot of melodies. Since it is part of the B6 scale it really comes in handy at times in a "moving" tone situation.

3. B6th--splitting pedal 6 with RKR gives me a D note which, as an example, allows me to play say "Steelin the Blues" at any fret.

I can't tell you how much I use this very unusual change.

I also added another pull with this change on pedal 6 and that is to raise the 11th string a whole tone to F#. This is like raising the 9th string on D-10 to a G note.

This even further enhanced the blues note while playing in the B6th mode but it works beautifully also when used in the E9th mode since it is part of the E9th scale.

Picking string 11 and engaging the 6th pedal and then releasing it creates a pretty sound. When strumming all 8 strings (11 thru 4) then engaging the pedal and releasing it, makes for a terrific ending, or lick, on a lot of country songs.

carl

carl

ed packard · Post by **ed packard** » 30 Nov 2003 1:53 pm

Aside from using the "STAFFORDISM" of P7 moved to a knee lever, and using the top four strings in the extended C6 configuration (E,F#,G#,C#)on an E69/B6 "universal" 14 string, two pedals open up a world of chords. These are explained in the TUNINGS section of the forum under the "PST 13 series" heading. Ped's X,Y,Z are P3,P4,R> on my setup. The principle can be moved to C6, E9, A6, and other tuning structures.

The tuning, the computer program that developed it, and the Zirc bars can be seen at the Mesa AZ show in Jan.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 30 Nov 2003 1:54 pm

I should have used Carl's change.

See, I too put on a pedal change that allowed me to play blues music, but instead of changing any strings, it caused my woman to run off with another man, forced me to drink muddy water, and ultimately sleep in a hollow log.

Do you have any idea what other creatures sleep in hollow logs?!

Needless to say, I took that pedal off immediately. But the damage was done.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

DroopyPawn · Post by **DroopyPawn** » 30 Nov 2003 3:19 pm

Bill Hankey, got any pictures of that?

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Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 30 Nov 2003 7:51 pm

Herb: One of my exs; I forget which one; thankfully; used to say after a few beers:

I feel like a new man !

Then she'd go get one......

Regards, Paul

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 1 Dec 2003 12:40 am

Yes, I would be delighted to send photographs, if you would e-mail an address. I appreciate your interest. Your thread is very helpful for those who enjoy reading about what others have done to gain new ground, and to find adaptable ideas, applicable for the steel guitar.

Bill H.

John Sims · Post by **John Sims** » 1 Dec 2003 5:38 am

Here's mine...
http://www.netside.net/~c3i/details.doc

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Regards,

John

Steelin' is a way of life!

My PSG website-Carter SD-12-U, 8p/5k, Nashville 1000

[This message was edited by John Sims on 01 December 2003 at 05:41 AM.]

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 1 Dec 2003 11:54 am

Not really a strange pull but an unusual combination - on my LKR (E9 neck) I raise the 1st string a half tone to G and the 7th string a whole tone to G#. When I showed it to a very gifted PSG mechanic over here, he said: "But nobody does that! You´ll want to raise the first string a whole tone in order to play all those Alan Jackson tunes!" My reply was: "Well I never play those..." I´d rather put on changes that I actually use and those two happen to be two of my favorites, instead of "what everyone else has". I really like the F# to G raise on string 1 and also find lots of use for the whole step on 7, having just four knee levers the combination seemed reasonable and it works fine for me.

Regards, Joe H.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 1 Dec 2003 3:36 pm

Like several others, I have moved changes on my C neck onto knee levers. Traditional pedal 8 is on LKL and pedal 7 is on RKR. No more 2 foot playing. Also, on my 9th pedal when used with my RKR (old pedal 7), I have a change that throws my strings 3 through 8 into a G tuning for use with a dobro simulator. It takes 6 E down to D, string 7 C down to B, string 8 A down to G, and string 10 C up to D.