tunings

[Jimmie Martin]

first what is the best tunings for 5 knee levers on an s-10? also if you tune the strings with the keys and then try to tune the knees and that changes the tuning of the keys. whats wrong?

[Eric West]

There are a few standard 5kl setups.

E lowers LL B Lower LVert E raises LR F#raises RL Eblower LR is about as standard as you can get.

If your change adjustments change your open tunings, then you don't have enough slack in your rods. Nothing should be "touching" in the open position. If you need more slack, your changer rods need to have more throw.

Different brands deal with this differently. Sho Bud PIIIs have set screws that sometimes need to be readjusted, and often fingers work loose from their set screws too. That's the usual problem.

WHat brand and model are you playing?

EJL

[Jimmie Martin]

i have a msa s-10 classic. i'm afraid that i'm a rookie. would you tell me exact like LL raises 4 and 8 to f and so on. i would appreciate it.

[Bill Moore]

Robert, it may be more clear if you check out some tuning charts, here are a couple. First there's B0b's tuning page: click here

Carter has a chart on their web site: click here

Carter has quite a lot if information on their <A HREF="http://www.steelguitarinfo.com/infoindex.html" TARGET=_blank>The Steel Guitar
Information Resource page</A>

And Eric is correct about the "slack" that needs to be in the tuning rods. The first thing to try would be to back off the tuning nuts, then tune the open strings, then tune the raises and lowers. If that doesn't work, you will need to add a little slack. The best thing to do would be to have a more experienced player look it over. Good Luck.

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<small>Bill Moore...
my steel guitar web page</font>

[Gary Carriger]

Robert,
Drop me an email with your email address and phone number. I played an MSA for 30 years (still have the guitar) - and talk you through how to fine tune the pulling mechanism.
Gary