What to do with My Franklin pedal

[Billy Murdoch]

I have a Zum Steel (from new) with Emmons setup and a Franklin pedal on position 1.
I have had this guitar since 2007 and I never did like the Franklin change so I removed the pedal and left the pull rods in place.
Can anyone suggest a useful retune for this pedal (maybe One string or two string pulls)
Thanks
Billy

[Andrew Frost]

I've found raising string6 G# to A# on the zero pedal to be very useful and versatile.

[Dave Grafe]

I separated the Franklin combo changes, putting strings 5 and 10 B>A on P4 and string 6 G#>F# on RKL. I use the low A quite a lot, especially to anchor runs, I've so far not so much use for the string 5 lower with or without string 6 other than the occasional moment when the Franklin combo can add a nice color, more of an effect to me than the useful chord element presented by most other changes. YMMV

[Fred Treece]

I play a 12-string with a low G#>A change on pedal B, so I took off the Franklin on string 10. I still have it on 5&6 but it mostly just sits there. I tried a 1/2 step raise, didn’t like that so I tried a 1/2 lower. Neither made much sense, since those interval combinations can be gotten by other means, and I didn’t think the effect was that….effective. I’ll be watching this thread.

[Mike Preuss]

I've found raising string6 G# to A# on the zero pedal to be very useful and versatile.

I second this change on the zero pedal

[Fred Treece]

One idea I’ve been kicking around is changing my pedal 5 from Franklin to a -1/2 on strings 4,8, 9 and —1 on 2. Full 2-octave pentatonic from 11-1 in B6 mode with no clunker on 9. I already have a Bb lower on pedal 1 (splits with 2A).

[Andrew Frost]

One idea I’ve been kicking around is changing my pedal 5 from Franklin to a -1/2 on strings 4,8, 9 and —1 on 2. Full 2-octave pentatonic from 11-1

Interesting idea Fred. But in my view not dissimilar to the D pentatonic sound on all 10 strings with the B pedal down (and covers 11 strings if you're on ext E9....) Granted you have to lower string 2 as well so perhaps its not a 'one stop shop' like the pedal you describe.

[Andrew Frost]

With all the fixation on so called "C6 sounds" on E9 it baffles me that no one as I far as I've seen has used a spare pedal to drop 10 B-> G# and 9 D-> C for a 7#9 "boo-wah light" effect when Es are lowered.

[Fred Treece]

One idea I’ve been kicking around is changing my pedal 5 from Franklin to a -1/2 on strings 4,8, 9 and —1 on 2. Full 2-octave pentatonic from 11-1

Interesting idea Fred. But in my view not dissimilar to the D pentatonic sound on all 10 strings with the B pedal down (and covers 11 strings if you're on ext E9....) Granted you have to lower string 2 as well so perhaps its not a 'one stop shop' like the pedal you describe.

Andrew,
I have all 5 pentatonic positions up and down the neck, technically across all 12 strings. Sliding around between them is great fun. Only the “E’s lowered” one is incomplete and it bugs me.

[Larry Allen]

I also raise 6 G# to A# on 0 pedal, add A pedal to raise B to C# to get a 6 9 -5, add 4 & 8 lowered for Maj7, 6 9 -5.. lots of melodic runs and passing chords..

[Fred Treece]

The coolest thing with the +1 on strings 5 and 6 is the James Bond mM9 chord on strings 10-9-7-6-5 with the raise on. I have another way of getting it with my 0 pedal and couple levers, otherwise that’s what I would have done with the Franklin, too.

[Andrew Frost]

Ya the G#->A# is great. On its own it makes E9#11, or a Bmaj7 with Es lowered.
It really comes to life when used with the A pedal next to it. All sorts of F# stuff with Es lowered or raised like Larry described. F#6, F#maj7, F#9...
With Es lowered on E9, it basically does what old school pedal 4 ( A to B ) does on C6, and along with the A pedal it creates the C6 pedal 7 sound. The John Barry oo7 chord Fred is talking about is indeed cool. P6&7 on C6 but also available with the zero pedal A# raise on E9.

This is a bit heady but because it creates so much F# tonality with the A pedal, it is almost a reverse Franklin in that those pedals, zero & A, when released, drop string 5&6 a parallel whole tone and drop the 3rd and 5th out of the chord the same way ye olde Franklin pedal does.