The Steel Guitar Forum

I have two left knee verticals. LVL raises my F#s to G, and LVR lowers my G#s to G. I don't use them at the same time, but I do engage the LVR lever with my LKR(IN)lever which lowers the top two Es to D# quite often. I've tried to maintain a cluster arrangement for the six left knee levers.

Dennis

More Hankey Pankey?

Mickd, Try loosening the holding plates for that knee lever and slide it slightly away from the bellcrank shaft. This will tilt the lever in slightly but also give the ball joint more travel from a lower center line. You can also do this by unscrewing the threaded rod that attaches the knee lever to...

Chas, There might be part of a broken string inside the changer that is pulling both strings when you engage pedal 4. Try to look inside the changer between strings 8 and 9. Using a flashlight may help. If you see an obstruction between these changer mechanisms try to remove it with a piece of wire ...

Bob, I agree with Bobby and Carl on this one. The E to F raise on strings 4, 8, and even 11 (optional) define the essence of pedal steel guitar playing. No other instrument allows you to sustain through all inversions of major and minor triads as you slide up or down the strings. With this change yo...

I use 3 finger picks and 1 thumb pick. The 4 note grips are essential for 9th and other upper extension chords on the E9th tuning. Playing harmonics with the little finger is no problem.

Dennis

Bill,
I forgot to mention that the E to F# minor chord change includes the B pedal (P2) which changes the G# strings to A. Sorry.

Dennis

Bill, That sounds more like what is considered the C pedal in standard E9th tuning. That would be pedal 3 on most steel guitars. But if the 4th E-F# and 5th B-C# change is on the 1st pedal, then that is called the "Day" tuning arrangement for the pedals on the E9th. Jimmy Day used that set...

Gary, Some basics in the pros and cons of using the U-12 tuning are: Pros - A single tuning with all the B6th changes when the E-Eb lever is engaged. Lighter weight and less strings to manage. Cons - Not a complete E9th when compared to the Dbl.-10. With the missing D string an important filler note...

David, A cluster of knee levers is arranged so that the inside levers are positioned closer to the front of the guitar and are closer to the knee at your normal sitting position. The outside levers are positioned closer to the player and are spaced farther apart. This allows engaging the inside leve...

Lynn,
I use a thin cardboard strip about 1/2" wide cut to length. As said before, interweave the strip between the strings then slide it close to the changer. Use lots of reverb. You can move the bar to get notes but do not use any slides.

Michael, All 3 of those changes are good. If I had a S-10 I'd use the standard 3 pedals along with 6 knee levers (4 left & 2 right). The 3 lever changes you mentioned along with the somewhat standard lever changes (E's down to D#; E's up to F; and strings 2 & 9 down to C#). With these 9 chan...

Scott, The standard E9th tuning is good for playing the pentatonic scale. With string 2 lowered to D and your G$ strings raised to A, at the 4th fret the notes sre: E G A B +D E A +D -G B With just 1 pedal and 3 or 4 knee levers you can play all inversions (pockets) of the Major or Minor Pentatonic ...

Dave, I am about to change my first 3 pedals to the Day setup (CBA). I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot so to speak. Have you used that setup all along? It seemed like a better arrangement along with pedal 4 (lower G#-A# strings) on my Universal tuning. I had tried using that pedal 4 change ...

Play the steel guitar in what ever type of music you play. It has the sound and it has the potential. If you like the sound then create with it. The steel guitar may never be truely recognized until it is featured in a group that is popular to the younger generation. Maybe a new style of music needs...

I have both of my E-string levers on the left which is how Sierra sets up the Universal (LKL E-F, LKR E-D#). I place these levers forward and as close together as possible for quick engagement. Some people like to have them on separate knees so that the change from one to the other is immediate and ...

Hi fellas, It looks like a lot of people are showing some interest in this subject again, or still. Bruce, if need be, perhaps if there are 50 steel players willing to pitch in (get it, Pitch In-Midi Out) $500 each we could form a midi steel organization and purchase the rights to the IVL mystery ch...

Mark,

Make sure the 2nd string pull is backed off compleatly before adjusting the longest pull on the 1st string. Then use all the other guy's techniques to finish that pull. Once the longest pull is set, adjust the 2nd string pull. Good luck.

Hi Chris,

You'll lose an important scale tone if the F# is not available with the lower C#.

Dennis

Hi everybody, I think Larry has the right idea here. Every steel guitar tuning provides a unique approach to what music can be played on the instrument. Each difference in tuning has an advantage in what it allows the player to create. The 6th tunings provide a more open chord approach while the 9th...

Hi Don,

Your new tuning looks good. Why don't you use all 12 of your strings on the Kline? A high F# at the 3rd string position would be very useful. It would provide a note in the high range which could also be raised to G# (P1} for the B to E chord change.

Dennis

I use 4 picks (thumb + 3). I've always preferred playing complete 7th chords when needed. Spacing out the voicing of the notes requires at least 4 picks, especially on the E9th neck.

Crowbear, Jim and Joe's suggestion of lowering strings 2 and 9 are probably your best option. The change you use with your LKL lever (E-F#) is good, but with only 3 knee levers lowering 2 and 9 is better. I'd add a 4th knee lever (LKR) to get the E-F# change back. I use that change on LKL(Out). Sinc...

Hi Brian, Your copedant looks good. I would miss having the low B, but the Extended E9th is probably better for scale runs across the strings. Some suggestions I'd have would be to include a D to C# change on string 9 with your VL lever. P4 is a standard C6 (B6) change that gives you a dominant 7th ...

Hi everybody,

I like the fatter bars too (1" dia.) but found out that if you get much larger than that you may start getting the sitar bar sound. This is because the outer surface of the bar is almost flat on the string so you may get a buzzing effect. This is probably not desirable.

Dennis