Ralph Mooney Question

Ryan McMahon · Post by **Ryan McMahon** » 13 Jul 2009 3:18 am

I saw some footage of Ralph playing his black Sho~Bud.I noticed he was always pickin' on the C6tth neck.Is it tuned to E9?What is Ralph's tuning?Anyone shed some light on this topic.

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 13 Jul 2009 4:05 am

I believe he had E9 on the back neck where you normally find C6.

J Fletcher · Post by **J Fletcher** » 13 Jul 2009 5:30 am

Mooney uses his own variant of the E9th tuning.In the ten or eleven years I've been coming to this forum, I've never seen Mooney's tuning listed. There is some mystery as to what it is, but his 1st string is a G#, he doesn't have the "chromatic" strings...Jerry

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 13 Jul 2009 5:37 am

From top to bottom;
G#, E,B,G#,F#,E,D,C#,Bb,E
According to the copedant in the winnie winston book!
Note the [Bb] in there!

Nathan Golub · Post by **Nathan Golub** » 13 Jul 2009 6:03 am

There's a cool article about him in one of the old Steel Guitarist magazines that lists his tuning and copedent. If I can find it I'll post it.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 13 Jul 2009 8:33 am

Larry Bressington wrote:From top to bottom;
G#, E,B,G#,F#,E,D,C#,Bb,E
According to the copedant in the winnie winston book!
Note the [Bb] in there!

Maybe the low strings just hadn't been tuned lately.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 13 Jul 2009 10:18 am

Ernest, I've wondered about that. You seldom hear low notes in Mooney's playing! In a similar vein, Winnie says Mooney "was not certain about his front neck tuning, since he rarely uses it." Probably "never uses it" would have been more accurate?

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 13 Jul 2009 10:33 am

I am no expert, but I know some early pedal steels had the E9 neck on the near side. I have two 1950s Sho-Buds that have the E9 neck on the inside neck. I could be wrong but think I know why.

The neck selector switch and pickup tap selector switches are between the necks on these guitars -- right in line with the seventh and eighth cross shafts.

If you put pedals 1, 2, and 3 on the inside neck, then you can use shorter cross shafts for 4-8. You avoid the conflict with switches, and the C6 neck becomes the outside neck.

Dean Parks · Post by **Dean Parks** » 13 Jul 2009 11:15 am

Here's a note Mooney gave to Leland (VL) Darst, when he bought Ralph's black ShoBud D-10.

Posted with permission from Leland and Ralph.

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 13 Jul 2009 12:52 pm

Earnest Bovine wrote:
Larry Bressington wrote:From top to bottom;
G#, E,B,G#,F#,E,D,C#,Bb,E
According to the copedant in the winnie winston book!
Note the [Bb] in there!
Maybe the low strings just hadn't been tuned lately.

According to deans charts, that would be true!

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 13 Jul 2009 1:35 pm

This is just a good guess. Ralph's other neck could well be the old A6th tuning used by Boggs, Remington, Speedy, and myself in the years before the Issacs pedal tuning came out.

J Fletcher · Post by **J Fletcher** » 13 Jul 2009 3:18 pm

Thank you Dean Parks.
Wonder what pedal 2 does?...Jerry

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 13 Jul 2009 9:09 pm

I had the E9th on the inside neck on my Fender 1000 because Mooney had his E9th there. My next steel, a ZB, had the E9th on the outside, so I left it there. Jody.

Joel Meredith · Post by **Joel Meredith** » 14 Jul 2009 9:03 am

Mooney's setup from Steel Guitar Canada's page:

http://www.steelguitarcanada.com/tuning ... ySetup.htm

Al Brisco · Post by **Al Brisco** » 14 Jul 2009 6:39 pm

If I remember correctly, I believe Ralph used a very similar tuning on both necks, with some different bass notes on the rear neck.

I know I have it somewhere, but can't put my hands on it.

In my mind it wasn't different enough to make note of it in my 'Tunings' file.
Regards,
Al Brisco

Brad Malone · Post by **Brad Malone** » 15 Jul 2009 4:44 pm

Wonder what pedal 2 does?...Jerry<<

Hey Jerry Fletcher, I found his tuning listed on page 26 of the Steel Guitarist, May 1980 issue.

Strings top to bottom, G#, E, B, G#, F#, E, D, C#, A#, E.

Pedal 1 lowers string 1 from G# to G.

Pedal 2 raises string 2 from E to F#

Pedal 3 raises string 1 from G# to A

Pedal 4 raises string 3 from B to C#

Pedal 5 raises string 4 from G# to A

Knee lever lowers string 10 from E to Eb, lowers string 6 from E to Eb and raises string 2 from E to F.

Ethan Shaw · Post by **Ethan Shaw** » 15 Jul 2009 5:32 pm

I've read Ralph say many times that his other (outside)neck is tuned to a "dobro" G tuning. (He also says he changes it around.) He also said he likes having his E9 neck on the inside because he can see his feet better while he's playing that neck. (I've never seen him look at his pedals, but that's what he said.)
As a side note, one of the great things about his tuning is that (besides having a straight-up A6 with pedal 1,) you can get the equivalent of the C6 pedal 7 by just releasing the pedals. Another way of saying this is that, skipping the "D", the rest of the open strings make an AMaj13 (with the Maj7, 9, and 13 all in there). There's some amazing footage on the net of Ralph playing his E9 and sounding like C6.
I love playing in Ralph's tuning. It seems so simple, but it has amazing possibilities.
I know he loves to come across as "un-schooled", but he has done some of the most sophisticated--and musical--playing that's ever been recorded. If anyone wants to organize some sort of tribute to him here in Texas, please count me in--He's one of the few original PSG legends we have left.

Leland Darst · Post by **Leland Darst** » 18 Jul 2009 6:57 pm

Ethan,

You're right about his outside neck , I talked with him last night and he said its just a G dobro tuning. Also the chart that Dean submitted above is in Moons own hand writeing, and its the same as always with the exception of adding another kneel lever that they put on his G.F.I guitar. By the way , he's in great health and just as spry as ever!.

Leland

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 19 Jul 2009 9:21 am

On the handwritten chart, what's the meaning of the notations on the left? An alternative tuning?

And, repeating another's question, what about Pedal 2?

I think he likes to be mysterious.

Al Brisco · Post by **Al Brisco** » 19 Jul 2009 9:36 am

Regarding Pedal # 2.

It would appear that in his earlier copedents, when he wa only using the two Right Knee Levers, that he lowered the high E string the half-tone with pedal two.
Then, when he implemented the LKL, he moved that change from Pedal #2 to the knee lever.

Just my opintion.
Al Brisco

Fred Jack · Post by **Fred Jack** » 19 Jul 2009 11:30 am

Moon has one pedal hooked up on his G neck.I'm going to say raising B to D, however it has been a while since I had my steel set up so I am not sure of this. I am sure of the one pedal on G neck.Leland may have his steel set up and can verify this.It gave him a unison lick on dobro tuning.

Leland Darst · Post by **Leland Darst** » 20 Jul 2009 4:44 pm

ok fellas , sorry it took me a while to get back to you on Moons 2nd Pedal . It does absolutely nothing at all!!!

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 20 Jul 2009 5:03 pm

OK, the second pedal question is cleared up, but what are those notations to the left of the grid?

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 21 Jul 2009 4:21 am

Rich Peterson wrote:OK, the second pedal question is cleared up, but what are those notations to the left of the grid?

It could be from the old school of thought "if you know what my tuning is, you'll put it on your guitar, then you'll be as good as me and take my job". Many is the time I've seen a steel player tune up, then cover it with a big old "Holiday Inn towel" to hide what he had.

Disclaimer...My statement not meant to be detrimental in any way to Mr. Moon, who in my humble opinion is one of the great players/pioneers of PSG. FWIW, I read/heard that both necks were tuned the same, in the event of string breakage, he would change necks and keep on playing. He also used (as I was told) a banjo string for the G#(tried that too).

Gotta love the Moon, one of the greats.

Ethan Shaw · Post by **Ethan Shaw** » 22 Jul 2009 8:31 pm

I believe what Mr. Mooney was getting at on his tuning chart was that he actually uses C6 strings on his E9 neck. The C6 corresponding notes are what he wrote next to the guages. I do the same thing.

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Ralph Mooney Question

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