Fessenden Six Shooter?

Jack Dillard · Post by **Jack Dillard** » 6 Dec 2009 1:16 pm

I just found this on eBay. Being a guitarist struggling with Pedal Steel I'm wondering if this might make the transition easier?

The more I think about it the more interesting it is to me.

I realize it would never be able to be played like a chromatic tuned E9th 10 string but it's still interesting to me.

What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 500wt_1182

Asa Brosius · Post by **Asa Brosius** » 6 Dec 2009 3:32 pm

I briefly played on one about a year ago in a local music shop- sounded great-small-light- a psg with dobro string spacing. Of course, its limitations are obvious compared to most psgs.

Asa

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 6 Dec 2009 5:33 pm

If it had two knee levers that raised and lowered the E's, it would have the capability to play a lot of standard E9th stuff. Without that, it seems pretty limited.

Neil Harms · Post by **Neil Harms** » 6 Dec 2009 6:19 pm

I'd like to see this with leg and rod extensions so it could be played standing up. Of course I'd also like to be able to raise and lower the E's but on the floor with pedal 1 raising and pedal 4 lowering. Not sure what pickup is on this but a new Duncan P-Rails would trick it out right. I'd also add a volume and tone knob. My little dream rig.... Even sweeter with 8 strings. I've clearly been looking at pics of Jr. Brown's new pedal guit-steel a bit too much....

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 6 Dec 2009 6:29 pm

It is available in 6 and 8 string versions- both in sitting and standing configurations. It comes standard with an open E tuning so as not to scare off guitar players

and comes standard with just notes in the major chord unless otherwise requested. It has a typical A and B pedal resulting in easily obtaining classic steel guitar licks. The reason for lack of knee levers is obvious when considering the stand up version. For more details contact forumite Jerry Fessenden- he has come up with a winner.

Brett Lanier · Post by **Brett Lanier** » 7 Dec 2009 12:24 am

The changer on these does not allow a pull that would lower a string. An "F" lever would be cool, but if someone was planning to do that I'd say keep it with 2 pedals or put the money into a ten string.

My roommate has a black one. 7th one made. He mentioned maybe selling it. You can e-mail me if interested. It has a Gibson humbucker which I prefer to the new pickups. All of the six shooters have 6 string humbuckers which sound better to me than a ten string pickup when plugged into a conventional lower wattage tube guitar amp.

Allan Munro · Post by **Allan Munro** » 7 Dec 2009 7:37 am

Does THIS mean that it is being sold by the company?
This is a promotional auction for the Six Shooter. Production models will be available on the market soon.

Does anyone know what the price will be when the 'production models' appear?

Allan.....

Nathan Golub · Post by **Nathan Golub** » 7 Dec 2009 7:51 am

I bought one from Jerry a few months ago. You can email him via the Fessenden website for the current price. It's a cool little guitar, sounds more like an electric six string with a bender than a psg.

Brett Lanier · Post by **Brett Lanier** » 7 Dec 2009 7:52 am

around $450 I'm pretty sure

Jack Dillard · Post by **Jack Dillard** » 7 Dec 2009 10:11 am

Nathan Golub wrote:I bought one from Jerry a few months ago. You can email him via the Fessenden website for the current price. It's a cool little guitar, sounds more like an electric six string with a bender than a psg.

When I first saw it I was thinking it would be tuned like a six string guitar with a B and G bender. After I read about the tuning and what the pedals do it makes much more sense to have it tuned and have the pedals work the way they do.

I see it's getting a little bid action, did I hurt my chances of getting a good deal on it by posting it here?

Nathan Golub · Post by **Nathan Golub** » 7 Dec 2009 11:43 am

I tuned the low E to F# and the low B to D for a little more versatility. It lets me get a I IV V progression off of one fret, among other things.

Neil Harms · Post by **Neil Harms** » 7 Dec 2009 7:21 pm

Too bad the changer can't handle lowers. Not a deal breaker but I sure would miss being able to lower the E's.

So an 8 string does exist? Anyone have pics or other info on this? Also does the stand-up configuration move the pedals to the center a bit?

Brett Lanier · Post by **Brett Lanier** » 8 Dec 2009 10:24 am

The pedals are a little further to the right on the standup. And the one(8 string) I tried had 3 pedals rather than the 2 which is standard on the 6 string model. Is also has a volume control alot like on a fender. I think A6 is a good tuning for these. You could get the hawaiian, swing and blues sounds pretty easily. - brett

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 8 Dec 2009 1:46 pm

How would this compare with the Lone Star Lite S-6?

Jim Mathis · Post by **Jim Mathis** » 8 Dec 2009 1:55 pm

Jack,

My personal opinion is that looking for an easy way out is not a good idea. I spent a big chunk of my life wishing I could play pedal steel and looking for an easy way. I played lap steel and dobro. I finally bought a D-10 Emmons 10 years ago and set out to learn both C6 and E9 at about the same time. I am still working on it, but I have never regretted taking, what was for me, the "Big Step."

Wally Davis · Post by **Wally Davis** » 8 Dec 2009 2:06 pm

If you get toward St. Louis Neil, there's one of the prototype guitars at J. Gravity Strings. It's a standup 6 string. The tuning is G#,E,B,G#,E,B. 3 pedals which are ABC of the Emmons setup. Here's the link for Gravity.
www.gravitystrings.com
The idea and concept of this guitar is to appeal to guitar players that are imtimidated just at the looks of a pedal steel. It's also priced with affordablity in mind. Contact Jerry at
fessteel@myfairpoint.net

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 8 Dec 2009 2:46 pm

Hmm. I wonder how well it would work, using a standard "dobro" G tuning and one of Bobbe's BoBro units or some other form of reso simulator.

Wally Davis · Post by **Wally Davis** » 8 Dec 2009 3:03 pm

I think it would work quite well. These are very easy guitars to change the pedal setup on. So it could be changed to accomodate whatever you would want with a G tuning. That's the beauty of the standup version. You can be playing guitar and then switch back and forth while standing up. It has as volume pot on it to turn it on or off or in between. Really neat little guitar.

Jack Dillard · Post by **Jack Dillard** » 8 Dec 2009 6:30 pm

Jim Mathis wrote:Jack,

My personal opinion is that looking for an easy way out is not a good idea. I spent a big chunk of my life wishing I could play pedal steel and looking for an easy way. I played lap steel and dobro. I finally bought a D-10 Emmons 10 years ago and set out to learn both C6 and E9 at about the same time. I am still working on it, but I have never regretted taking, what was for me, the "Big Step."

I was thinking the same thing but for some reason it's still appealing to me. I've been practicing blocking and I'm finding it very frustrating. I think maybe it appeals to me because with 6 strings I can mute unplayed strings with my fingers on my right hand like when playing slide.

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 9 Dec 2009 7:21 am

Sometimes simplifying things is a good thing to do. I also began playing steel about 5 years ago, (minus some extended time off due to illness), and tried to learn both necks. I initially made some good progress, but then hit a brick wall. I think I've become mediocre at both necks, instead of knowing one neck well. I've now stopped playing the C6 neck, and am I'm also looking for a S-10, or maybe even an S-8.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 9 Dec 2009 8:27 am

Fred Glave wrote:How would this compare with the Lone Star Lite S-6?

Well, my LS S6 can do lowers, has 3 pedals and 4 knee levers is fully adjustable (not hardwired for one copedent). It's also far more compact.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 9 Dec 2009 11:52 am

Neil Harms wrote:Too bad the changer can't handle lowers. Not a deal breaker but I sure would miss being able to lower the E's.

My Maverick is set up 2+1, with the lever raising E's to F. When I need the lower, I slant the bar. It works for me, but I think that someone who's just learning should have both levers.

I suggested a complete 6 string copedent for beginners in another topic.

Neil Harms · Post by **Neil Harms** » 9 Dec 2009 8:39 pm

Wish I was headed St. Louis way in the near future. Like to check out the one at J.Gravity.

I'm really wanting to go the stand-up route with my next steel so knee levers won't be an option. I gigged for a long time with a single 8 Fender with 4 pedals and one can get a ton of great music out of that simple setup. I used E's up on pedal one. A and B pedals for 2 and 3 and then E's down on pedal 4. The B6 kind of thing with the E's lowered just sounds so good for getting big chords and I stink at slants. Thanks b0b for the push to work on those slants. I've seen slants done well and they really do give you "infinite knee levers".

All apologies if I've rambled away and derailed the thread a bit...

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 22 Aug 2011 2:46 am

I thought I would add my thoughts to this thread which is almost 2 years old. I just got a Six Shooter tuned to E major (B-E-G#-B-E-G# lo to hi) with one pedal raising the B's to C# and the other raising the G#'s to A. I've been playing Buddy Emmons' E9th tuning on 6 and 8 string lap steels all year and losing the 7th and 9th and going back to major triads is a step backwards for me. So I replaced the strings and reconfigured the undercarriage for E9th as follows:

Code: Select all

ALTERNATE TUNING (E9th)
    PEDALS  GAUGES
    A    B  
E           .015
B  ++C#     .018
G#      +A  .024w
F#          .028 
D  ++E      .032 
B      ++C# .038

So I am basically using it as a lap steel with the pedals doing the bends I wish my fingers could do.

I really love that tuning and I could play it without pedals all night. The 3/8" spacing on the nut and the bridge, the 24" scale and the excellent humbucker pickup make it a damn good 6 string console steel. (The pickup measures about 14k DC ohms but sounds amazingly good.)

I can add in the pedals, either for alternate chords straight across (as Speedy West did in the early 50's) or for some of the "pedal steely" effects which we have come to associate with pedal steel. I wanted to raise both B's to C# but decided to not put them on the same pedal to give me more harmonic and melodic variations. Here are some of the chords available with this tuning and the two pedals:

Code: Select all

SOME OF THE CHORDS
-   A    B    A&B

E9 E6/9  E11  Esus/6

Bm6/11  Bm7/11
   Bsus/6/9   Bsus9

Amaj7/13 Asus2/6    
   Amaj6/9    A6/9

         D6/9
   
              F#m7/9

Here is the stock tuning that came with mine (with string gauges as best "guesstimates" using my digital micrometer):

Code: Select all

STOCK SIX SHOOTER (E Major)
    PEDALS   GAUGES
    A    B    
G#       +A  .011
E            .015
B  ++C#      .018
G#       +A  .022w
E            .032
B  ++C#      .036

I think that a lot of guitarists would love to have a Six Shooter if they only knew about them. They could prove to be as influential as the B-bender designed and fabricated by Clarence White and Gene Parsons in the 60's.

It might be cool to add a knee lever to raise the F# to G# for getting the effect of bending notes on a regular guitar, and raising the E to F# would give us the 9th on the top. Or maybe raise the F# to G for a minor third. With knee lever kits not available I could get the special parts I couldn't fabricate myself from Tom Bradshaw who sells MSA knee lever kits.

Steve Ahola

Steve Whetstone · Post by **Steve Whetstone** » 22 Aug 2011 7:14 am

Hi all,

Jerry builds very few Six Shooters.

Being a Fessenden Dealer, I sell them on Ebay as fast as Jerry will send them to me. I have shipped as far away as Japan. At a retail price of $575.00 there is very little profit in them so Jerry builds very few.

I have a couple on the way. If anyone would like one, please let me know. slwnbp@msn.com Sold on the fourm a donation will be sent.

Steve