FESSENDEN 6 string pedal steel

[Richard Shelley]

Fessenden 6 string pedal steel guitar in excellent condition. Tuning is like Emmons, G#, E, B, G#, E, B. A & B pedals as usual, no c pedal or levers, so E string has to be maneuvered by sliding the bar. Upon quick removal of the pedal rods, the legs fold up underneath for use as a lap steel. Very light & portable, great for ol' guys like me who can't carry a lot of weight around. First $500.00 gets it, including insured shipping, anywhere in the lower 48. I accept PayPal.



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[Fred Glave]

How easy would it be to add pedals and levers?

[Richard Shelley]

I wish I could tell you, Fred. As you can see, it's pretty simple underneath. You might consider dropping Mr. Fessenden a note on his website; he is, of course, the ultimate authority, having designed & manufactured it, himself.

[Richard Shelley]

Trades?

[Richard Shelley]

Price reduced: $400.00 including fully insured shipping to anywhere in the lower 48.[/b]

[John Turbeville]

does this come with a case?

[Steve Ahola]

I just sent you a PM, Richard. How can I say NO to $400 for a Fessy Six Shooter???

[Steve Whetstone]

Steve,

You made a good purchase. You are correct, the only way you could go wrong would be to not snap it up at $400.00 for a Fessy Six Shooter.

Steve

[John Turbeville]

put me 2nd in line for this pls. john t.

[Richard Shelley]

Sorry, John; Thanks for your interest, but Steve bought & paid for it already.

[Richard Shelley]

Good talking to you, Steve. I got your money & I'll be shipping it out to you tomorrow a.m. & e-mailing you with the shipping/tracking info. Oh, yes: I listened to some of your music & you're a helluva great guitar player!

[Steve Ahola]

The Six Shooter was delivered on schedule and I thought about what I wanted to do with it for a few days. The stock tuning is an E major triad doubled up, with the G# on top. One pedal raises both G#'s to A and the other pedal raises both B's to C#. The open tuning without pedals reminds me of a dobro. I've been playing lap steel tunings with 6ths, 7ths and 9ths for quite awhile now so I think that using the stock tuning on this would be a step backwards for me.

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 

For awhile now my favorite tuning has been the E9th that Mike Neer has been using in his C&W tutorials so I used the 6 string version of that as the open tuning without pedals. (see chart below) There are 2 pedals making 4 pulls so I decided that I wanted to raise both B's to C#, the G# to A and the D to E. Rather than put both B raises on the same pedal (as would be expected) I thought I would split them up for more harmonic and melodic options. So the A pedal raises the high B to C# and the D to E, and the B pedal raises the G# to A and the low B to C#.

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 

I'm pleased as punch with this configuration. I can skip the pedals and have a real nice console steel, with 3/8" on the nut and the bridge and the strings an inch over the fretboard. The pickup is a PAF style humbucker but with hex screws on both coils. It is very clean and clear for a humbucker so I suspect that the coils are hooked up in parallel rather than in series.

The pedals are like the topping on the cake- I can use them sedately for alternate chords or I can go crazy and do the pedal effects. It was surprisingly easy to reconfigure the undercarriage for my alternate tuning/copedent. If anyone wants to know more details about that send me a PM or email.

Conclusion: the Six Shooter has been positioned in the market as a junior pedal steel- a small portable ax which can get some of the traditional pedal steel sounds. While that is its main use I think that its strong point is as an extension of a 6 string lap steel- doing all of the bends that we would like to do if our fingers were strong enough.

A lot of regular guitarists are starting to use lap steel on their recordings and I think that they would love to have the additional capabilities of the Six Shooter. If this instrument were to catch on I think it could be as influential as the B-bender designed and fabricated by Clarence White and Gene Parsons.

I feel no need to compete with all of the killer pedal steel players out there. I have my own musical ideas that I want to execute on a wide variety of guitars, from electric to acoustic, and to lap steel and pedal steel.

BTW the construction of Six Shooter is top-notch, much better than the Maverick I had in the late 70's which was not pro quality. Of course it is more limited but what it does it does well. I lubed up the friction points and it works very smoothly now. Fessenden doesn't even list the Six Shooter on its website so I doubt if they are doing much marketing at all. I think that a lot of guitarists would want one if they knew about them.

respectfully submitted by Steve Ahola

[Richard Shelley]

Steve, I am so glad you're enjoying it. You're definitely a serious musician. I, too, think it should get more exposure. One of Mr. Fessenden's genius creations that he's just way too modest about, I think.

[Steve Whetstone]

Steve,

I am a Fessenden Dealer

You are correct in your assesment of the Six Shooter.

I sell these just as fast as Jerry will send them to me. I list them on Ebay and never have one over about 7 days. Sometimes they sell within hours. I have shipped them as far as Japan.

With a retail price of $575.00, there is very little profit for Jerry in these. This is the reason there is not much marketing. Jerry likes to eat and he would starve to death on the Six Shooter.

I have a few more Six Shooters on the way. If anyone would like to have one, let me know. slwnbp@msn.com Sold on the fourm I will send a donation.

Steve