Dale - it doesn't anger me. But I really don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. In your opening post, you say you'll dispense with the first two strings. Well, that's how it started more or less 50-60 years ago, there's lots of good music to be made. I strongly argue, as others have, that if the issue is that you're having trouble with the top 2 re-entrant strings ringing, you need to work on your muting/blocking, not give up the re-entrant strings, but that's your call.This may anger even more players, but asking...are you really using that 10th string (or 8th string or the lower B note? Of all the thousands of licks and lead psg solos in songs that I have heard, it sure sounds like the first 5 strings are all that are utilized.
But now you're saying "Most everything is in just the top 5 strings." Not true, but it is true that a lot of the 'Hot Licks Department' stuff is up there, especially using the top-two re-entrant strings. But if you're not gonna deal with the re-entrant strings, this leaves strings 3 through 5 - a 3-string pedal steel? Well, this is how a lot of beginners start in the first few weeks/months, but there's a helluvalot more to pedal steel than this.
I really think you need to listen to a lot more steel guitar players and music before you draw these kinds of, IMO, completely unfounded conclusions. I personally play a 12-string universal steel quite a bit, which goes a whole octave below the low-B of E9, and the lower strings come in useful, especially for blues and rock, or if you want to do some of the low-string swing-jazz stylings that are typically done on the C6 neck. The range of the pedal steel is quite breathtaking, that's one of its strong points. I suppose if you want to relegate the instrument to textural pads and standard A/B-pedal licks plus some slide-guitaristic sliding around, you could get by with a 6-string tuned B E G# B E G# (i.e., like strings 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3 in the E9 tuning) - or just tune it like an E-tuned guitar E B E G# B E. There's plenty of music there, it's your call. Lone Star Steels makes a nice 6-string pedal steel that's compact and light, in fact there was one in For Sale - Steel Guitars not long ago for under a grand. But even if I wanted a steel for just this kind of action, I'd probably want at least 7-8 strings to get the full low-E to high-G# range and maybe a re-entrant string or the middle F# melodic note, which also gives you the 6th tone in the A chord when you push A+B pedals down.
But I still think that if you really want to be able to do the classic pedal steel stylings, you would be wise to stick with at least the full E9. The people that dreamed this up really were thinking music when they did it. My take.
That's why I never call it a "universal tuning". It's very far from that.
Of course there are chords and moves possible on a 10, 12, or 14 string guitar that you can't get on a 6 or 8 string job. 
But, is that the sole basis of what we do? Is it impossible to play good music without all that "extra stuff"
