"Raise/lower" Question....

[Larry Otis]

So I have what is probably something everyone but me knows....if you are asked how many raises/lowers does a guitar have does that mean exactly what it sounds like? How many string positions raise or lower when using pedals or levers? It is good to be able to ask these questions here without getting flamed!!! Thanks in advance fellas.

[Richard Sinkler]

If it is 3 raise 2 lower, it means you have 3 holes in the raise finger and 2 in the lower finger. So, you can have 3 pedals that raise the string and 2 pedals that can lower the string.

[Lane Gray]

How many strings raise and lower?
It varies by guitar, but on a typical E9th guitar with 3 pedals and 5 knees, you'll have something like this:
1: 1 raise, no lowers
2: 1 raise, 1 lower
3: 1 raise no lowers
4: 2 raises, 1 lower
5: 2 raises, 1 lower
6: 1 raise, 1 lower (optional, sometimes raise 7 instead)
7: unchanged (usually)
8: 1 raise, 1 lower
9: no raise, 1 lower
10: 1 raise, 1 lower
Because the changer is a bunch of levers, multiple holes give you more options to adjust the leverage, so that disparate pulls happen together.

[Dick Sexton]

I have a few of them desperate pulls on mine Lane. ;^)

There are terms that get kicked around and over time become a normal way of communicating an idea. We hear 3up/3down, 3up/2down, P/P, All/Pull, Pull/Release. To the curious or new to the instrument, it can be confusing. It was to me until I stumbled upon the Winnie Winston book, Pedal Steel Guitar. Worth the money, just for the pictures. IMO.

Theoretically, a crafty builder or fellow could have a high number of pulls per string, probably only limited by space, physics and/or his ingenuity.

Notice I said pulls and not notes. Two different things. Usable? That is questionable... Again, my opinion. Winnie Winston.

[Lane Gray]

Dick, you don't need a crafty builder. Older technologies shared rods for multiple pulls. I chose two hole pullers ans single-single Sho-Bud system for my universal because it can handle 5 raises with ease.

[Dick Sexton]

I hear you Lane, I could have left out the builder part and it would have covered a bunch of guys, you and I included. I wish I could have been like some that just play the steel, I'd be much better, but I'm a tinkerer at heart and can't stand it until I know a little of how something works. Lots of us guys around.

[Lane Gray]

Larry, now that I've gotten off work, I reread your question. Here's some answers to the questions you asked that weren't quite answered, but the answers kinda hinted at:
1: How many raises and lowers has little to do with the TONE. As a pedal steel guitar is more machine than music, the machinery is very important: the number of raises and lowers is all about the versatility of the machinery, and how many times a guitar can raise or lower a string¹.
2: On the E9th neck, almost every pedal and lever moves 2 strings. Different things happen on other tunings.

¹There are gadgets and techniques that can allow you to break these limits, so they're more guidelines than rules. But it's still useful to describe the guitars.

[Larry Otis]

Thank you gentlemen.

[Jack Bowman]

Larry, now that I've gotten off work, I reread your question. Here's some answers to the questions you asked that weren't quite answered, but the answers kinda hinted at:
1: How many raises and lowers has little to do with the TONE. As a pedal steel guitar is more machine than music, the machinery is very important: the number of raises and lowers is all about the versatility of the machinery, and how many times a guitar can raise or lower a string¹.
2: On the E9th neck, almost every pedal and lever moves 2 strings. Different things happen on other tunings.

¹There are gadgets and techniques that can allow you to break these limits, so they're more guidelines than rules. But it's still useful to describe the guitars.

I have been doing some design work on getting a fender 400 to pull 4 strings with one pedal. It's based on the configuration of a simple doubletree wagon hitch where a team of horses can apply force to a single point of pressure on the wagon hitchpin. Reverse the thinking and get a single pullrod (wagon hitchpin) to pull the 4 points of the doubletree, since they would all move in balance with the string loadpoints (fingers)
Why would I want to try this: Being a standard guitar picker for over 70 years I cant seem to adjust to standard steel tunings so I like to tune my 8 string with a strum E6th as the open tuning ...say if I could tune the four pull points to the 4 raises then I could produce an "A" ( open ) using the remaining pedals for other chords.( aug., dimin, 7ths, etc.)
At 81, I am not really into learning the many string tunings and claw picking style of a modern steel . It cramps my hand somewhat and I know as my hands get more crippled i will still want to attempt to make musical noises on sumpin'....lol