Newbie Dumb Questions

[Gary Emrick]

Okay. Im a piano/keyboard player. Dont hold that against me. But ive always loved the pedal steel and never had access to one, nor ever played one. So now its bucket list time. Finally bought an msa 3x4. Heres my 1st dumb question. Has anyone ever made a pedal steel with wide seperation between strings? As a piano player I have fat wide fingers. Im used to the size and spread of piano keys. My fingers are getting stuck between the skinny strings. Everything else about the instrument works for me.

[Charlie McDonald]

Welcome to the Forum. MSA is great, I miss my MSA more than I miss my MRS. Good luck with the string spacing. And ask plenty of questions.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I think most 10 string steels have string spacing about 11/32 or so at the big end, [I'm sure someone here knows if that's correct or not] as opposed to 3/8 on some guitar necks.

I once had a 6 string Cougar pedal steel that had the standard guitar string spacing, but I don't know of any 10 string steels with the wide spacing.

No dumb questions, only unanswered ones.

[G Strout]

I believe that Hudson Steel Guitars makes a 3/8" spacing model is ST10W if I my memory serves. You could contact Jimmie and find out.... or it may be listed on his site.
Gary

[Dan Kelly]

Are you using finger picks?

[Gary Emrick]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your responses as much as I appreiate your collective talents. Yes Im using finger picks. Those are also adding to my learning curve. Ha ha. Im not complaining. Im enjoying every second. Its just funny to experience playing two octave notes that are only 2 inches apart instead of the piano's wide 8 inches. My fingers keep tying in knots. But I'll get it. Im still on lesson #2 Pick blocking/finger shrinking. God bless you all. Keep prayin'.

[David Mason]

As a piano player I have fat wide fingers. Im used to the size and spread of piano keys.

Ogg was used to his club and his cave, but Mrs. Ogg want a split-level rancher with 2 1/2 baths and a white picket fence so he got his... donkey in gear? His burro in gear...

My fingers are getting stuck between the skinny strings. Everything else about the instrument works for me.

If your fingerpicks are really down in between the strings something is really, really wrong. You've got a 3" by 3" FLAT two-dimensional plane, and everything happens in that FLAT area. The only vertical movement are -should be- to lower a pick slightly, just enough down to catch the string, and lowering and raising a palm mute. In staring at my hand, it looks like 3/16" is too much vertical movement for the picks? If you look at a video of an actually good steeler's right hand, it looks they're hardly doing ANYTHING, WHERE's all that NOISE coming from?!?

A) It may help to think of a locked down, blocked position as the default position, and you only move enough to let the notes ~peep~ out.

B) If the strings are the rungs of a ladder, and you're climbing up and down and up and down that ladder, you only use the tips of your toes on each rung...

C) "As a piano player I have fat wide fingers. Im used to the size and spread of piano keys." Come to think of it, these are almost like the exactly most OPPOSITE instruments imaginable! You're not, like, going up and down, you're more like... going UP; and going DOWN; IYKWIM.

D) I'm getting weird here, gotta bail....

[Gary Emrick]

Yep. Points well taken. Piano is very percussive. Im marveling at how steel players barely move their hands. Thats the finesse Im striving for. Yesterday I was able to pick three proper strings at a time, and move from 3,4,5 ...4,5,6...5,6,8...and 6,8,10, without accidentally hitting all the adjacent strings as well. Practice practice practice. Thanks

[Gary Emrick]

I bought my MSA as a package with a Sho-bud Maverick. Both need some serious TLC and accessories. Both work fine, and they cleaned up nicely, however neither one has volume foot pedals and the MSA has no carrying case. I found a Sho-Bud volume pedal for sale on ebay and lots of Sho-Bud support, especially here, but I cant make heads or tails out of the MSA website. They seem to only be about brand new steel guitars. No parts or accessories. Does MSA make a volume foot pedal or expression pedal as Im learning theyre called? Or is there a good favorite brand out there?

[Charlie McDonald]

I think the similarity with piano is that you can play in pockets, though wider. The hand is turned differently , but much the same.
Certainly, standard 10-string spacing is faster string to string. I have a six-string with 3/8 spacing.
Hard to imagine it being ten strings wide.

[Gary Emrick]

My MSA pedal-tuning pegs are hex and need a little round tuning knob. Ive ordered one from my local music store. However the Sho-Bud pegs are round and hollow, requiring a different type of tool. What is that tool?

[Chuck Miller]

Gary, here is a link to a PDF copy of the original MSA owners manual. The new and the old MSAs are basically different companies. If you need parts check out Michael Yahl's website http://www.psgparts.com/ for MSA as well as other brand parts.

Chuck

[Gary Emrick]

Awesome thanks. Keep prayin'.

[Jeff Mead]

I found a Sho-Bud volume pedal for sale on ebay and lots of Sho-Bud support, especially here, but I cant make heads or tails out of the MSA website. They seem to only be about brand new steel guitars. No parts or accessories. Does MSA make a volume foot pedal or expression pedal as Im learning theyre called? Or is there a good favorite brand out there?

You can use any volume pedal with any guitar. I have a Sho~Bud guitar and just happen to really like my Sho~Bud pedal but there are many great and popular volume pedals made by companies that don't even make guitars - Goodrich and Hilton come to mind.