Does anyone know what copedent Speedy West used for his 1948 BIGSBY 8 string and 4 pedal steel guitar?
Thank you,
Gloria
Speedy West COPEDENT for his 1948 BIGSBY??
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
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Gloria Baldwin
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Landon Jarrel
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Hi,
Todd Clinesmith, who restored the guitar, posted its copedent here:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 32eaca9903
Todd Clinesmith, who restored the guitar, posted its copedent here:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 32eaca9903
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Gloria Baldwin
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Speedy West Bigsby
What were the 4 PEDAL TUNINGS Speedy used on his triple neck Bigsby.
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Richard Sinkler
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Gloria Baldwin
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- Location: California, USA
Speedy West Bigsby
Yes, I see it. Thank you soooo much!! Beautiful job bringing SPEEDY’S steel back to life.
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David Ellison
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There seems to be a lot of misinformation about Speedy West's tunings on his Bigsby triple neck. I spoke to Speedy West in 1989, and asked what his tunings were on his Bigsby triple neck. This is the information I got from him:
Front neck was tuned to what he referred to as E6 straight across the tuning, with a G# on top and B on the bottom. The B strings were tuned down a half tone, and raised up to B with a pedal. He told me this allowed him to drop back two frets, release the pedal, and get a 9th chord across all 8 strings (this is why people refer to his tuning as "F#9"). He used this tuning with that one pedal on nearly everything he did. It was his signature sound. This is the sound that Buddy Emmons incorporated into the modern C6th copedent (pedal 5). There was one other pedal on that neck - I'm not sure what it did.
The middle neck was the Bud Issacs E9 tuning, also with two pedals. He used this tuning less frequently, but you can tell he used it on Shotgun Boogie, because of the low notes at the beginning of the solo.
The inside neck was tuned to E13 with no pedals.
When he later played a double neck, he dropped the E13th tuning and just used the other two tunings, adding additional strings, pedals and knee levers when double-10 pedals steels came around. However, he never changed the tunings. Those are the same tunings he used from 1948 until he stopped playing. He definitely didn't use chromatic strings or other tunings.
Front neck was tuned to what he referred to as E6 straight across the tuning, with a G# on top and B on the bottom. The B strings were tuned down a half tone, and raised up to B with a pedal. He told me this allowed him to drop back two frets, release the pedal, and get a 9th chord across all 8 strings (this is why people refer to his tuning as "F#9"). He used this tuning with that one pedal on nearly everything he did. It was his signature sound. This is the sound that Buddy Emmons incorporated into the modern C6th copedent (pedal 5). There was one other pedal on that neck - I'm not sure what it did.
The middle neck was the Bud Issacs E9 tuning, also with two pedals. He used this tuning less frequently, but you can tell he used it on Shotgun Boogie, because of the low notes at the beginning of the solo.
The inside neck was tuned to E13 with no pedals.
When he later played a double neck, he dropped the E13th tuning and just used the other two tunings, adding additional strings, pedals and knee levers when double-10 pedals steels came around. However, he never changed the tunings. Those are the same tunings he used from 1948 until he stopped playing. He definitely didn't use chromatic strings or other tunings.