What Strings to purchase For my Steel?

[Jeffery Mercer]

Greetings fellas! Hey since I’ve finally got my pedal steel, what strings are considered the best for the E9th Neck And also C6th Neck it’s a Dbl.Neck Ten String Mullen Pre-RP remember I’m a Newbie... best all around strings for Quality, Endurance, what’s a decent price to pay for strings?
Thanks for your wisdom, and your help
Respectfully Yours,
Jeffery Mercer

PS: Are there any videos out there to show a Newbie Pedal Steel player, how to set up, Tune, and adjust the Pedals and Levers for basic E9th & C6th 10 string necks? I’d like to find something that shows the right order to do each step,from putting a new set of strings on, and tuning, too the pedal and lever adjustments...in order.
There has to be something out there somewhere? Naturally I’ll pay for it...if there isn’t anything available “THERE SHOULD BE” muchachos!
Help if you can I’d appreciate it...

[Larry Dering]

Jeffrey, I own a 94 Mullen D10 8x4 I bought new. After many sets of various brands I settled on SIT brand strings in the Buddy Emmons endorsed gauges. I get mine from JustStrings.com but I believe the forum also sells them. I buy twice the amount of E9 over C6 because I play that more often. I believe the quality and price of SIT strings is great. You will get lots of opinions on strings so hang on.

[Larry Jamieson]

I took a look at the Forum membership list. It can be sorted by location. I found that there are 7 members in Cleveland, Ohio. You can try contacting these gentlemen. Maybe one or more would be willing to let you bring your steel to their home and get at least a basic lesson on changing strings, tuning, et up, etc.
If I was close to you, I would help but I am in New York State. From the pictures, the strings on your steel may be OK for a while. I like D'Addario.
Also, the string may be close to in tune. Get a clip on tuner (A Snark works good), find a tuning chart for E9 and C6, and check the tuning. The pedals are tuned using a wrench which slips on over the nylon nuts at the end of the guitar. Push a pedal or knee lever to see what string/s it moves, and tune one at a time as necessary.

[Justin Emmert]

I used to to use SIT strings and now prefer D’Addario NYXL’s. There are lots of good string brands. Don’t be afraid to try different brands as you are learning at a beginner level. You can find what you like. I highly suggest you try to find a local steeler that Can help you in person or find one that can do video\skype lessons for your first few lessons. Also, highly suggested to start with Paul Franklins E9 fundamentals: https://www.mmmlearn.com/courses/founda ... l-franklin

[Jeffery Mercer]

Hey Fellas...I want to thank you with all my heart for your ideas, your encouragement, and most of all your Friendship! It’s nice to know I can depend on your help in answering questions, I’m all alone out here, and I have to ask questions...how else will I learn anything?
Thanks so very much!
Jeffery

[Paul Sutherland]

One of the hardest things to tackle when first starting out is knowing what to worry about and when to relax. The brand of strings you use should be very far down the list of things to worry about. Any brand will work.

Having said that, I use D'Addario for both necks because they seem to always be available online, and I've never had a bad set. I've occasionally used other brands and they worked just fine.

[Lee Baucum]

The brand of strings you use should be very far down the list of things to worry about.

Agreed!

[James Sission]

One of the hardest things to tackle when first starting out is knowing what to worry about and when to relax. The brand of strings you use should be very far down the list of things to worry about. Any brand will work.

Having said that, I use D'Addario for both necks because they seem to always be available online, and I've never had a bad set. I've occasionally used other brands and they worked just fine.

Exactly.

[Barry Coker]

The Strings will become a mater of choice any mentioned here will work fine, the thing you will find to be your biggest problem will be tuning the guitar. After 30+ years of playing I have settled on the Peterson Strobe HD tuner
It is set up with presets for both E9 and C6. The Peterson
Will let you play and not spend all your time tuning.

Good Luck
Barry

[Kevin Fix]

If you have metal necks, use nickel wound. If you have wood necks you can use stainless. You don't have to use stainless, some of us prefer stainless on wood neck guitars. You don't want stainless on metal neck guitars. I use D'Addario NXYL strings on my Super pro with metal necks. I used Ernie Balls for 30 years I guess. They had a good tone. Been using D'Addario for the last 2 years. I do like the tone of them the best. Get a Peterson Strobo Plus HD Tuner. Best I have seen so far. I remember, years ago tuning by ear and using a pitch pipe or tuning fork to get my "E" strings in tune. Almost 70 and the ears are not as sharp as they used to be.

[Paul Sutherland]

The D'Addario strings I use on both my metal neck steels are stainless steel. I've never found that to be a problem. I've played gigs and recorded in studios and my steels always sound great. This is not a detail that Jeffery needs to think about.

Here's a couple details you do need to pay attention to:

First, the gauges of the strings. If you switch brands of strings you may find some of the strings are slightly different gauges. That will require that you retune those pedals and levers. So make your life simple and always use the same gauges if possible.

Second: If your E9 neck has a plain sixth string, keep using a plain string. And conversely, if the sixth string is wound, keep using a wound sixth. If you switch those you will have to, at the very least, do some rather drastic re-tuning, and you may have to adjust the linkage of the B pedal and any knee lever that effects the sixth string. A plain string requires a much longer pedal travel than a wound string.

[Gene Tani]

The manual if you didn't get one is well written, head builder Mike Mantey also has youtube vids but it's better if an experienced player goes thru this the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQsZtn ... WzA/videos

https://mullenguitars.com/owners-manual

[Jim Cooley]

The D'Addario strings I use on both my metal neck steels are stainless steel. I've never found that to be a problem.

Me too. I use stainless on metal necks with no issues. Buddy Emmons reportedly used stainless strings.

Second: If your E9 neck has a plain sixth string, keep using a plain string. And conversely, if the sixth string is wound, keep using a wound sixth. If you switch those you will have to, at the very least, do some rather drastic re-tuning, and you may have to adjust the linkage of the B pedal and any knee lever that effects the sixth string. A plain string requires a much longer pedal travel than a wound string.

Good information here. One more thing, if you have a wound sixth string and want to lower it a whole step, you'll probably have to change to a plain string. Most wound strings in the commonly used sixth string gauges, like .020 or .022, won't lower it a whole tone. There might be exceptions, but it's something to keep in mind.

[Larry Baker]

I like Live Steel Strings, the stainless ones. Good service from Jordan.
Congrats on picking a Mullen. It should serve you well.

[John De Maille]

I used to use ShoBud strings, then, went to SIT strings, however, for t he last several years I've used Live Steel Strings in Stainlessnon my U-12 Zum.
They last a long time without losing tone or resilience. I'm lazy about changing strings, so, I can get over 30 gigs/sessions out of them. And, I've never broken one. I recommend them.

[Brendan Mitchell]

To Quote Bobbe Seymour “ don’t use a stainless bar with stainless strings “ .

[Brendan Mitchell]

To Qoute Bobbe Seymour “ don’t use a stainless bar with stainless strings “ .