Why is C6 not E6?

[Greg Wine]

Does anybody have a notion why the different keys for the two necks? Has anybody tried tuning back neck to E6? Sure would be easier to keep track of positions....

[David Doggett]

Jerry Byrd invented the C6 tuning for non-pedal steel. He may explain his reasoning in his recent book, I haven't read it yet. But just some educated guessing says - the only reason for having an E neck on steel guitar is because it relates so well to bar chords on a regular guitar. But outside of guitar thinking, C is the universal key. It is the one key with no sharps or flats, and is the most familiar key for pianos, horns and strings. At the time Jerry invented C6 tuning, most non-pedal steels had two to four necks. Most steelers already had one neck that was E, and it might have been some variation of E6, E7, E9 or E13. Another common neck was A6 or A7. A C neck was a natural choice for a 3rd or 4th neck. It is an especially good key for thinking out theory in any kind of music. For all those reasons, it is a natural for Hawaian, jazz, any kind of ensemble music, and for reading and writing music. C6 and A6 (or 13) became the most common lap steel tunings in the era before pedal steel. C6 was especially well entrenched among western swing steelers.

When pedal steel came along, for whatever reason, Bud Isaacs had Bigsby put pedals on an E tuning. When his I-IV pedal mashing sound took the country music world by storm in the mid-'50s, Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day and others refined it into the 8 and then 10-string E9 tuning we know today. But steelers who wanted the swing sound wanted a C6 neck on their pedal steels, and started adding pedals and levers to it. Thus, having an E neck for Nashville country music, and a C neck for western swing reflects the two roots for the phrase "country and western music."

[Earnest Bovine]

I you use open strings at all, wouldn't it be better to have completely different open strings on 2 different necks, so you have every note there for open string tricks?

[Greg Wine]

Well, I re-strung and re-tuned to E6 and I love it. I know where I am at a glance. 40+ years of 6 string...Old dog I guess. Anyway, thanx for the input.

[Jim Cohen]

Earnest, are you sayin' you play both necks at the same time? I thought only Doug did that trick. Well, I guess I wouldn't put it past you...

[Buck Dilly]

I think that B6 makes more sense than C6. It makes memorization easier, and if and when you switch to universal the chnage is painless. I prefer the open strings of B6. I think that this addresses the initial inquiry.