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Topic: What is a Crawford Cluster? |
Cliff Kane
From:
the late great golden state
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Posted 8 Aug 2007 8:42 pm |
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Hi folks,
I know it has to do with the great Jimmie Crawford and the way he set-up his guitars, but what exactly is it? Does the term refer to a certain arrangment of the knee levers? A certain copedent? A specific number of levers?
Just curious....I hear the term a lot, but I've never been clear on exactly what it means.
Thanks!
Cliff
Last edited by Cliff Kane on 8 Aug 2007 9:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 8 Aug 2007 8:47 pm
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Jimmie had 5 knee levers on his left leg: inner and outer ones in both directions.
His "steel crazy" album is still one of my absolute favorites.
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 8 Aug 2007 10:24 pm
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As I understand it, it's 9 & 9, but I don't know what all of the knee levers do. I took private lessons with Jimmie at his home in Nashville in 1981, and I was amazed by his sound. When he used his cluster of knee levers there were notes moving in all directions at the same time! Counterpoint on counterpoint on counterpoint. I had never heard anything like it, and I never have since. He was an incredible player. At one point during the lessons he stopped, looked at his strings, and simply said "I love the pedal steel guitar." That pretty much says it all.
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Jerry Erickson
From:
Atlanta,IL 61723
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Posted 9 Aug 2007 5:05 am
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| Jimmie's guitar was 10 and 10. 7 knees and 6 pedals for E9 . What a player! |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 9 Aug 2007 6:55 am
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A "Crawford cluster" is an array of 5 knee levers on the left knee. Two move to the left, two move to the right, and one moves vertically.
What the knee levers do is up to the player. Jimmy himself was a great experimenter. I've heard it said that you can't invent a new steel guitar change because Jimmy Crawford tried them all. 
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Cliff Kane
From:
the late great golden state
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Posted 9 Aug 2007 9:26 am
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| Great info, guys, thanks. So, I guess he must have changed his copedent, but had those five left knees ready to do what ever he liked. Impressive, especially to have that approach named after him. |
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