The Steel Guitar Forum

Yea I play D9th/A6th that way I dont break anymore strings, man I haven't broke a string on my ZUM in about a year, I never played a D-10 always a S-10 then in the late eightys Tom Bradshaw sold me my first MSA U-12 and I haven't gone back, in fact I've had all kinds of different arangments on it but now I pretty much stay with the Jeff Newman setup with another pedal and couple more knee levers(8 and 6),on my ZUM I have (8 and 7) either way I really dig it Rich Cottle

This setup works very good for me..

Hi Joe,
You are weclome , can you post my setup as I sent it to you on the forum, I can't get it to download.
Please show the 9 floor and 9 knees just as I've got it on my steel.
I've got it in Excell, but some guys can't open it.
Thanks,
Bill

Maybe Bob knows how to load it on the forum?

I have the same problem. I have a large number of copendents (mine and others) and tuning charts in Excel. On the old Forum these could be loaded directly into tab format and would look right. But on the new Forum there is no convenient direct way to do this. Tab functions in word processors or spreadsheets do not work well. Instead you need to space everything with the space bar. The inconvenient work around is to copy the spreadsheet, then do a "paste special" into a word processor, and choose unformatted text (I think that's what it is called, or something like that). The rows of your spreadsheet will be pasted in proper order, but within each row all the numbers and letters will be run together with no spaces. You have to manually apply the proper number of spaces to line up the columns. Once the columns are spaced properly, you can paste that into the reply box of the Forum. It's a pain in the rear, but unless b0b can figure out a more direct way, this is what we are stuck with.

How about capturing a screen shot and uploading that as a jpeg ?

Yeah, that should work. But do you need special software to capture a screen shot? Is there some magic combination of keys in MS Windows to do that?

David, what sort of problems are you having when you try to post your setup?
b0b's Forum lets you use [/tab] after and [tab] before, and that will display your content with a constant width font. The only special software you need is any text editor, such as WordPad which comes with Windows, using a constant width font when you type it in.

I think the problem is the tab length. If you copy an Excel spreadsheet into the Forum or a word processor, a tab of unknown length is inserted between each column. That tab length plus the different number of characters between the tabs does not automatically create the right spacing. So you have to go in and manually delete each tab and replace it with the right number of spaces. If you "paste special" in unformatted text, that saves you the step of deleting all the tabs. But everything is run together with no spaces, and you have to puzzle it out and manually insert the proper number of spaces. That's a pain in the rear for a large chart. And if you want to show several charts (for example a copedent, its tuning chart in cents, and its tuning chart in Hz, with and without cabinet drop compensation, and say for E9, Ext. E9, uni, and C6), then it's really a daunting task. Somehow the old Forum allowed an automatic conversion from Excel to a properly spaced chart. I think I might have had to use an intevening step copying the Excel spreadsheet into a Word Table. But somehow it all worked out. No more on the new Forum.

Joe you done a great, I could not fit it all in when I tried it.
It looks good, now Universal players, this is a good setup to put on your steel, I think you would love it.
Some manufacturers say you can't put that many pulls on a Steel, well here it is, thanks to Tom Baker and the previous owner of Sierra Guitars Don Christensen I have what I asked for.
It just makes since to have the low pulls to have a full chord when you use your Pedals and Levers, it's got it.
You would probably have to try one out to hear the difference, I know you would love the changes.
I just wanted to share this to the forum members so if someone wanted to experiment a little with their setup, here's mine enjoy.
I know some of you probably have a much better setup, I only know this works for me.
Bill
Thanks Joe McHam

I can only seem to capture an Excel image as a bitmap, and the Forum wont download that. How to I get a JPG image?

On a Mac it is Command+shift+3. That saves a pic of what`s on the screen at the moment. Sorry, don`t know about PC.

Hi folks,
Just got my new Simmons U-12 Tuesday and I'd like to upgrade the tuning machines to locking tuners. I just measured the space at the top of the frame and it's only 15/16" between the insides. Also, I notice Bob cut some of them off including the top two to give plenty of clearance and line up better with the nut rollers close to the neck. SO, has anyone found any brand/model of locking tuner that will work on these things? A buddy of mine says Sperzels are about 1/4" shorter than most non-lockers, but they all look about the same to me in pictures. I'd prefer the Planet Waves jobbies that also cut the string off as you tune the new string, eliminating any extra wraps. Why am I so anxious? Already busted an .011 on this one (grabbed the wrong button) and several on my old ax just changing strings. HALP!!!

Best regards,
...z

Hi all. Count me in too. I've been playing U-12 since I got my Anapeg back in 2001. Started in the early 90's with a Sho Bud s-10 and then got may hands on a d-10 professional. When having switched to 12 strings I don't think I'll ever go back. I also own a Emmons s-12 and a Dekley s-12. Both great guitars, but nothing seems to beat the Anapeg.....
-Sveinung in Norway

TTT

It's been almost a year since I started the thread and thanks for the wealth of info that all of you have posted.

I am sure there is more to learn about the universal setup. Tips and tricks that can be passed along to others.

What method do you all use to remember chord positions. I know there are a number of different copedents, and that is another piece of the string, pedal, position equation.

I would like to see this thread keep on going.. Our setup. http://www.joemcham.net/id20.htm

Thanks all,
Joe Mac

I see you have a knee-lever lowering both strings 5 and 9 from B to Bb. The more common change is to just lower string 5. That corresponds to the C6 lever that lowers the 3rd string from C to B.

Rich Cottle wrote:Yea I play D9th/A6th that way I dont break anymore strings, man I haven't broke a string on my ZUM in about a year, I never played a D-10 always a S-10 then in the late eightys Tom Bradshaw sold me my first MSA U-12 and I haven't gone back, in fact I've had all kinds of different arangments on it but now I pretty much stay with the Jeff Newman setup with another pedal and couple more knee levers(8 and 6),on my ZUM I have (8 and 7) either way I really dig it Rich Cottle

Funny, I play A6/D9 and never break strings either. I first went uni after seeing a seminar in 1977 led by Marice Anderson. I first went with his Bb6/Eb9 setup but years later, ended up dropping the tuning 1/2 step.

Raybob

Eb9/Bb6 S12 8/5 Millennium for me!

My present S-12U setup on an older MSA S-12, I added just one triple raise on the 9th string & don't have the 'C' pedal on E9th side, I raise the top E to F# & use the pedal on the B6th side. Working good for me. I have been on & off D-10's & universals since 1979.
Failed to mention that a couple string guages have changed they are .013 on 1st, .017 on 2nd, .015 on 4th & .018 on 5th string.
Ernie Pollock
http://www.hereintown.net/~shobud75/stock.htm

I finally got around to converting my Excel file to a uniform spacing text that works on the Forum.

[tab]My E9/B6 Universal
LKL LKV LKR 0 A B C 8 5 6 7 RKL RLR
1 F# G/G# G#
2 D# E C# D/C#
3 G# A
4 E F F# F D#
5 B C# C# C#
6 G# A A#
7 F# G/G# E F
8 E F D F# D D#
9 B C# C
10 G# A A#
11 E F D# F
12 B C# G# C#
[/tab]

Joe count me in. Carter and Sho-Bud universals. Use the the Carter all the time now as it's lighter. It's 7 and 5. Emmons set up. Pedals 4 to 7 same as Danny Naccaratos on the Tunings section of this forum, so my 4th is the boo/waa but on the additional 7th pedal (He has 6) I raise my 7th to G.
Knee levers are as follows, LKL lowers 2nd a tone on a good double stop made by my mate Richard Burton (Really positive) and lowers 8th string to D...LKR takes 1st up to G and lowers 6th a tone. LKV raises 1st to G# and lowers 5th to Bb...RKR lowers my E's...RKL raises my E's

Micky Byrne United Kingdom.

www.micky-byrne.co.uk

Thanks Lee, that was an oversight, I just lower the 5th string .. http://www.joemcham.net/ID20.htm

Here is the setup for the "E9" and 13 series part of the 30" scale BEAST.



Here is what it would be if the scale length was 25".



The notes in the above two examples are different....the intervals for the changes can be the same.



We use the I, IV, V, chord sequence the most, so it is reasonable to think of a I neck, a IV neck, and a V neck. The above chart shows the intervals available to make the chords on the I neck. If you want the rest of the story, I will send it via email if you email me with a request...free.

Two questions:

Are there other advantages of tuning down a half step to D9/A6 or is it only for string breaking issues? I imagine it sounds and feels a lot different.

I play a longer (25") scale keyless U12 with an E9/B6 tuning.
String breakage is never a problem.

I agree with the low B lower being overkill. I often loosen the nut on that pull so it does nothing. What would you have in place that change?

Here's the set up I've been using lately: