The Steel Guitar Forum

Mitch Druckman wrote:I've been using a modified C6 tuning that I discovered from the great Billy Robinson.

Low to High
F A C E G A C E G D

Very easy to deal with if you're already familiar with C6, but much more versatile.

Does anyone know if the High D is tuned between the HIGH C and E (ala Reece Anderson) or not?

Yes-- it's betweeen strings 3 & 4 in pitch.

I sometimes tune my Epi Alkire to an E13th tuning- sort of combination of Leon's and Noel's.
lowest to highest string
E,G#,B,D,E,F#,G#,B,C#,E
Basically,this is just two strings added to my
"mostly used" E13th (on 8 stringers)
again lowest to highest
E,B,D,F#,G#,B,C#,E

I have been playing around with 6 string C6 and I have a 10 string (Alkire) I would like to string up without mental stress.
So I saw this variation of a C6 in this post.

Low to High
F A C E G A C E G D

I would like to try this tuning since I am somewhat familiar with the middle 6 strings (C,E,G,A,C,E).

Since I will have to buy single strings, can anyone recommend the string gages for these 10 strings?

Thanks
K

I love my current 10 string tuning:
L-H) C Bb C E G A C E G (d). It has a really strong 7th chord which I love and with just a few quick changes can easily transform to any number of other tunings (like the Billy Robinson tuning), although I've found no reason to change the tuning.

Ms. Bruno, what you've got is the top 9 strings of a 10-string C6th pedal steel tuning, plus a lower "re-entrant" or "chromatic" D, most people would look at a 15 to 17 for that. In singles, you'd want 54-42-36-30-24w-20p-17-14-12, + the 17 D. The Live Steel strings people could make the trade of a low 68 or 70 (out of a normal C6th set) for a D, or b0b here might be able to make the trade out of the sets he sells (which help support the forum).

http://livesteelstrings.com/

http://www.steelguitarshopper.com/categ ... dal-steel/

For more generalized string gauge guessing, we go again to b0b's links. Here's a bit of reading:
http://b0b.com/wp/?page_id=96
and here's the string guide:
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/gauges.htm

Ms. Bruno, what you've got is the top 9 strings of a 10-string C6th pedal steel tuning, plus a lower "re-entrant" or "chromatic" D, most people would look at a 15 to 17 for that. In singles, you'd want 54-42-36-30-24w-20p-17-14-12, + the 17 D. The Live Steel strings people could make the trade of a low 68 or 70 (out of a normal C6th set) for a D, or b0b here might be able to make the trade out of the sets he sells (which help support the forum).

Thanks. I will go with this for now. I'll start with the interior 6 strings and work outward.
Probably the main thing to get used to is the narrower string spacing.
(I also play around with the E9 on a basic pedal steel type guitar, but are using it mostly for chord changes right now.
I think the lap C6 is more melodic, plus its convenient to take around because no setup required.
C6 also presents great "blocking" practice when trying to play a bluesy tune, or to make it sound a little different than the "traditional" western swing.