The Steel Guitar Forum

What right knee lever has what changes on the right knee make no difference whether it is rkl or rkr or whether it is Emmons or Day.. It really only matters if the E changes are on the left knee. Bob, care to explain your reason why?

I started with Sho-Buds and all those guitars came with the lowered E's on the RKL I believe. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.

"Standard" Newman U12 here; E lowers ( and string 2 to C# ) on RKR, raises on RKL. My right foot can still reach P7 & P8 with RKR engaged. YMMV, of course. String 2 D# to D and string 9 B to D on LKL could be exchanged with the E raises, but I can't see any real advantage to that, so, on the principle of "if it ain't bust, don't fix it", I just set up my recently purchased Excel Superb levers the same as my Carter.
Not quite sure what I'd do if I was setting up a single 10 or 12 E9, though; there are always going to be compromises, no matter what.

Chris

According to Fred Justice, The great Mike Smith lowers E's with R/R

RKR lowers E's RKL raises E's a half and a whole tone

I lower my E's -1/2 on E-9 and raise my high and middle C's +1/2 on C-6. IMHO,,,,the only way to fly,,,,at least for me.
BB

Check out Paul Franklin and Mike Johnson's setups... Raise on LKL, Lower on RKL, thats what I'v played for 30 years. (I started with a Sho-Bud) In my opinion there are many advantages over both on the same leg... Much smoother transition on many changes... Really it's up to you...

Richard Sinkler wrote:What right knee lever has what changes on the right knee make no difference whether it is rkl or rkr or whether it is Emmons or Day.. It really only matters if the E changes are on the left knee. Bob, care to explain your reason why?

Sure,

It's more natural for both legs to move opposite to each other on common changes. Day people (me) rock the left foot/leg outward so lowering the E's at the same time moving RKR balances that out rather than both legs moving the same way. In an Emmons setup, the opposite is true, having E's lowering RKL (Mike Johnson, Paul Franklin


bob

Raise on LKL, Lower on RKL

Yep ! that what i use
lowering string 2 should be on LKR so that you can engage the E lowers on RKL & have chromatic scales/runs on strings 245

Bob, I am also a Day player and have both E levers on my left knee. The placement of those levers is critical on the left knee. Over the last 41 years, I have switched the location of my right knee levers from left to right directions, with no difference. The only reason for the changes was due to changing the function of the right knee lever changes on my C6th neck. One change I put on made the RKR lever too hard to push quickly, so I moved the E9 changes to the opposite lever to reduce the total number of strings pulled on each lever.

And, I have also played a Day guitar that lowered the E's on RKR and it raised on RKL and didn't feel awkward to me.

But I do agree with your statement

It's more natural for both legs to move opposite to each other on common changes.

Richard Sinkler wrote:Bob, I am also a Day player and have both E levers on my left knee. The placement of those levers is critical on the left knee. Over the last 41 years, I have switched the location of my right knee levers from left to right directions, with no difference. The only reason for the changes was due to changing the function of the right knee lever changes on my C6th neck. One change I put on made the RKR lever too hard to push quickly, so I moved the E9 changes to the opposite lever to reduce the total number of strings pulled on each lever.

And, I have also played a Day guitar that lowered the E's on RKR and it raised on RKL and didn't feel awkward to me.

But I do agree with your statement

It's more natural for both legs to move opposite to each other on common changes.

My new Emmons has them both on the left but I've always had the lower on RKR. I'll see if I can adapt.

Paul and JD have made compelling reasons to split them, especially when transition from E's lower to raise in a continuous, smooth overlapping move.

bob

Bob, I prefer them on the same knee to give me more combination possibilities, like Buddy has mentioned. That sound you get with the move you mentioned is available in several other places (3 others on my guitar), so it's not a good argument to convince me to split them. I can still hit that move fast enough to get the general sound of the lick, and I can feel the stop in the middle, but not many listening are really going to hear it or even care. If it is really an issue in a song I am doing, I just get the lick elsewhere.

This has been a nice thread with some good info.This MCI is 8 and 8 with splits and compensators and setup so well I just could not bring myself to tear into it so I was just checking to see who might have e,s down on RKR.The extra info has been nice.Once again this kinda stuff WOULD HAVR BEEN GOOD YESTERDAY ,when I was young,I could have been a big time player.I don,t think the young guys relize how good the forum is and all the other stuff so easily available now.I,m 59 by the way,old to some,young to others. thanks lakeshrk