The Steel Guitar Forum

I think it goes unsaid that anyone who wants to play will have a more difficult time if he has no mechanical ability. These are, after all, mechanical devices, and they are inclined to need some adjustments occasionally.

I've often thought we should have a separate and dedicated section (or at least, the world's bigest "stiocky-note") for the "When I tune the pedals, the open tuning goes sharp" complaints.

I have recently given up on PSG for this very reason......sort of. I am extremely mechanically challenged. But I also found that my style of play was not enhanced much by the potential of the pedals. I play only the C6 tuning. And I play alot of single string. And when I do play harmonized lines, I don't find the big fat chords particularly useful. I played non pedal for some time before trying pedals. And I got used to thinking of the non pedal guitar as more akin to the violin than the guitar in the sense that it was not a chord instrument but rather a melody instrument that could play some double and triple stops. So the extra effort required for PSG was not really worth what I was getting out of it. And I think that is really the key issue. If the pedals are adding enough to your work to make the extra effort worthwhile, you will find a way to work with them. If they're not, you won't. It's that simple.

The second part of that question for those of us that are mechanically inclined and have fixed things all our lives. Do you find youself wishing not to fix thing and just enjoying playing. I have fixed TV Helicopters Computers Telephone system. Now when I go home the last thing I really want to do is fix something. My dad was the same way.

Yeah, stuff should just work, dammit.