The Steel Guitar Forum

Right. I do that too, but it would be just as easy (maybe even easier) if the B note were on the 7th string instead of the 8th:
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>key of E
6____________________________________________
7________________2b____2b____2_____2_________
8_____2____2_________________________________
9____________________________________________
10____2##__2##___2##___2##___2##___2##_______


6____________________________________________
7_____2b___2b________________2b____2b________
8_________________2____2_____________________
9____________________________________________
10____2##__2##___2##___2##___2##___2##_______
</pre></font>If I were designing the tuning from scratch, I would probably lower the 7th string instead of raising the 8th. Adjacent semitones are pretty undesirable in the lower register. I'm wondering why it was done that way.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic, Line6 Variax (coming soon)

Yep, that would work.

Problem: If you put the s.7 lower on the same pedal as the s.4 raise, you lose the root tone when using the pedal for a M7 chord. You can put the s.7 lower on a knee lever, if you have a knee lever to burn. I have 5 on C6 and need all of them for other thingies.

Could be one of those trade-offs I keep hearing about.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Buddy has experimented with different things on the 4th pedal. For a while he had A (4) to Ab, (which is now on a knee,) and also E (6) to F, (which he used on the opening of "You Are So Beautiful".) He has since gone back to the A's to B.

(BTW: I've seen him play YASB without the E to F change. He pulled the 6th string up a half tone behind the bar. He never ceases to amaze me...)

Mine is E (6) to F right now, but I'm not using it much, chording mostly. Might be time to go back to the A's to B. I haven't had that change since '77. It'd probably be fun.

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

My P4 raises string 6 E to F and string 7 C to D. I don't know what chords this will make. It gives me that Hal Rugg sound that I love to hear.

<SMALL>Problem: If you put the s.7 lower on the same pedal as the s.4 raise, you lose the root tone when using the pedal for a M7 chord.</SMALL>

Yeah, that's true. But you have that same Major 7th with pedal 7, and also with the knee lever that lowers the 3rd string. It seems somewhat redundant to have it on pedal 4.

I wonder if it's just because of the way the tuning evolved on primitive changers. Look at the 5 standard pedals. None of the top 8 strings are both raised and lowered. I imagine that maybe the changers didn't support raising and lowering a string until around the time that the knee lever and the 9th and 10th strings were added.

Just a guess. I'm not a steel guitar historian or an expert on old changers. I'm just saying that I don't see any real strong reasoning behind the low A to B on pedal 4.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic, Line6 Variax (coming soon)