The Steel Guitar Forum

Thanks Herb.

Johnny,
I love your posts my dear friend. They are always right on and bring back many vivid memories of our youth.
We were so fortunate to have access to the masters who inspired our passion for the instrument.
Hope you're feeling better soon!
By the way, I hate the term "boo-wah pedal".

Johnny, I would much appreciate it if you could share your C6th setup with us ... I am intrigued that you have managed to incorporate most of Curly/Reece/Buddy;s changes and would love to compare that with what I currently use. Thanks in advance.

Is it true that this pedal 10 change [ie. the major third interval C/E lowering to a minor third interval B/D ] can be achieved in the standard C6 tuning at fret 5 by picking strings 4&5 with pedal 4 down , releasing the pedal, then depressing pedal 5?You could also pick strings 4,5 & 8 for a bigger sound. I kind of like this change split on 2 pedals for then you can get the notes passing through in a run ie.E,D, C,B or just change them together.It sounds just like the E9th change on strings 5&6 using A& B pedals.Or am I missing some subtle difference between this and Curly's change?

Ian
It's true you can get the same change (maj 3rd to min 3rd) with pedals 4 and 5, but the timbre is different because of the thickness of the strings.

The way to get the Chalker change is by using the C-C# lever and moving the bar down 2 frets, as in
[tab]
2. 7___5___7
3. 7___5#__7
[/tab]
shown here in the key of G.

Another way would be a reverse slant, but quite problematic for intonation accuracy, bar control, et al.

Thanks Herb for pointing that out.I didn't think of staying on the same strings

To further Curly's use of the pedal 10 that's backward to us. He was so adept at using it with the speed of light. If you can view the Youtube of the Wilburn's show, he and Jimmy Capps did "No Teardrops Tonight" the ending phrase of the two guitars, Curly pumped pedal 10 so smoothly. His first four notes came about with his gift for using that pedal, he never slurred the notes on his use of it. He only picked the notes after the pedal was fully pressed or released. What a guy.

link to No Teardrops, and some super Chalker picking...Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy_TJVdoCz4

Here is my setup
from string #1 D G E C A G E C A F D A
P4 R 5(A) 1 TONE R 9(A) 1 TONE
P5 R 8(C) 1/2 TONE L 10(F) 1/2 TONE & 11(D) 1/2
P6 L 6(G) 1/2 TONE R 10(F) 1/2 & 11(D) 1/2
P7 R 3(E) 1/2 & L 7(E)1/2
P8 R 4(C) 1 TONE & 5 (A) 1/2 TONE
LKL L 4(C) 1/2
LKV R 1(D) 1/2 - R3(E) 1/2 & 5(A) 1/2
LKR L 6(G) 1 TONE with 1/2 stop
RKL L 5(A) 1/2
RKR L 3(E) 1 TONE * splits with P6 & LKV

Works for me.

Thanks Johnny - much appreciated

Maybe someone can post this in a chart form so it's more understandable. I don't know how.

Johnny Cox 12 string setup:



Curly Chalker setup:

That's really interesting Johnny! Thanks for sharing!

As you can see Curly's changes are all there. His 10th pedal is simply my
RKR & LKL together. His RKR is my RKL and his RKL is my RKL & LKL together. His 5th pedal I get with my 4th pedal and LKR using the 1/2 stop. I still retain the standard C6th changes and don't have all the duplications.
I did forget to mention that
on my 6th pedal I have a rod on the 2nd string(G) and can tune it to raise a full tone to have a 6th note on top. Also on the RKL
I have a rod in the 9th string(A) so that I can lower both A notes to Ab.
If you look at Reece's Bb6th setup you see that I have the same changes except his 3rd pedal as far as the 6th side of his tuning and I don't have his 1st & 2nd (Eb9th) pedals. It's the best of all worlds for me. Now if I can just learn to play it having it all on one guitar. I know I'm crazy, you don't have to tell me.

I was just now listening to ET's "Pass the booze" and marveling at the changes, wondering what pedals he was pushin'.

After looking at Curly's C6th copedant I think a fella could have fun with those two left forward knees...

Ray, those aren't really "forward" levers but just two verticals that can be used as a single or together. The diagram looks like forward. I first saw the two on his Baldwin changeover in '69 in Dallas. That guitar was later in the ShoBud store on Broadway in '73 when Curly went to MSA. Bud Carter also made them to act alone or together but a little different from the Bud.