The Steel Guitar Forum

Howdy - I'll shortly be the proud new owner of a 50s T8 Stringmaster (24.5"). Purchase was necessitated by starting a salary gig with a country artist in January. I mostly play pedal right now, but need to beef up the straight steel chops.

The music is super straight Nashville country rock stuff, so one neck would easily cover it. I also play in some more experimental bands though.

I'm assuming I'll go with an A6 or C6 and E13 neck, but would appreciate some thoughts on what to do about neck 3. I'd love to have somehting wild on there, like really low, almost bass strings or a more rock/blues tuning.

Thanks!!

I use Rick Alexanders suggestions on my T8 and with minor tweeking you can have many tunings. Since you come from a pedal background tuning changes should be fairly simple. I use Cobra Coils and/or Jagwire strings as they seem to give the best sustain and crisp tones. Have a look at Ricks suggestions: www.rickalexander.com/BigSteel/Tunings.html

I've been getting a lot of mileage w/ this old school e9 on my T8(high to low):

E B G# F# D B G# E

Great rock power chords on the bottom with that dom 7 right there if you need it. I can cop lots of pedal stuff on the top with pulls and slants, as well as slide guitar type stuff. And you can get pretty jazzy with it as well, if needed. A versatile tuning once you get used to it.

I pair it with A6 and an E13 w/ a high G# on my triple.

Wow, thanks for the input guys.

Jon, that E9 sounds like a winner to me.


What's the general consensus these days (if there is one) on the Don Helms E6/B13 tunings? Are they less functional or relevant than typical A6/E13?

Cheers!

Don Helm's tunings make those Hank intro's work if that's in your repertoire. I like the G# harmony note on top. Mostly I play A13 lo to hi G A C# E F# A C# E, with the 5th on top like a dobro. Works great for both swing and raunchy slide guitar sounds.

What keys are the tunes in?

What keys are the tunes in?

mostly pretty standard - D/A/E/G stuff[/quote]

For me, B11 is a great choice for the third neck: good bass possibilities, majors and minors built in, augmented and diminished chords within easy reach. I have A6 on the near neck, E13 on the middle, B11 on the top neck.

Justin; I use this E9/13 on my 3rd. neck. Lo-Hi: E~D~F#~G#~B~C#~E~G#.
.054w, .034w, .026w, .022w, .020p, .018p, .015p, ,012p.

Hey Jim -

Is your B11 something to the tune of:

1. E
2. C#
3. A
4. F#
5. D#
6. C#
7. A
8. B

?

Justin,

I've been back and forth, especially on the lower strings, but what I have on there now for B11 (high to low) is E-C#-A-F#-D#-B-A-F#. (I like the octave repeats on 3-4 and 7-8 for pads.)

My other favorite is: E-C#-A-F#-D#-C#-B-A (which gives you nice scalar positioning).

The JB 8-str. B11 Tuning is, Lo~Hi:
(Lo-B)~A~C#~D#~F#~A~C#~E
My gauges are, Hi~Lo:
E___.015p___E
C#__.018p___C
A___.022p___A
F#__.024w___G
D#__.030w___E
C#__.036w___C#
A___.038w___C
B___.068w___A
_____B11____C6/A7
You can use both tunings on the same neck! (B11 as an optional tuning.)

Nobody but a pedal steel player would use my tuning, but it works for me, and has lots of good chords. It's like the E9 pedal steel tuning, with the E's lowered to D#.
Lo to Hi: B,D,D#,F#,G#,B,D#,F# kind of B6/E9
Plus you can use a regular E9 pedal steel string set.