The Steel Guitar Forum

On my 72 p/p I struggle to get a strong chime or harmonic on the 3rd string(e9). Its noticeably weak and thin in comparison with other strings. I prefer a .012 and aside from chiming, the tonal balance seems fine with normal picking. To create a solid chime on the 3rd though requires quite a bit more effort, precision and pick attack.still thin in comparison though. I know theres a ton of room for improvement in my technique. On my Bowman built p/p, the chimes do jump out with spine shivering strength on all strings, pretty impressive i must say. So Im wondering if this is a common or typical thing on many but not all steels. Is it possible pickups become weak or imbalanced? Just wonderin.

Due to their inherent design, certain guitars enhance certain notes and frequencies. If one guitar "had it all", then there would only be one popular brand. That said, I use a .010 guage 3rd string most of the time, and though it is a little "thin" when playing normally, it's right up there with the others when it comes to chimes, or playing in the upper registers. In your case, you might try a different brand or guage (.011?) of string. Or, if that doesn't help, try a good graphic equalizer to boost the highs slightly. Should all else fail, maybe Bill Lawrence can design a better pickup for your steel.

Steven,

You are correct and so is Donny.

Bit of trivia:

I am NOT a good steel guitar player at ALL. Never have been never will be. It was a dream NEVER to be realized.

However, I could chime very good. That and vibrato were the ONLY two things I could be legitimately proud of.

Sadly, both are GONE. Yes, they simply just went away. I can NO longer chime hardly at all. Almost makes me cry. Really.

"Youth is truly wasted on the young"

God bless you both,

carl

Carl: When I went back to playing nearly two years ago, I too found I had lost my chimes. I kept flubbing them and feeling stupid but I persisted and finally they came back to me. Then we started doing SleepWalk and you either have that chime in there or forget you wanted to play SleepWalk. I do the intro chime on my 4/E string but on the bridge I try to emmulate LG and chime in 3rds. I have noticed it is easier for me to chime 1&2 and 4&5 easier than I can get 3&4 to ring out. I too have suspected it was a guitar trait as Donny mentioned.

I recall somebody (Larry Miller ??) reminding us about Jimmy Bryant teasing Julian Tharpe with: Yulian, You want to play de bails ?? I sometime feel I play the 12th,7th and 5th fret chimes too much but I surely like those sounds just as Julian must have.

Now if I could only make them ring out like Jerry and Kayton do. I still recall Kayton at your Atlanta show on a Sunday Morning Church Service/Show. He earned that standing ovation and you too, for bringing it to us !!

Best Regards, Paul

You gotta say it right, Paul
It's Jooooooyun.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Steven,
Have you tried using the nail on your pinky ?

Bob

Larry Bell !! Was that you ?? At least I got the first name right, eh ??

Bob: I haven't tried the nail but years ago when I was some what more agile, I would place the tip of my thumb on the first joint of my right pinky and use the tip of the little finger at the chime fretts. I had to twist all the way around to get lined up with the strings and that was a problem to get right.
Kayton used that at times but that also was years ago and I don't know if he still does it.

And that reminds me of something I used to do when setting intonation on a regular guitar. This time I used the nail on my left pinky to "FEEL' the chime at the 12th fret. Ringing it seemed to me to be too broad a range and I could get it closer with the nail/touch. You could lay that chime exactly over the 12th with the string length adjusment doing it that way. Thanks for remembering that for me !

Regards, Paul

Bob, i've been foolin around with the pinky finger nail and it works pretty good. I also find I can chime two strings at once (3+4,etc.) with the nail for 3rd harmonies. Nice suggestion ,thanks. still unable to chime wide thirds or 6ths(3+5,4+6 etc,) though.

Guys I'm not the greatest at chimes, but here are a couple of things that might help.
First adjust the pickup as close to the strings as is practical without the strings touching and try different brands of strings. I have found on my Mullen that GHS Bommers seem to chime the best.
Well I guess there is also 3rd thing do do. Practice practice practice.