The Steel Guitar Forum

The B6&9 miniUNI has arrived at last.
This is a new 11 string tuning. Its new to me anyway. Its a B6/B9. I've simply taken the B major triad notes from the B6th tuning and added "E9" pedals to them. Look at pedals 1, 2 & 3. Also, look at how the knee levers on the right leg coincide with these changes like the E and F levers on an E9 tuning do. The second string is an E9 idea which makes it just like an E9 tuning on the first four strings. Only two and a half steps lower. To B.
I know most E9 players would not be satisfied with this set up but it gives me all the country chops I need without holding a knee lever in to switch from one mode to the other. Its "E9 lite" and "B6 heavy".
There are some "E9" changes missing (like no lower register which is why I call it the miniUNI) but that's ok with me. There are still plenty of Lloyd Green licks available here and a full B6th tuning with no locking knee levers.
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
LKL LKL V LKR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RKL RKR
1C#
2Bb A/G#
3Eb E E
4B C# C# Bb C
5G# G A Bb Bb
6F# G# G# F
7Eb D E
8B C
9G#
10E F Eb
11B C# G#
</pre></font>
This would also work well if you put your "C6th pedal 6" (Which I have on my LKR) in its standard pedal position.
Take a good look at this. Its beautiful. But I'm sure its not for everybody. Thanks, Don

T<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 29 September 2002 at 07:12 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 29 September 2002 at 11:34 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 29 September 2002 at 11:54 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 30 September 2002 at 12:15 AM.]</p></FONT>

I redid it.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 29 September 2002 at 11:36 PM.]</p></FONT>

I had some trouble getting this up but now its there. Thanks

Don, That's an interesting concept,but I am curious as to why you didn't put P2 (Eb to E) on a knee lever? Maybe avoiding that, was the whole idea?
W.C.

Don, second question: Do you occasionally use both feet on the pedals,when playing?
Third question: Have you tried this on a gig,yet?
W.C.

Wayne, the reason the Eb to E changes are on my second pedal is because that is exactly what the second pedal on an E9 does. They raise the thirds to a fourth and the first pedal on this miniUNI does what the first pedal does on an E9. It raises the fifth up a whole step to a sixth. together these pedals turn one triad into another triad a fourth higher. On the E9 tuning it goes from E to A. On the miniUNI it goes from B to E. That's what really makes this tuning different. When using pedals A, B (or 1 & 2), the pedals down position at the third fret gives you G not C and so on.
I hardly ever use two feet on the pedals. I don't need to because I have my "C6th pedal 6" on a knee lever instead of on the floor. This makes it very easy to play it all (or most of it) with one foot.
And no, I have not tried this tuning yet but I've sent one of my 12 string Klines to Tom Bradshaw and he is going to perform the operation. Its elective surgery, I might add.

Hi Don,

Your new tuning looks good. Why don't you use all 12 of your strings on the Kline? A high F# at the 3rd string position would be very useful. It would provide a note in the high range which could also be raised to G# (P1} for the B to E chord change.

Dennis

Hi Don,
What guage is string 2?

Do you do the traditional E9th I to IV raise triad on strings 8, 7, 6 with P1+P2?

Thx,
Pete B.

Dennis, I've done a lot of thinking about adding an F# string at the 3rd string position. That's a good Idea and Tom Bradshaw agrees with you on this. He thinks I should use all 12 strings. Either way the point is the same. BTW, this miniUNI idea could easily work on a 10 string guitar if you chose to omit the lowest string (B in this case) just as so many C6th players have allready done with thier low C string.
Pete, Yes you get a 1 to 4 change on strings 8,7 and 6 with A&B pedals down. You also get the 1 to 4 change on strings 7,6 & 4 and also on 6, 4 & 3 with A&B pedals down.
I guess I'd use an .018 or .020 on the Bb (2nd) string.
Don

I did a very similar thing on the C neck of a D-12 MSA I had in 1975. The 'A' pedal raised G to A and the the 'B' raised E to F. The voicing of the chord was way too low to emulate E9. If the intended result of a 'universal tuning' is to emulate the standard E9 and C6 tunings, there are wheels already invented that do that very well. Both Bb6 and E9/B6 can fool me on tape. I removed the back neck and put Bb6 on the front neck of that guitar within about two months and was much happier with it. But that's just me I s'pose.

Since your orientation appears to be toward the sixth tuning, this may be worth exploring as an extension of the B6 tuning, but I'd be surprised if it can be coaxed into sounding country, in the traditional E9 mold. Maybe that's not what you're after. I join Tom in urging you to leave the 12th string there, even if you don't put a string in that position.

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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

Larry, I must admit that I am a little fearful the "E9" voicing may be a little too low but I also suspect that I will like it anyway. We'll see. If anything, I will probably install the F# in the string 3 position if I decide to use all 12 strings.
If this idea was done using a D6th (rather than B6th or C6th) tuning then that would be an interesting compromise. The "6th" stuff would be one whole step higher than usual and the "9th" stuff would only be one whole step lower than usual. I'm not sure if this would be a win win situation or a lose lose situation. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don McClellan on 02 October 2002 at 12:26 PM.]</p></FONT>