The Steel Guitar Forum

I read in the tab section that Lloyd uses his 4th string raise to F#( C-pedal) as he lowers his 8th string to Eb. Has anybody tried these two moves on one knee lever?

Curly Chalker had that combination on one of his knee levers on his E9th neck.

I have those changes on one knee lever. strings 4 and 8 both raise to F# and both lower to Eb. Couldn't do without it.

You can do that on an Emmons push-pull, even if your lever lowers the 4th string. Raises win on a push-pull - there's no split to deal with.

If you lower string 8 with B+C, you get a very useful B9th chord (at the nut). This is a distinct advantage on the push-pull, or on any all-pull that doesn't lower 4 and 8 together.

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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 (F Diatonic), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic

Bob is right, Curly didn't lower the 4th. It makes for interesting changes from the norm. Jay Dee encourages the player to use the 2nd string instead of lowering the 4th on some phrasings. After a while, you'll not miss the 4th lowering. I have been considering making that change also after all these years.

Back in the days of 1 or 2 knee levers, it may have been a good sacrifice (losing the 4th lower), but with the plethora of knee levers that most modern guitars have, I think it's a change worth keeping, as it makes playing easier, and gives "smoother" transitions. I do believe I heard Lloyd say once that he dropped that 4th-lower change on his old Sho~Bud because he had problems keeping the 4th string in tune. We no longer have those problems with most modern guitars.