The Steel Guitar Forum

I realize that this question is extremely subjective, and possibly very ignorant too -- but I'll admit right now that I know nothing about steel guitar. Heck, I'll go ahead and ask the question:

I've read that you can get a pretty good C6th sound (for western swing, etc) out of an E9th neck by holding the right combination of pedals and knee levers.

My questions is -- is it worth it to go ahead and get a non-pedal 8-string if you're interested in learning some swing/C6th stuff and you don't want a double neck psg? Or, can you get by with using an S-10 E9th? As always, thanks for your valuable time and I welcome your opinions.

Hi Tom,
Not a dumb question at all. A non-pedal 8-string steel will give you a totally different sound than an E9 PSG. IMO, most of them have that distinct "Hawaiian" quality to them and will be fine if you plan to play only old time country and swing stuff. It´s also a good starting point if you want to get into C6 pedal steel later on. It will be more difficult to get those classic country licks (´60s and up) on them that are usually associated with E9 (well, unless you´re Jerry Byrd...) I mean, it is easier to get swing sound on an E9 pedal steel than the other way round. If your main focus is country and you only want to play some swing, an E9 pedal steel will work just fine. If you have a keen interest in the swing stuff, mainly the older, ´40s-´50s kind, and want to make it sound authentically, you should consider the non-pedal as well. My own preference would be D-10, but you said you didn´t want one of those.

Good luck, Joe H.

There will be a tone difference, as Joe has pointed out. But as far as playing the right notes, the B6 position (E's lowered) will give you the essence of a C6 lap steel tuning, and the first pedal will give you the essence of the E13 lap steel tuning.

It's hard to do bar slants on adjacent strings on a pedal steel. Those slants are part of the non-pedal sound - using pedals to get those notes just doesn't sound the same.

If you bought an 8 string lap steel, you could have some lower notes than on the E9. An 8 string C6 often includes a low A and a low F, which provide chords that you can't really get on E9.

And of course the tone of an old lap steel will be more authentic than your E9 for that kind of music. I think that's the biggest advantage to carrying around a lap steel. It just sounds different.

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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 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic

Here's tab for the intro and turnaround Buddy played for Houston. Many players thought it was on C6, but it's all E9.

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com