The Steel Guitar Forum

I want to try c6th on my pedal steel the copedant is e9th three floor pedals, and four knee levers.
a raises5&10 to c# b raises3&6 to A. C raises 4to f# 5raises B to c# knee lever D drops D# to D
knee lever E drops strings 4and 8 to e flat.
F lever raises strings 4&8to F
G lever raises strings 1and7 to G
any help and advice is very welcome string sizes what position do they go to. I dont want to do any drastic ghanges that I cant undo. matthew

For a starting point, check out a string package for the gauges..most C6 copedants are similar.

For a real conversion (including sized rollers), "drastic" measures may be needed. There are threads on the Forum describing just such a project, as well as many variations.

Familiarity with moving cranks and such around is advised.


I would strongly suggest finding a C6 guitar you can play around on for a while. You might just realize you need a doubleneck.

What kind of guitar do you have?
It will be a major job to convert, as only the E to F and E to D# levers will do anything useful or standard.

If you are planning to change it to a C6 guitar, you will have quite a bit of work in store for you. You can make a C6 guitar with only three pedals and four levers. I did it for someone on a Fessenden S10. It took some time and I had to make some rods. Most brands don't use "sized", or guaged rollers, so that shouldm't be an issue.

Interesting, to me, because I have recently ordered parts to change over my Mullen SD-10 4&5 to dedicated C6. I'll add a pedal to make 5&5. Moving pedals toward center; needed extra rods/bell-cranks/cross-shaft. About $300. and I am expecting a learning experience. I think Mullen guitars are easily changeable. With a D-10 you could live in both worlds. Good luck.

Matthew, the basic or "standard" C6th copedent has 5 pedals and originally 1 knee. They're called by their pedal numbers on a basic D-10, and even if someone puts them somewhere else, they still go by the numbers designated by St. Buddy.
From 1-10: usually DECAGECAFC, some people use G as 1st string.
P4: raises 4 and 8 to B
P5: raises 10 to D, raises 9 to F# and lowers 5 to F# (if 1 is G, often raises 1 to G#)
P6: raises 2 to F and lowers 6 to Eb
P7: raises 3 to D and 4 to B
P8: raises 7 to C#, lowers 9 to E and 10 to A (if 1 is D, often raises to D#)
Knee lowers 3 to B

To set up a 3 and 4 to C6, I'd put:
P6 on 1, P7 on 2 and P8 on 3
P4 on LKL with a half-stop at Bb
P5 on LKR
Standard knee on RKR
RKL is a bonus change; I'd either raise 3 and 7 to C# or lower 4 to G# and 8 to G

I would strongly suggest finding a C6 guitar you can play around on for a while. You might just realize you need a doubleneck.

I second the motion. Leave the current guitar alone and find a decent C6 guitar if you want to learn your way around. The setups and the associated musical concepts are just not that similar, so would be better off not messing up a perfectly good E9 rig to go there IMHO.

Even though I said it's not that hard to change it over, I also think you should leave it alone and get a dedicated C6 guitar. But granted, they are not easy to find, and that was the reason the guy I changed one over for wanted to do it, He had a D10' but wanted a single 10 C6, as that is what he primarily played.