The Steel Guitar Forum

I really like the sounds that Mike achieves with his setup. His intro on "Together Again" is very beautiful. I'm in the process of changing my setup, and I'm thinking of going with Mike's.

Not sure if I like the E-Eb on the RKL though. It fits so well on the left knee...I'm wondering if it must be set up like that in order to achieve his licks.

I am assuming he is still using this same copedent as I found in a forum post -



His popular change, seen here on the LKR...I am guessing that is used in conjunction with rolling onto the 2nd pedal?

It's kinda hard for me to visualize the sound combo of the pedal/knee without actually sitting down at the guitar and playing it.

Do any of you guys use this copedent? Must it be set up with that knee lever configuration in order for it all to flow properly?

Thanks, Tim

I have all those changes and have bben able to copy a lot of his riffs with no problem. I like splitting his pedal 4 change to get a low A drone note for rhythm vamps.

I have most of those changes too. I lower string 6 to F# rather than raising 7 to G#.

http://www.richard-sinkler.com/tunings.html

This is the copedant I use and have used since the beginning with the exception of pedal 4 and the E change on the LKR which I added about 15 years ago. This is the original Sho Bud setup with the exception of ped 4 and the E change on LKR. My Super Pro came set up like this and that's how I learned and never changed. I later got my Zum and set it up the same way. When I added the E change to string 2 with the LKR I put it on both guitars. I had the opportunity to speak with Mike in Nashville one time and asked him about his setup and he said it is the basic Sho Bud setup.

I don't have the Franklin pedal but the rest is just like mine.

To the question of whether the E string raisesvand lowers on opposite legs is important for certain licks....the answer is most likely yes....because you can gliss seamlessly from the e lower to the e raise without a bump between them.

Thanks for the input, guys.

The first couple of single neck steels I played had the E-Eb on the RKL, but after I moved into 8/4 double necks which featured the standard Emmons setup I was hooked on that knee setup.

@ Richard - you play a variation of the Jimmy Day setup? How the heck can anyone play with the pedals backwards like that?

I guess Weldon had that setup as well, but I can't seem to locate his tuning right now...

@ Greg - I looked at your site it the past, and the setup I'm considering is pretty much like yours, as far as the knees go. I haven't given a lot of thought to adding extra pedals yet - but I might do that.

Actually, I just remembered the Williams setup that I had come across a few weeks ago, and I thought it looked just about exactly like what I am wanting.

I have his LKR on a Zero pedal. I lower the Es on LKR
My Franklin pedal on P5 (but the 6th string lower is on RKL)
The 1&2 raise rolls together with the A pedal.
It can also split well with the whole tone lower of 2.
I'm not really up on the use of the Franklin pedal yet, but here's some stuff with the 1&2 raise https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XUykptG6DBQ

This may be a little more complicated than you want, but this is mine:

Tim Russell wrote:Not sure if I like the E-Eb on the RKL though. It fits so well on the left knee...I'm wondering if it must be set up like that in order to achieve his licks.

I am assuming he is still using this same copedent as I found in a forum post -

If you swap LKR and RKR, it's the same as Paul Franklin's copedent, minus Paul's vertical lever.

Putting E-Eb on RKL gives you smooth full-step changes on the E strings in the F lever positions. I changed mine about 20 years ago and never looked back. I use it a lot.

DG Whitley wrote:This may be a little more complicated than you want, but this is mine:

Not complicated at all, DG...

I'm thinking of adding about that many knees to this guitar...and probably a couple of extra pedals as well.

It's interesting to see the different set-ups and how each player makes use of them for his/her particular situation.

That's where I'm at now, in the planning/layout stages, so I can get a good set-up right from the start and not have to tear it apart and rework things.

@ Richard - you play a variation of the Jimmy Day setup? How the heck can anyone play with the pedals backwards like that? Mr. Green

I sit backwards. And by the way, it's the Emmons style players that are playing backwards. Just ask any Day player. They will tell you the same thing.

I like to have me E lowers on my left leg, so that I can use my RKR (lowers strings 2 and 9) at the same time.

Maybe that's the reason I'm a penniless steel player.......

My E9th Chopedant is identical to MJ's ... with the addition of a staggered LK (forward) which has the 6th string lower to F# and the 1st string raise to G, and of course the vertical lowering the B's to Bb

The E lowers on the RKL gives you a few options you can't do with them both on the left knee !! IMO
Probably why both Mike and Paul prefer that.

b0b wrote:

Tim Russell wrote:Not sure if I like the E-Eb on the RKL though. It fits so well on the left knee...I'm wondering if it must be set up like that in order to achieve his licks.

I am assuming he is still using this same copedent as I found in a forum post -

If you swap LKR and RKR, it's the same as Paul Franklin's copedent, minus Paul's vertical lever.

Putting E-Eb on RKL gives you smooth full-step changes on the E strings in the F lever positions. I changed mine about 20 years ago and never looked back. I use it a lot.

I never miss the ability to go from F to Eb without a 'bump' in my playing. I never really use that change, and even when I do, i don't think a listener, not even a steel player unless he had his ear to my amp, would hear the bump. Emmons, Hughey, and many more, don't seem to miss it either.

I have an identical set-up on my 3 steels, except for the 4th pedal, which I chose not to have.

Same as I have on the E9th , but I also have on knee left up: 6th string G# to B and 9th string D to D#
JJ

Tom Gorr wrote:To the question of whether the E string raisesvand lowers on opposite legs is important for certain licks....the answer is most likely yes....because you can gliss seamlessly from the e lower to the e raise without a bump between them.

And boy could Dicky Overbey use it effectively!

I have that same setup on my Stage One Encore, but without the 4th pedal. Thanks for posting this. I've always liked Mike Johnson's playing and now that I know his setup I'll pay even closer attention to it.