The Steel Guitar Forum

I've been thinking about doing this for some time and last nite couldnt sleep and jumped out of bed and dropped everything to D. after reajusting the stops, the guitar plays much easier of course but the real reason I wanted to try it was to see if I would get more sustain. I'm pretty sure I do because of less tension on the strings. I always listen to Jimmys' "Steel and Strings" album and I think he was tuned to a D9 8 strings. This may have been more to keep string breakage to a minimum. Anybody with pro and con comments would be appreciated.

Skip,

Don Helms uses it on his pedal steel.

John Drury
NTSGA #3

I use D9 on my Bigsby and PA Reissue guitars due to the 25" scale. Currently, I've been using a standard E9 set tuned down, which works okay since the pedal setup is pretty basic and there's no knee levers on either guitar. I do have a set of heavier strings that I'm planning to slap on one of the horns when I get around to changing strings, and we'll see how they feel.

The only problem I've encountered is changing around open-string licks and transposing positions in my head, when I go from an E9 guitar on one night to a D9 the next.

The sound of the D9 tuning is quite full and rich, fer sure.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Thanks John and Herb. I'm gonna go in and hit the strings harder today and turn the amp up now that my neighbors have gone to work. It seemed to work well without changing string guages on my LeGrand II, just had to make minor adjustment tp stops. Herb what is a PA reissue?

Skip
The PA Reissue is a limited production guitar made by Paul Warnik and Dave Peterson with parts obtained from the Bigsby Company. It is, for all intents and purposes, an exact copy of a Bigsby guitar. There have been only 8 or 9 made, and I don't know if any more will be created.

I initially owned PAR #3, which is a T-8 w/5 pedals, and is now the property of BJ Cole. I currently have PAR #8 (I think), a 10-10-8 that formerly was owned by Billy Wilson and Lee Jeffries.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Hey Skip,I've been using the D for years.I prefer it to E for several reasons already stated. I never like the open position to be E because of overtones and tuning to D sure fixed that. Only stops need to be reset, same gauge strings don't make that much difference it doesn't seem.

Jim Florence has been using it for years. He also has a whole speech made up about why it's superior to E.

Chick, ask Jim to e-mail me his speech, thanks

Skip,
I've tuned to D# 9th for several years now - for the same reason Carl mentioned above. Don't like playing on the "harmonic" frets - 5th, 7th, 12th, etc. Use a little heavier string guages (a .012 on the 3rd string for instance). As I change my strings very frequently, I haven't broken a string on the guitar in years. As Herb says, it takes some readjusting to positions, but once you get past that it's great IMO. I did lose some of the bluegrass licks that utilize open strings in key of A, however.
Gary

Thanks guys, I'm sold on it. Gary, dont bluegrass bands play in other keys? maybe we ought to make em play in Bb!

I put it on a Sho-Bud Pro-I a couple of years ago. Really cool and I used lower gauge strings to make it come out right. I think the 10th was a .40. A lot more depth. At the time I was setting mine up Paul Franklin said he was having a seperate guitar tuned to D to use in the studio.

I couldn't resist getting into the conversation here. Chick is right about me having a whole speech made up about the use of D 9th, however he failed to tell you that I am 71 years old, and sometimes my senior moments last a couple of years.
I do love the tuning , the tone suits me better. BTW I use the same guage strings as
for an E tuning. I like to show off, and I seem to be able to impress people more when I use open strings. D tuning gives me more opportunities to do that. I could go on forever about the advantages of it, but someone would eventually ask me "If it's so great, why hasn't BE heard of it?" !!!!! Go figger.
Jim
Oh Yeah, One drawback,It's harder to tune.

Oh yeah, just one more thing. Did Chick mention that he thinks I'm a little bit wierd, in that not only do I use D tuning, but that I tune it a little different, and my pedal setup is like no one else we know of

I use D6 instead of C6. Does that count?

Do you think covering or removing the first two positions on the fretboard would help make the transition to D easier ???

Dick Meis plays a D9.

JB

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Fulawka D-10 9&5
Fessenden D-10 8&8
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/index.html

I tuned my 9th neck down to D9 for a few months last year, and really liked the rich tone. But ... I played all my favourites in the same positions. But if you play in a band and everyone wants to play all the same tunes in the usual keys, you're going to have to play 2 frets <u>higher</u> for each number. Doesn't that bring all sorts of issues into play, such as intonation, etc, esp if you have tunes already in "Hughey country"?

Jim,
How about that speech? We ain't got nothing better to do.

I've used D-9th on my 12 string guitar for years. I like the richer sound and it comes in handy if you are playing in E or E flat. I use heaver guage strings and maybe have less string breakage. My setup is just like the normal E-9th and I add an F# and D for my 11th and 12th strings. Works good for playing some standard guitar licks.

D.A.G.

I have used D-9th for many years for the same reasons as stated above. As far as playing in John Hughey land there's only one answer, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, you get the idea. I prefer the timbre of the D versus the E tuning.

I went all the way down to a B9 on my old
Fender 400 that's on my mp3 page.

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<B><a href=http://jsganz.tripod.com/Horizon.html>
My Steel MP3's</a></B>

Well, I'm half way there. I have tuned a standard set of strings to Eb for 30 years. A little more richer, better for playing in E and A without having to use open string in E. More control and strings last eons.

I switched to D9 for about a year and a half. I liked it because it made it easyer to avoid the annoying twangy sound normally associated with the steel( In particular that skwonky 3rd string) and the open strings where more usefull.

I couldn't quite get used to it so I switched back.
If I want that richer timbre I play the C neck these days.

Bob

Yesterday afternoon, changing strings before the gig, I decided I'd go higher and put on an F#13sus4 tuning I've worked out.

It's really similar to E9, and even the stock ABC pedal changes work. The hard part is doing the key transposing in your head, but once this is overcome, it's a really cool tuning.

Oh wait, this is April 2! Sorry.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 02 April 2004 at 12:37 PM.]</p></FONT>

This topic rares it's head about once every six or eight months. I have played D9th since the first time a sat down behind a pedal steel. I've heard all the pros and cons over the years. I've tried E9th and it's cool. I just feel "at home" on D9th. I never had anyone come up out of the crowd, including steel players, and say: "your playing D9th"! On occassion over the years, a fellow steel player would sit in and not realize it was D9th until the front man called a song and chord. And,....this would be after they had doodled around on break getting familair with the steel and being asked to sit in. Jimmie Crawford never broke a sweat when he sit in,....hmmmm. Also, Sho~Bud used to sell D9th string sets.

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Tommy Minniear
www.ntsga.com