The Steel Guitar Forum

Coming from an E9 background, and just getting into Universal tuning. I'm wondering why 've seen several Universals with pedals A and C reversed. In other words, on E9 they are usually set up like this (On my Emmons and GFI S-10s):

[tab]# note Ped1 Ped2 Ped3
1 F# __________________
2 D# __________________
3 G# _______+A_________
4 E _____________+F#__
5 B _+C#_________+C#__
6 G# _______+A_________
7 F# __________________
8 E __________________
9 D __________________
10 B _+C#______________[/tab]

But on two recently purchased Universals (GFI 12 and Sierra 14), the copedent is reversed:

[tab]# note Ped1 Ped2 Ped3
1 F# __________________
2 D# __________________
3 G# _______+A_________
4 E _+F#______________
5 B _+C#_________+C#__
6 G# _______+A_________
7 F# __________________
8 E __________________
9 D __________________
10 B _____________+C#__[/tab]

According to the copedent page (Thank you, Bob, for your those pages. They are invaluable.) Jimmy Day does this on his E9, but I don't see any other Universal players doing this. What is going on? Have I encountered a fluke, or is there an advantage to flipping them?

I've got the Sierra on my work bench and was about to switch A and C so I can actually play it, but I figured I'd better ask you guys. I can't tell from the undercarriage if they were set up at the factory like this, or if a previous owner did it (the work is very clean if they did). Is there a reason and/or advantage to switching pedals A and C when playing a Universal? I am trying to decide which will take more time, relearng all my riffs, or just switching the bell cranks.

Not talking about the knee bars at all...this is just about A, B, and C.

Thanks for being a great forum.

Christian Oates

Because the A pedal has more uses in conjunction with the C6th pedals likely to be next to it than if the C pedal were there.

Jeff Newman's only set up on the Universal. It is a great tuning for E9th or the Universal.

What Lane says. In particular I use the A pedal with LKV (string 5 half-step lower) to get the equivalent of C to C# on the C6; so A,5 and the vertical is a neat way to get A6 at the nut without needing a dedicated lever. (The C pedal is parked out of the way until you need it.) Of course, this assumes that your B6 pedals run 5,6,7,8.

It helps if you already played Day on the E9, which I did.

Playing the Day setup, verses the Emmons, is really not that hard. I am not really a great player, but am able to play either setup with no problem. The Universal is a little different. Having the E's on your right, with the volume pedal, takes a little getting use to. You have tendency to apply more volume at times.

How the knee levers are set up has a lot of influence on Emmons/Day pedal choice.MD

Ahhh, that makes complete sense! Now I'm thinking I'll leave the Universal's as they are, and switch A/C on my other E9 S-10s. Thanks guys! Back to practicing...

Christian

Only saying, Just give it a try, and then use what you feel comfortable with.

I got into Universal Steel 12U about a year ago. When getting into it I checked on the internet and got several U12 tunings. Jeff Newman, Sierra and BMI list their pedals as C,B,A as the order of the pedals on their copendents. Which is Jimmy Days pedal set up. I changed my D Lever Lower 4-8 LKL to RKR, and F Lever raise 4-8 from LKR to RKL to set up with Newman's copendent. LKL now has the raise 9th string to D and 2 to C#. LKR is now vertical for lower on 5th string. This allows Left leg free for pedals 4567. Just pick a copendent and stick with it. Good Luck and Happy Steelin.

Bobby, I think what you have is one of the best. I really like it and it seems logical. Jeff used it, on his 10 string too. It has the Day, on the pedals, but the levers, are what Jeff called a Universal set up. The regular Day setup, on the levers, if I'm not mistaken is, the raise of E's was RKR, and the lowers was LKL. Then the Sho-Bud setup was, Emmons pedals ABC, but E's were, lower RKL, raise LKL. The Sho-Bud and Universal have been the easiest for me, but I do play the Emmons on my StageOne. I have not tried to change it, they say is not changeable. It may not be easy, but with parts from Doug, I think it could, but as I said, I really have no problem with it.