The Steel Guitar Forum

This was an experiment of sorts. I had this copedant set up for a few weeks recently and put many hours into exploring it. I've gone back to a standard E9 set up but this arrangement really got me inside the B6 side of the tuning. Basically strings 3-10 were like C6 over F, down a semitone. The E9 stuff was still possible with 4&8 raising back to E on a lever. Having the D's on LKR was great, some beautiful chord voicings available especially over the low E or F#. Having G# up on string 1 created a little bit of a wide grip for use with the B string, but manageable. Raising the D#s back up to E on RKL is similar to a Bb6 universal approach I recently learned.
C pedal took on the character of a traditional pedal 7 and added some nice colours.
The absence of F lever is the real hurdle here, but playing without it was really educational in a way and made me find alternate ways of getting around. Really suitable for early/mid 60s style country phrasing, before that change was a staple.
There are some additions I'd make if I revisited this copedant, such as lowering Bs, perhaps a low D#/C# drop on 10 and ideally those F raises. But overall a really engaging tuning and I may go back to it at some point.

Interesting copedent.

Regarding the wide grip on strings 1, 4 and 5, did you consider flipping the positions of strings 1 and 2 so that you have the G# on 2 instead of 1? (That's how the Bb6 universal tuning is normally set up, and some people apparently like having E9-U set up that way as well - there's currently a forum thread going on that topic.)

Andrew Frost wrote:Raising the D#s back up to E on RKL is similar to a Bb6 universal approach . . . The absence of F lever is the real hurdle here . . . .

That has been a limitation of the Bb6 universal tuning also. If you are adventurous you can try the solution I adopted back in the 70's - Although it is weird, it worked so well for me that I've never looked back:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... highlight=

That's a good solution to the F raise issue John. Personally I find the hard stop on the semitone raise of 4/8 to be just enough to deal with as it is! I did really get used to it for playing E9-mode stuff, but putting a feel stop on there might be more than I'd prefer to deal with!
I might try putting F raises on LKL for this copedant. I do recall trying that and there being too much travel required on that knee and it ended up being less than ideal. I'm pretty sure it could work though. Would be nice to have that wholetone sweep available and still have the semitone stop on the other side.

Yes G# on string 2 is a great idea. I like the idea of C# being the only re-entrant string up top. It would also narrow that grip and feel more like it does on E9.

Andrew as Johnathan noted putting the C on top followed by the G# F# D# B is a good choice. I did that years ago
And was able to gig while adapting to the new placement of strings. Makes sense to me because it's the same as the next 4 strings and you can rake across the strings w/o the chromatic thing. I recently learned that this is how the Bb6 Universal works. Let me know how it goes and pm me anytime
George Jones by George

Thanks George. Yes that consistent R356 pattern makes a lot of sense. One priority was to create that strum-able 6th tuning with the 5th on top (F#) so as to more smoothly apply non-pedal phrases and approaches. I had been viewing that high G# as kind of a bonus note that ties the E9 side together but isn't required of the high bass B6 tuning. Of course it totally fits into B6 and I may try the string 2 approach if I revisit this copedant. Even on E9 it would make sense to have F# G# D# on 321 respectively. But the full circle irony is that the chromatic strings were placed up top so as not to interupt the E tuning! 😅

I maybe wrong but I think the "chromatic" strings were placed on top for the same reason they were originally on the bottom and that was so they wouldn't have to rework the pedals, rods or relearn where things were for years. And because Emmons did it that way that was good enough for everyone! I'm not the smartest theory wise or even a great player but "because it has always been done that way" seems so limiting. It seems to me that the F# is avoided no more than the D string

Ya the b7 in the lower region is interesting historically. In my understanding, it was Sol Ho'opii who pioneered the E13 sound that was called 'C#m tuning'. It went BDEG#C#E. Lo-hi. I would imagine that that lead to both C6 and E9. Point being that the D note in an E tuning was pretty standardized whereas putting 9s and major 7s higher up in the tuning was a later thing, as you mentioned.