The Steel Guitar Forum

So as I understand it, Mooney pretty much played only one neck on his double guitar, with his own E9 copedant (and he claimed in interviews he wasn’t all that sure of).
Did he use any knee levers other than his ‘E’ levers? And ABC pedals?

yikes…..

He played the pedals with both feet most of the time.

Brooks Montgomery wrote:yikes…..

His tuning, setup and approach to playing are discussed frequently here. If you use the SEARCH function you’ll find hours of entertainment and collect knowledge.

I can't play any more due to my hands disabled from Parkinson's disease but I was fairly proficient on Moon's stuff in my later years. Here's the copedant I used when I still could play. Study it and you'll see all of his licks as well as C6th things and regular E9 stuff....Here's a copy. Pedals 7 & 8 are done with the right foot....JH in Va.

Almost everything that Ralph Mooney is famous for is actually dirt-simple, it requires no special setup or tuning. Ralph was a master stylist, and the uniqueness of the sound of what he played was due to his approach, not his guitar. Some find this hard to accept, but I believe any seasoned pro would likely agree that the standard E9th tuning and setup is more than capable if you want to copy what he did. Of course, the success of this would depend on how well a player is at copying his style. Many have tried, but few have succeeded, and that's because they can't get his mindset. Jeff Newman, a very capable pro tried it on Jim & Jesse's album "Our Kind of Country", which was recorded over 20 years ago. Jeff got quite close, but nailing this style exactly is very difficult because that sound, or rather that style, comes from the player - not the guitar.
Look at it this way:

If someone were to give you Curly's guitar, do you think you could you sound like Curley?
If someone were to give you Buddy's guitar, do you think you could sound like Buddy?

Believe me, it's the same way with Mooney.

A modern take on Mooney style in standard E9 tuning.

Paul Franklin's West Coast Country YouTube Playlist