The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone have what he is using on his SD-10? I did a search and did not come up with anything.
Many Thanks

Randy tells me that he uses a "stock" Emmons pedal / knee lever setup.

Randy's only difference from Buddy's setup is his RKL? which lowers 6+9 1/2 step each, he uses for minor7 flat5.

I asked Randy about that very change, John, and he replied, suggesting that P4 (where I wanted to put it) would work very well (right next to my A pedal - I'm 'Day').

I'd said - lowering 6 and 9 would give a great m7b5 and he cryptically replied: 'Yes it does, but I've found a lot more than just that on it'.

I have it on my Emmons and it's going nowhere!

Roger Rettig wrote:I asked Randy about that very change, John, and he replied, suggesting that P4 (where I wanted to put it) would work very well (right next to my A pedal - I'm 'Day').

I'd said - lowering 6 and 9 would give a great m7b5 and he cryptically replied: 'Yes it does, but I've found a lot more than just that on it'.

I have it on my Emmons and it's going nowhere!

It’s a great change…. Works well with the B’s lowered as well as the 4th string E

Randy can get more out of a guitar with two and two than most with one that’s loaded.

I found a thread where he lowers string 10 to A on the same lever that lowers string 2 to D-C# and string 9 to C#. Add lower string 10 to that lever. You use that (10,9,8,7,6) together on the bottom.
That is really a good combination. Makes a C6 sounds very easily. It is now on my G2 and I used it this week.

Roy

I've had that for a few years and I love its range - a fat A maj with the B pedal. Lots of other uses, too.

It's on my RKR and, despite it also raising two C6 strings (As), the knee-lever is very easy to engage.

I just rigged a 1/2 lower on 6 and 9 last night, RKL and man that's cool. I'm going to use that minor7b5 a lot. I have a 1/2 stop on that RKL so I can still get my full step lower tunable split on the 6 as well. I also have a 1/2 raise on 9 RKR

My setup is standard Emmons with two exceptions. RKL lowers 6 and 9 a half tone, and RKR lowers 2 a half and whole, 9 a half, and 10 a whole. For the RKR I don’t use the 10th lower very much for the low 4th, or an A note open, but rather to cancel the 10th string raise from the A pedal. This is something I came up with from hanging out with Buddy. Buddy had quit raising the 10th string on his A pedal until Bruce built his Zum and designed a way to engage or disengage that pull with just a 1/4 turn of a nylon tuner. I wasn’t willing to give up that raise and came up with this idea of canceling that raise using the split tuning screw. Later on Buddy told me he thought the way I did it was the better way because I didn’t have to give up anything to get those changes and also didn’t need to disengage anything.

The RKL which lowers 6 and 9 a half tone is something that I use a lot and depend on. For me that completed what I was looking for chord wise for the E9th tuning.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement!

Thanks for the explanation Randy. I have always admired how much C6 sounding stuff you get out of your E9 neck. Fabulous! I have noticed that by lowing that 10th string to A, you get a real deep sound. I love it. Thanks again, you are one of my hero's for sure.
Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5xH3ttdKVQ

In my fervent pursuit of the 4/5 chord I tried winding off my A pedal 10th string raise but I found I missed it for low-end single-note stuff.

***
How presumptuous of me to add my copedant to this thread dedicated to Randy.

I have edited my post accordingly.

For us visual folks, I tried to take a “standard Emmons” setup and add the changes that Randy mentioned in this thread. Also, I saw a great series of videos with Randy and Mike Scaggs where the angle of the video showed Randy’s Zumsteel Hybrid S-10 and which strings he had a split screw on:

https://youtu.be/9PHPmkUsETM

Unsure if any of them besides string 10 are used. Maybe Randy could check this chart for accuracy and let us know where his actual setup differs. Of all the players that have easily found copedent charts out there somewhere, Randy Beavers is missing from my searches and that’s a shame considering how amazing and unique he is.



Zoomed in image that I think shows split screws on 10,9,6,5 and 2:

Geez, Roy. That video makes the rest of us look/feel like duffers. Absolutely amazing. And Randy and Travis were on the E neck... Kudos to them.

Joe

Actually Joe, Travis was on the C6 neck. He had the true boowah pedal. Great pickin' for sure. Makes us E9 players look like total beginners!

Roy Carroll wrote:Actually Joe, Travis was on the C6 neck. He had the true boowah pedal. Great pickin' for sure. Makes us E9 players look like total beginners!

The red MSA double neck that I’ve seen Travis play has an E9 front neck and A9 back neck, with essentially the same changes on both, but the A9 is just several steps lower. Here’s the copedent:

My split tuning is only on the 10th string, back to B, and the 5th string, to a C. The 6th string is tuned out and 2 and 9 are strictly for balancing the half stop for the 2nd string.

Randy Beavers wrote:My split tuning is only on the 10th string, back to B, and the 5th string, to a C. The 6th string is tuned out and 2 and 9 are strictly for balancing the half stop for the 2nd string.

Thank you, Randy! Looking forward to more of your playing on your channel or Mike Scaggs.

Adding another potential version of Randy's copedent based on his latest input, but leaving it marked "unverified" for now, unless or until Randy confirms it. I just don't want to put it out as if it's official or correct if I'm not 100% sure:

Ben, everything looks correct. I’m out of town for a couple of weeks. I’m playing the Georgia Peach Jam in Conyers Sunday then doing some “coddiwompling” to the outer banks in NC. When I get back home I’m going to do a short video explaining some of the ways I use these different changes. I think it will help to understand how I use it. Stay tuned.

Randy that would be awesome. Looking forward to your video. Thanks.

Randy Beavers wrote:Ben, everything looks correct. I’m out of town for a couple of weeks. I’m playing the Georgia Peach Jam in Conyers Sunday then doing some “coddiwompling” to the outer banks in NC. When I get back home I’m going to do a short video explaining some of the ways I use these different changes. I think it will help to understand how I use it. Stay tuned.

I hope you enjoy the great getaway of NC! Thanks for sharing info here, and I know many of us here look forward to anything you do in the PSG realm. Would love to have b0b add your copedent to his archives for posterity.

Randy:

Pardon my dimness, but is the 5th string only affected by your RKR when it's raised on a pedal?

Thanks for sharing your setup.

Roger Rettig wrote:Randy:

Pardon my dimness, but is the 5th string only affected by your RKR when it's raised on a pedal?

Thanks for sharing your setup.

Hi Roger, unless I’m missing something RKR doesn’t affect the 5th string. Pedals A and C do, as well as LKV. The split showing is when Pedal A and LKV are combined.

The splits on the diagram are just supposed to show to the right of the last change, if that’s causing confusion.

Thanks, Ben: that's how it looked, but I haven't seen it diagrammed in that form before.

I should have looked closer. I see now that the colours make the splits perfectly clear. I'd missed that seeing the post on my phone.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Posting a slightly updated version of Randy Beavers' E9th ten string 3x5 copedent, now marked as "verified" and with a hopefully less confusing representation of the splits on strings 5 and 10: