The Steel Guitar Forum

First off, I don't want any snide comments about getting a newer steel -- I have one, thank you very much -- but I have taken a shine to my old Fender 1000, and it's the guitar I sit down to most often and enjoy playing very much. I have all 8 pedals hooked to the front neck, tuned to D9, and the back neck I've tuned to C6/A7. At any rate, I have to play with both feet on the front neck, and it's quite a challenge to take my foot on and off the volume pedal to work the far right pedals (I'm lowering the D's with the 8th pedal) without bumping the volume up or down. Any tips or suggestions? Wondering if I should keep my foot on the guitar instead of the volume as home base .... or maybe get a lower profile pedal.....or maybe a stiffer pedal.....or maybe a volume pot with a different taper...or maybe dispense with the volume pedal altogether.....eeeek!

Craig

Do you have the volume pedal mounted on, or close to the pedal bar? That may be what's causing your problems. Try a low-profile pedal and set it about 4"-6" back from the pedal bar. I've used my Fender pedal this way for years.

Give Ol' Hankey the details - I'm sure he can come up with something for you!!

Terry

No fair, Terry! That's what I was gonna suggest.
Duplication of the posticational proclivities of fellow forumites occurs, when a third-party Edisonite might proclaim his posteriored postulate, pustuled with a proclivity toward pusillanimity as pertains to pugilistic postings.
Besides, he's working on his newest invention----"the HANKEY ALL-PUSH PEDAL STEEL GUITAR"

I gotta find a dictionary!!!

LOL,

Terry

.....what?

Try a Hilton volume pedal. They say you can set it so when it's all the way back you are at playing volume, and from there forward it gives you sustain or swells as you want.

OR....you could contact the folks at HILTON and see if they could come up with a wrist/elbow volume pedal/thingy!!!!

BF

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Bill Ford<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Ford on 12 November 2002 at 05:39 PM.]</p></FONT>

I knew a steel player with one leg. He had a volume pot hooked up to a knee lever and played it with his stump.
Dennis

But then again...I knew a fiddle player with one arm. He held the bow between his knees, turned the fiddle sideways and ran it up and down across the bow.
I think I've been around too long?
Dennis

I would suggest placing your v.pedal about the width of your shoe sole from pedal #8, and at a bit of an angle // towards the right front leg. That way there's less chance of hitting it when you go over to p.#8. (that is, if your legs are long enough for you to reach p.#1) "Big John"

OK, ready for a laugh? My first steel was a Fender 1000 and I solved the volume pedel problem this way. First, I took off the chrome piece that covers the changer fingers revealing a couple of mounting screws. I then took the small hex screw out of the tone control knob and put it in the volume control knob behind the one already there. Then I hooked a rubber band around this projecting hex screw, wrapped it around the volume knob and hooked the other end to one of the mounting screw heads such that the volume was all the way off. I then tied a piece of fishing line to the hex screw, wrapped it in the other direction around the volume knob and made a loop for my ring finger. I increased the volume by pulling on this line and the rubber band provided the return to zero volume. Sounds weird but it worked and I played that way for years. Downside is that the knurling on the knob is tough on both fishing line and rubber bands so carry plenty of spares of both. BTW, this isn't a joke. I think there are even pictures.

JV

Dennis, I once knew a left-handed fiddle player. He couldn't find a left-handed fiddle, so he tried to learn the other way, and instead of moving the bow, he held the bow still, and turned his head back and forth with the fiddle under his chin.
He gave it up and became a chiropracter.

That's enough "help". How do you shut this thing off?

Graig, don't get discouraged yet! I'm in that very situation myself too, after buying a guitar which occasionally requires both feet on pedals in order to work some E9 changes. At first I thought it felt awkward at best, but after awhile it started to feel more natural. My pedal is an old Bigsby, which is pretty stiff in action compared to the current market pedals. At least the stiffer action seems to help me. Since you're playing that old Fender, why don't you hunt down one of those "built-like -a-tank" Fender volume pedals. Using both feet was a common practice among the old school players, back when those guitars were built.