Newby

[elcantando]

I have played guitar for many years but I really love the pedal steel. I bought a new steel from Bernard Curnow (4 pedals 5 knee levers) A 450 mile journey to Bernard to collect the instrument a lovely man and a great day. I really appreciate all the help from the postings by the members on this site. One thing I do find tricky is controlling the volume pedal so any advice would be most welcome After listening to David Hartley I plan to book a lesson later in the year and hopefully make some positive progress.

[Zebedee]

I don't know what sort of volume pedal that you have, but my advice to you is to set it so that it can't totally shut the sound off, even when it's physically fully backed off.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's the key to getting a good tone.

You need about 15% of signal getting through even when fully backed off.

There might be some infantile posts shortly, as this forum has been progressively dumbed-down over the last 12 months or so, making me only an occasional contributor, but take no notice, my advice is genuine.

[Donny Johnston]

Your advice is 100% correct Richard. I hope that wasn,t too infantile. Donny.

[elcantando]

My volume pedal is a Goodrich 120. I know that there are better pedals on the market but my budget at the moment limited me to the Goodrich. Very interesting point you made regarding around 15% of signal getting through even when backed off. Many thanks for your help I will follow your advice and hopefully my use of the pedal should improve..

[Zebedee]

I use a Goodrich 120, on which I did a simple mod to limit the upward movement.

I drilled and tapped a small diameter thread at the back of the pedal, I can't remember where exactly, and used a grubscrew to allow me to adjust the upward movement of the pedal until I was happy with the amount of 'bleed through'

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Richard Burton,
I would'nt call it ridiculous to have Your volume pedal set as You describe but I am more than a little curious as to why it is the key to good tone.
I hope You will explain
Best regards
Billy

[Zebedee]

Billy,
When a new player has a volume pedal that shuts off to zero, they tend to back the pedal off completely whenever they make a mistake.

They also tend to pump the pedal, every time they pick the strings, so the result is :
silence, them mmmmmwah as the volume pedal is activated (a fraction of a second after the strings have been picked), then more silence as the volume pedal is abruptly backed off, and so on, etc.

Having a volume pedal that doesn't shut completely off means that there is attack to the playing, no wishy-washy fading in, and as an added bonus, the player is forced to improve, as there is no hiding place.

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

[b]Thanks Richard,
Billy

[Tony Russell Davis]

Richard's advice is good. Special effects aside, the volume pedal is there to sustain the note by increasing volume as the vibration of the string decays. Here's something else you can do as an exercise if you find yourself backing off to mute the sound, for bad notes or otherwise. Try bypassing the pedal altogether. Plug straight into the amp - but keep the pedal under your foot so you can feel it. You'll soon tell if you're using it as a crutch (your foot will be pumping away for nothing) and your brain will eventually adjust to make your hands do their proper work. It's a good practice technique at any stage of your development. Regards, Tony.
PS - oh, and don't keep time by tapping either foot on pedal steel! (Not as daft as it sounds).

[elcantando]

Many thanks for all the tips and advice. Playing without the volume and going direct into the amp will I'm sure highlight any misuse of the volume pedal. I will certainly give it a go and report on my progress.