The British Steelies Society

Todays post is brought to you by the number 14. (It was clearly meant to be mine!)

Nice one, Calum. Is that added to bottom or top, or both? Tighter string spacings? How many pedals? So many questions!

Hi Danny
It’s an 8 by 7 uni set up at the moment and I’m still getting my head round the tuning myself. To be perfectly honest, I only got it yesterday and had a couple of pints to celebrate! I won’t get it home till the weekend when I can investigate properly. This time, I’m going to try and wait before completely taking it to bits. My MSA was a kit of parts within the hour when I got that as i just wanted my setup on it straight away so didn’t spend any time with the uni thing. Having said that, I’ve put a lot of thought into my copedent and it really works for me so will probably make this the same but with two lower strings- sort of Extended Extended E9! I want to be able to play bass lines- a 14 string fretless!
Will keep you posted.
Cheers
Calum

Haddock wrote:sort of Extended Extended E9!

Ha, ha, love it! Calum, that'll have the potential to loosen the foundations (buildings not garments!) Hope to get to hear that beast sometime.
Meanwhile, happy tweaking.

The Sierra adventure is getting off to an interesting start! I was totally prepared to be a good boy and play around with Uni for a while just to convince myself that my own copedent is indeed the ‘world beating’ set up I think it is. Then a snag! This is Day set up on the ABC! I could have got my head round a knee lever or two in the wrong place but this is messing with the basics. So while I could start by changing to Emmons style Uni, I fear instinct will take over and it will have to come to bits. Better wait till I’m not working as much though!
Incidentally, as this is the third steel I’ve got my grubby mitts on, its interesting to compare the three. My LDG was clearly ‘mass produced’, lots of cheap cast parts and a sort of rough and ready vintage feel to it all. THe MSA is superbly engineered but still quite delicate and you can see that they also make aviation parts from the weight saving measures. The Sierra is built for combat! Nearly killed myself getting it up the stairs for starters so I don’t think this is going to be my ‘portable’ steel to take to work! Again, really well machined but everything is substantial. If the house explodes, there will be a pile of rubble with a Sierra 14 stringer sitting on top! It’s in beautiful condition too so I will make sure I treat it with the respect it deserves as I do the conversion. Challenges ahead - No split screws which I use a lot- Only three instead of 4 raises which will affect 1 string in particular- 5 instead of 13 slots in the cranks- floppy knee levers which might make it harder to setup my invisible lever- vertical lever needs rethought as it’s probably the one I use most and might need a new shape. And all of that before I consider just how low to go with strings 13 and 14. (Gut is telling me a B and low low E but a low low D is a nice note in the tool box which in practice means dropping E to C# on the E lever probably). But then I have the option of the locking lever so I could actually have two different tunings on the go. So many choices! I love this instrument…..
Will update on progress in case anyone gives a sh…….
Cheers
Calum

Shit-Giver Dan here(sounds like a character out of Deadwood)! What an undertaking, Calum, but having seen the work you did on the MSA I reckon you're the man for the job. So definitely keep us posted.
I've only seen one Sierra, in the flesh, and it looked like the proverbial immovable object. Looked and sounded great though. Don't know if you've seen this.....http://sierrasteels.com/products/pedal-steel-guitars.html
The Sierra construction ideas are amazing, if I had a spare ten grand, I'd be in there like a shot.

Thanks Danny, I spotted that a while ago though I think the new Sierra’s are a slightly different kettle of fish. Perhaps one day….
Back to this one, I just cant help getting stuck in. First thing is clear - E9 not going to happen as its got a 25” scale length so Double Extended D9 seems to be the way to go. I think just finding the right gauges of strings will take me a good while before I even start on the undercarriage! A quick experiment however, reveals that tuning extD9 and adding a low C and A sounds really cool. It’s interesting adding the low flat7th which I can obviously pull into shape for other chords. Thats the first thoughts anyway. Reckon I’m looking at at least an 80 on the bass- better start saving…..
Cheers

I'm thinking that low C is going to be more cable than string. The potential range of that tuning should definitely sound amazing. 15 inch speaker would be a must, I'd imagine. The walls will be shaking!

Actually I’m using a pair of QSC CP8’s with the Iridium doing the ‘amp’ bit and the 8” speaker will do just fine. I don’t think I’ll be needing the sub woofer as the only point is for ego gratification. The first thing a sound guy would do is slap a 100Hz high pass filter on it anyway!
Currently researching string tension with the help of an online tool- (app, not person…..)
Cheers

I think in the spirit of adventure and for folk's amusement, I'll share this journey to the centre of the steel as I go. Hopefully those with enhanced wisdom will chip in if they see me making a huge mistake! Made up a table showing my initial tuning idea with string gauges and tensions and I compared it with my existing 12 string. The MSA is 24" and the Sierra 25" and I don't want to be too floppy tension wise so I think this will make a reasonable starting point. I know the wound strings might not be accurate as core size is what matters but I'll take a punt and see how it feels. Interestingly but not surprisingly, when I went through my vast collection of single strings, hardly any matched up. Strings direct, here I come - this will be a biggie!
Cheers
AS