The British Steelies Society

I am looking forward to seeing the pictures John and any video clips you upload....

OK, here's what it sounds like but I cannot handle the "Emmons" set up, will post a few still as well, it is a beautiful modern all pull guitar and yes Ted it has the 5 hole Bellcranks.......

As I am a complete newbie, can you explain what's different John about the "Emmons set up " ? I presume the copedant is what you're talking about

Yes Mark it is exactly that, how the pedals and the levers are set up. If it were "Day" set up I would be happier trying to play it but as it is, is the most popular way to set up a steel and it is also the way that most tuition material is written for............ ,but of course I would change it for whatever the purchaser wants......

Hi jAZZbASS,

Yes, as John said, the difference is in how the levers and pedals are set up - or, more specifically, where they are physically located - the copedent is essentially the same. The main difference is the foot pedals - on an Emmons setup the pedals are arranged from left to right ABC, on Day it is CBA - but the A pedal does the same on both systems as do the other 2 pedals. Because certain levers are often used with certain pedals, for ergonomic reasons a couple of the knee levers are also in different places.

As a newbie, it will make no difference to you at all unless a) you are going to be buying and selling steels frequently in which case you will find fewer Day setups available or b) you are planning on sitting in on other people's guitars in which case, statistically, more will be Emmons setup.

As a newbie about 2 years ago, I bought a Day setup (from John, as it happens) and I love it. I find the movement of my ankle from left to right more comfortable and like the A and B pedals being slightly more towards the middle of the guitar. Also my knee levers that control the E strings are both on my left knee and for the reasons I explained above, moving left lowers them and right raises them - this is of course the same direction as I would move the bar to raise or lower a note so it's one fewer thing for me to remember.

The only point where I would disagree with John is that most tuition material is written for Emmons. This is not correct, in fact no tuition material is written for Emmons exclusively. All teachers and books refer to pressing the A pedal or the B pedal and these are exactly the same on both systems (A pedal raises the B strings, B pedal raises the G# strngs) - they are just in a different physical position. No teacher or book I've ever seen would say "step on the pedal on the left".

If you don't believe me ask any Emmons player what is the best series of teaching videos /DVDs? A lot of them will say Jeff Newman's "Up From The Top". Well, he played Day setup on those videos and I've never heard of any player - Day or Emmons - who had a problem with that.

Thank you both for your information, all taken on board, so much to learn so little time