New Member
Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:17 pm
Hi All,
Thanks to all of you for this forum - I'm looking forward to exploring the various content. I'm a country/rockabilly guitar player but have recently found my double 6 lap steel just wasn't enough - so have bitten the bullet and got hold of a D8 pedal steel. In fact there are some photos of it on this very forum - it's a Denley, quite old, and I believe the general consensus is that the build quality of these instruments was very suspect from the start, but I like a challenge and have no qualms about machining new parts or making brave modifications
I have dabbled with a Sho-Bud Maverick in the past, to the point of even getting some of my (very dodgy) playing released on CD (I'm not telling you where, it's not my proudest achievement!).
Anyway, thanks for letting me join, and I'm sure I'll be back soon with a million questions.
To kick things off, does anyone have any recommendations for E9 tuning with 8 strings please? I gather, from various forums, that simply omitting the top 2 strings is a suitable compromise, but I am open to all suggestions. For the C6 neck I would follow junior Brown's tuning of Bb C E G A C E G based on my frustration with C6 lap steel with only 6 strings and the endless dilemma of C or C# on the bottom string...
Best regards,
Simon (Sid) Farley
Thanks to all of you for this forum - I'm looking forward to exploring the various content. I'm a country/rockabilly guitar player but have recently found my double 6 lap steel just wasn't enough - so have bitten the bullet and got hold of a D8 pedal steel. In fact there are some photos of it on this very forum - it's a Denley, quite old, and I believe the general consensus is that the build quality of these instruments was very suspect from the start, but I like a challenge and have no qualms about machining new parts or making brave modifications
I have dabbled with a Sho-Bud Maverick in the past, to the point of even getting some of my (very dodgy) playing released on CD (I'm not telling you where, it's not my proudest achievement!).
Anyway, thanks for letting me join, and I'm sure I'll be back soon with a million questions.
To kick things off, does anyone have any recommendations for E9 tuning with 8 strings please? I gather, from various forums, that simply omitting the top 2 strings is a suitable compromise, but I am open to all suggestions. For the C6 neck I would follow junior Brown's tuning of Bb C E G A C E G based on my frustration with C6 lap steel with only 6 strings and the endless dilemma of C or C# on the bottom string...
Best regards,
Simon (Sid) Farley
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:25 am
A big welcome to the forum Sid, yes there's many good players here that will certainly answer any questions that you throw out. What part of the country do you come from? 
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:34 am
Welcome aboard Sid
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:35 am
Welcome, Sid, man after my own heart. If Harry Bohay is looking in, he's the man to speak to. He gets wonderful sounds out of his old Fender, that's an 8-stringer although I don't recall whether it has one neck or two.
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:53 pm
Big thanks to you all for such a warm welcome!
To answer Uncle Roy's question, I'm based near Coventry. I'm looking forward to having a good look through the forum and getting started with pedal steel - I was always told to avoid small goals, and I think learning to play pedal steel would qualify as a large goal!
Speak soon,
Sid
To answer Uncle Roy's question, I'm based near Coventry. I'm looking forward to having a good look through the forum and getting started with pedal steel - I was always told to avoid small goals, and I think learning to play pedal steel would qualify as a large goal!
Speak soon,
Sid
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:43 pm
Sid you are just in the right place for my monthly gig at Bulkington with "The Austin Pickers" at Poppies club 2nd Tuesday of every month
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:45 pm
Hi Sid and welcome, buddy.
Re: C6th on 8strings: On my non-pedal guitars I came to the conclusion some time ago that the bottom string of an 8 (Bb/C/C# or whatever
) adds very little to your scope compared to having the tonic down there - a low C. So I messed around until coming up with (lo to hi) CEGACEGD - the top D is the one pitched between strings 3 and 4. It is a very common first string on 10 string pedal steel, although it usually replaces the high G. But, as I like that top G and we don't have the advantage of the extra bottom strings of a 10, I did away with that bottom 'whatever' and shifted the main tuning to slots 8 thru 2 
. That added D provides a lot of fancy runs that would otherwise need much bar movement and I haven't missed any chordal properties of the low range. I would think the fact that you have pedals won't make much difference to the general principle.
As to your E9th; a lot of pedal guitar licks come from those (so called) chromatic strings. But if you put them on, you will have to lose something else lower down and not have some other, and maybe equally, important voicings
. So the simplest way is to string up without the top two "chromatics" and get used to the rest of the tuning until you (inevitably) have to get a 10st!
Re: C6th on 8strings: On my non-pedal guitars I came to the conclusion some time ago that the bottom string of an 8 (Bb/C/C# or whatever
) adds very little to your scope compared to having the tonic down there - a low C. So I messed around until coming up with (lo to hi) CEGACEGD - the top D is the one pitched between strings 3 and 4. It is a very common first string on 10 string pedal steel, although it usually replaces the high G. But, as I like that top G and we don't have the advantage of the extra bottom strings of a 10, I did away with that bottom 'whatever' and shifted the main tuning to slots 8 thru 2 . That added D provides a lot of fancy runs that would otherwise need much bar movement and I haven't missed any chordal properties of the low range. I would think the fact that you have pedals won't make much difference to the general principle.As to your E9th; a lot of pedal guitar licks come from those (so called) chromatic strings. But if you put them on, you will have to lose something else lower down and not have some other, and maybe equally, important voicings
. So the simplest way is to string up without the top two "chromatics" and get used to the rest of the tuning until you (inevitably) have to get a 10st!
Re: New Member
Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:01 pm
Howdy Sid 
and welcome.
I'm not experienced enough to offer advice on tunings etc., but there are plenty on here who could help, I'm sure. Do you have any pics of your guitar? It sounds like a rare beast.
Good luck on your Steel Journey
and welcome. I'm not experienced enough to offer advice on tunings etc., but there are plenty on here who could help, I'm sure. Do you have any pics of your guitar? It sounds like a rare beast.
Good luck on your Steel Journey
Re: New Member
Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:58 pm
Thanks John! That sounds exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find - all being well I will see you there on Tuesday 13th February
I really look forward to meeting you - what time does it start please?
PS for what it's worth, here's a rare clip of my rough and ready lap steel playing with my rockabilly band - you'll see why I mainly stick to the Telecaster
I really look forward to meeting you - what time does it start please?
PS for what it's worth, here's a rare clip of my rough and ready lap steel playing with my rockabilly band - you'll see why I mainly stick to the Telecaster
JohnDavisStringsHere wrote:Sid you are just in the right place for my monthly gig at Bulkington with "The Austin Pickers" at Poppies club 2nd Tuesday of every month
Re: New Member
Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:52 pm
Nice one Sid, takes me back to the Tennessee Ernie Ford songs, love your playing and the old doghouse bass player great sounding band. Love it. More videos please.