Lets have a talk about knee levers ...???

[Will C]

I'm not so sure about the "2+2" thing - I didn't use the C pedal much in the first 3 years mainly because I couldn't trust myself to get my foot back accurately onto A+B. But I use it much more now, it's really good for short scale passages between pockets. Anyhoo, this started as a discussion about knee levers!

[Uncle Roy]

I'm liking this thread, very interesting already,keep it going with more comments you other guys must have opinions, bring em on. Don't just read ours, Contribute

[henry]

so beyond raising and lowering Es, and the second string lower what are the main extra levers and what are their uses?

common ones seem to be:
- B string semi tone lower
- low G# whole tone lower
- top F# and D# raise to G# and E
- both F# s to G

I've got the B string lower on my uni cos it's a C6/B6 change but also useful for E9 ( I particularly like hte 13th chord or #9 that u can get in combo with the B pedal)

another thing I have on the uni is a G# to G lower, to make a minor chord in the root position or a 7th (or even 13th ) in the pedals down position.

[elparkirio]

I think for beginners 3+2 is gonna keep you going for a while, but depending on how quick you get the basics down i think it's only a matter of time before you will need the other 2 levers to acheive certain chords or phrases. For example with A and B pedals down you can't get the 9th string to resolve without an extra lever. Also i can raise my 2nd string a semi tone with RKL and drop it a tone with a halfway stop on RKR which i hear a lot on record and this is very tricky without those levers.

I guess it depends what you want out of the instrument. I want lots!!

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Matt you were greedy or should I say hungry? right from the start! You hoovered eveything out of my brain in one ,or was it two sessions and from what I hear I think you did the same with Mr Hartley not every one is like you...clever little ....

[elparkirio]

Apologies and thanks for that JD. I'm coming back for more of your tea and biscuits soon!!

3 +2 would suit me fine, honest.

[Willie Gamble]

My humble opinion on this subject is this, It's not what you have, it's what you do with what you have.
For the first 30+ years of my steel playing I played an Emmons Black Rock 10 which had 3 floor pedals and 2 Knees, RKL raised the Es to F and RKR lowered the second and eighth ( no not even a forth lower) and a tone to die for and I was as happy as the proverbial pig in
and for the majority of that time It was a busy guitar.
The only change I ever hankered for was the first and second raise so I got a very good friend to make me a lever assembly and I fitted that change to the guitar, but sadly my old Buddy was badly damaged in a bad accident a couple of months after that.
Now I am the proud owner of a beautiful Mullen RP SD 10 and I now have 4 levers whoop de do, and I use them all.

Asleep at the Steel

[SHAKEY]

Hey John, if you only need 3+2 why have Pro models with all the extra levers? You might as well have a student model with 3+2 and save a few quid!!!

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Ha Ha Yes Dave ,you could go even lower and start on a plank and learn all the slants.... that would be a good basis for getting you going

[Jif]

I've just recently "upgraded" from a GFI student 3x2 to a Carter S12 Uni 7x5.

The 3x2 took me quite a while to get to grips with, so from a beginner perspective I think it was useful to keep it basic until I had an understanding of how these main changes worked. Now I'm exploring what can be done with the additional knee levers and how they fit in with what I have learned already. So much to learn

But what I'd like to ask the experienced players on the board is regarding the action on knee levers. I realise that this is probably comes under personal preferences but how important to your playing style is the way the action is set up on the KLs and what are your preferences.

For example last night I did a bit of adjustment on LKR. The LKR on the Carter UNI lowers the 6th string a full tone and raises string 2 a half tone. I found that the change on the 2nd string didn't start to take effect until about halfway through the change on the the 6th string. So when I was using LKR to bend the 6th string up or down, about halfway through the move the 2nd string came into play and more pressure was required to complete the move. The effect of this was the move did not flow evenly, making it sound like a half move followed by another half move. So I changed the rodding on string two so that both strings are now starting more or less at the same time, giving a much more even feel. Afterward I thought that the way it was originally setup may have been deliberate so that a half tone lower on the 6th string could be achieved as you feel the change when the 2nd string came into effect?

Am I being too fussy or do you guys tune in your action to suit your playing style and do you have any tips for this.