Fender 400 - Setup and Tuning

[roofus_twang]

For years I hee-hawed on my Grampa's Fender 400, just tuning to the nearest note and using pedals when it sounded nice, but I really didn't know what was going on. So I had myself a swatch of some lessons online, quickly noticing that I was a couple strings short having only 8 on the Fender 400. I looked into tuning and heard Nashville E9 was the way to go, so I took the advice of another Fender 400 player and dropped the top two strings as such: G# E B G# F# E D B (high to low). After tuning up, I realised that the pedals weren't doing what the lessons were showing, so I figured my Grampa must've had a different setup. He had the pedals set up as such (notes listed below are relative to the E9 tuning):

• Pedal #1: String #2 (E↑) / String #4 (G#↑)
• Pedal #2: String #1 (G#↑) / String #4 (G#↑)
• Pedal #3: String #3 (B↑) / String #8 (B↑)
• Pedal #4: String #2 (E↓) / String #7 (D↑)

Unfortunately, I didn't take a note of the original tuning, which I guess may have been helpful. I'm not even sure if it was still in the same tuning as my Grampa used, as tuning to the nearest note ain't exactly accurate, especially over 10+ years.

Anyways, on account of the pedals not doing what I wanted, I decided to start fresh, so I re-strung the beast with GHS Americana Series Pedal Steel strings (that my mum picked up during the Americana Festival a year or two ago), tuned up to E9 (G# E B G# F# E D B) and configured the pedals as per the suggestions in another pedal steel forum - http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=205484&highlight=400.

So my pedals are now in the following configuration:

• Pedal #1: String #2 (E↑F) / String #6 (E↑F)
• Pedal #2: String #3 (B↑C#) / String #8 (B↑C#)
• Pedal #3: String #1 (G#↑A) / String #4 (G#↑A)
• Pedal #4: String #2 (E↓D#) / String #6 (E↓D#)

Which according to my Pedal Steel tuning chart (Mel Bay's Pedal Steel Guitar Chord Chart) is the equivalent of the following:

• Pedal #1 = Knee Lever F
• Pedal #2 = Pedal A
• Pedal #3 = Pedal B
• Pedal #4 = Knee Lever D

Does this sound correct in the sense that I should be able to follow online lessons? Or have I gone and made a mess of it? Your advice is mighty appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Donny Johnston]

Berts set up was:
A pedal (1) 4th & 8TH B TO C#
B pedal (2) 1st & 4th G# to A
C Pedal (3) 2nd & 3rd E to F# & B to C#
I don't know what he did with the 4th pedal, He said it was a secret.
Donny.

[roofus_twang]

Gee Donny, that's awesome thank you, it's incredible that you even knew and remembered all that. I think perhaps he had it setup differently in the end as he was playing Hawaiian style stuff around then. Yeah the 4th pedal is an odd one, it goes down much further than the other three, I think it's a custom one too because it doesn't look like the others. I figured the original broke and he repaired it, but perhaps it's actually all part of his secret sauce. Thanks again Donny, you've been mighty helpful, MIGHTY helpful!

[roofus_twang]

You know, I'm pretty sure I have some of my Grampa's notes around here somewhere, maybe that secret 4th pedal setup is in there, I'll need to have a hunt around. In the meantime, looking at Mel Bay's Pedal Steel Guitar Chord Chart, I'd say that along with pedals A, B and C, knee lever F (2nd & 6th E to F) is used in more chords than the other knee levers, which would suggest to me that it might be the most useful as pedal #4. That said, sometimes it's not about quantity, so perhaps it might be more beneficial to drop down a note like knee lever G (5th F# to G). Any thoughts?

[roofus_twang]

Hmm... it seems I've hit a snag. Pedals 1,2 and 3 are setup and working rather nicely, however, my attempt to setup pedal 4 as knee lever F has failed miserably - my theory didn't take into account the mechanics of the pedal steel - I can't have two different sharps on the same string (I can pull the 6th string up to F, but the 2nd string follows pedal C's lead and goes up to F#). Perhaps this is where my Grampa's magic came into play?

So do I forget the F lever and go for the D lever setup (str2+6 - E > Eb), or opt for the G lever (str5 - F# > G), or go with half the F lever (str6 - E > F), or do I split it between the F and the D (str2 E > Eb str6 E > F) and only play around the flat or sharp depending what I need? I'm thinking a split might be the way to go, is that even a thing?

[JeffM]

To be honest, I'd set it up the way you did it the first time. Although the C pedal and the E to F raise are both useful, if I had to choose, I'd lose the C pedal.

The E to F is great because in conjunction with the A pedal that raises the B to C# you get another inversion of the major chord. If you play an A chord on the 5th fret - no pedals, then move to the 8th and engage the A pedal and raise your Es to F you have another A. But by releasing the E you can go to A minor. By releasing the A pedal instead you get an A7. That's why you have those pedals next to each other.

Regarding the E lower - if you stay at A 5th fret, no pedals and engage your B pedal (raising G#s to A) and the E lower (again, why you have them next to each other) you go from A to E7 - another useful change. Also, if you play a D at the 5th fret with A&B down you can go up one fret, release A&B and lower your Es, you have another D minor chord.

This gives you a lot of scope with 4 pedals and although there are some neat things you can do with that C pedal, I find I spend a lot more time raising and lowering my Es.

To be honest, there's plenty to keep you busy if you just explored the A&B pedals!

BTW, there are quite a few people (including a couple on this forum - Harry Bohay comes to mind) who have added knee levers to their Fender cable steels. The cashiering for the note it goes to is somehow connected with the lever so removes the restriction you found. Also the E raises and lowers work much better in knee levers, I reckon.

[roofus_twang]

Thank you kindly for the mighty informative reply JeffM, you've certainly given me some food for thought. That said, I don't think I'd go as far as adding knee levers, the pedals are a big enough adjustment for me, I mean it already feels like playing a guitar while driving a car, adding knee levers would feel like playing a guitar while driving a car and doing keepie-ups! I certainly salute y'all for wrestling this here monstrous beast of an instrument until she sings like an angel. I'm still dealing with a wailing ill-tempered cat.

I've been starting to get a feel for the A, B and C pedals, but looking at my chord chart I reckon that with only the A, B and C pedals I don't think I can play any 7ths which I'm kinda fond of. Your examples of different changes are also helpful, I've been mostly winging it and just going for what sounds nice, so to know that I can perform these manoeuvres and understand exactly what they are going to do is crazy useful. I might audition both setups for a few days each and see what sits best for myself. I can always reconfigure it later if I find I'm not getting what I need. I'm guessing that different playing styles would lend to what kind of setup you'd have and likewise the setup may determine the style of player you become.

I've learned so much in the past week, I'm kicking myself for not introducing myself years ago. Thanks again for your help. I sure appreciate it.

[JeffM]

One of the great things about those old cable steels is that they are so easy to reconfigure to try out different things.

One more experiment to suggest (if your head isn't exploding already that is) would be to try the "Day" setup (named after Jimmy Day, along with Buddy Emmons, one of the main architects of the modern E9 pedal steel) which means, if you go for my suggestion with the E raises and lowers, you would have the E lowers on the left, then the B pedal (G#s to A) then the A Pedal (Bs to C#) then the E raises on the right.

I prefer this for 2 reasons. One very common move you will do is engage the B pedal and then roll on to the A pedal to engage them both. I find it more comfortable to roll my ankle from left to right rather than the other way.

The second reason is that I find it much easier to remember which pedal (in my case lever) to use to raise and lower the Es. In this arrangement the lower is on the left - the same direction I would move the bar to lower a note and similarly with the raise.

I find I definitely need all the help I can get so if things like that are intuitive it makes it easier to concentrate on all the other stuff. Of course, you will get used to it the other way if you prefer so it's just something to try to see if you like it.

[roofus_twang]

Thanks for that JeffM, Yes, I reckon that makes more sense, I'll definitely give this a shot first! This here pedal steel be a pretty darn versatile instrument, before looking into it properly I really had no idea, this sure opens up a world of experimentation

[Danny Mitchell]

I'm still dealing with a wailing ill-tempered cat.

Ha, ha, great analogy Ray

I've got one of those cats myself