UNIVERSAL E9-B6-Bb6 B6/E9

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I raise my 9th and lower my 8th to get the D - which ever one is handy or necessary to get the combinations I need.On the pedal that raises my 9th I also raide my 10th a step and a half to B replacing the B that is now raised to D. Now I have the whole 10 strings in order of a 10 string E9.This gives me some amazing swooping boogie runs and a lot more.I put this on my 1st pedal and move all my other pedals a notch to the right.I lower my 4th & 8th to D on my 2nd LKV (my 1st LKV raises my 1st and 7th strings 1/2 step).

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

David, thanks for the shot of the changer end of your guitar. Can you explain the which sets are raises and lowers? I assume that the part with 5 holes is for raises but what's the function of the others? That is really an interesting concept...JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

David Munson · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Don Curtis at Scottys is the expert on this changer. The 2 and 3 Part of the changer is the C6 lock. The lock is not just locking the D lever but has other pulls such as a D on top. here is a photo from the other end

Sherman Willden · From: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

This sounds like a good thing. I own a Carter s12 7x5 strictly Jeff Newman settings. Thank you for this.

Am I correct on the following? If I am on the first fret with the Es lowered and I press Pedal 6 I get the F7th. If I then release RKR while keeping pedal 6 depressed I fall back into the C6th with an augmented 4th available.

Sherman

Dean Parks · From: Sherman Oaks, California, USA

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Speaking of You Tube, here's a clip of me playing with a blues rock band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkSnoeTWR4I

The reason I post this is that one of the big advantages for me of playing a U-12 is the extra bass strings. This video shows me playing down in the bass register at the end of my solo.

Note the great Steve Duncan (Buckeroos, Desert Rose band, Hellacasters, Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon band etc) on drums.
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

Joe McHam · From: Houston, TX * R.I.P.

Mike ..great job.. inspite of all the club noise..
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Houston, TX
Excel Superb S-12 8&5
Fender Princeton Amp.
Peavey Vegas Amp.
Casio PG-380 midi guitar
Ham Radio WA5OKT
Private Pilot SEL

Joe McHam · From: Houston, TX * R.I.P.

I've gotten some tips on changing strings on the Excel keyless.. and they are some help, however changing strings on my Excel is a royal pain.. I would like to hear how you keyless owners manage.

Thanks so much!!
Joe
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Houston, TX
Excel Superb S-12 8&5
Fender Princeton Amp.
Peavey Vegas Amp.
Casio PG-380 midi guitar
Ham Radio WA5OKT
Private Pilot SEL

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

Count me in as I have an interest..
Just getting ready to make the leap and wondering if 7-5 is enough to do this??
Thanks Ken
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MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes

David Doggett · Posted 27 Apr 2008 11:55 am

7 & 5 is plenty, especially for the one-big-tuning approach. If you want to get more specialized in the B6 mode, you might want to add a middle cluster of knee levers later.

Jon Jaffe · From: Austin, Texas

I'm in. Sorry to be late. I got my first E9/B6 in '79. I use a standard Newman setup with 7/4. My first U12 was a MSA. I got my first Kline in '83. I have had a Zum as well, but I could never get it to fit. Perhaps, if I had pedal 2 as my "A" pedal like David it would have been better. I am left with two Klines one mica one lacquer.

I raise my low G# with the "B" pedal, but I do not raise my low B with the "A" pedal, nor change my low E with a knee lever in either direction. I have always used pedal 4 (boowah) and 5 for the lower strings. Tying the A and B pedal to the lower strings seemed to take the snap out of them

Changing strings on the Klines is easy, though a dark club is always a visual challenge. I cannot help with the Excel.

Well done Mike.

David Doggett · Posted 27 Apr 2008 7:27 pm

Jon, I couldn't live without having my A and B pedal changes on the low strings. Finding the right bell crank slot can make it feel right. I also raise my low E with my F lever, which gives me diminished and augmented harmonies down there that I find useful in blues, jazz and classical music. With the E-lower lever, I don't lower the low E, which would mess up the parallels between the low B6 strings and classic C6.

Joe McHam · From: Houston, TX * R.I.P.

Thanks to all you uni pickers.. for the turnout.. There is a lot of long time uni players and I'm looking forward to hearing some sound clips.. Pass the word around to other uni drivers.. Maybe at one of the steel shows we can all converge and have a jam...
Thanks Again!!
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Houston, TX
Excel Superb S-12 8&5
Fender Princeton Amp.
Peavey Vegas Amp.
Casio PG-380 midi guitar
Ham Radio WA5OKT
Private Pilot SEL

Pit Lenz · From: Cologne, Germany

Countme in as a SHORT TIME player. Very Happy

Playing a Carter u-12 that I re-rodded to Carter´s standard copedent for a month now I´m having a ball discovering a whole new world of possibilities (and traps)...
pit

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

Jim Pitman here. I'm the guy that sold and manufactured the "Tonealigner" pickup for a few years. Bob Hoffnar is now producing them.
Count me In. I've been playing an E9/B6 since 83. My guitar for the last 9 years is a Fessenden 12 on double wide body.
My band the "Stone Cold Roosters" has a myspace entry: http://www.myspace.com/thestonecoldroosters
Check out my tune "Well Swung" for an example of weaving in and out of 6th and 9th modes. The steel break is about half way through the tune. Though not impossible, I suppose, it would be a tough one to pull off with a D10.

Jim

David Doggett · Posted 28 Apr 2008 1:06 pm

Great stuff, Jim. Nice smooth blend of B6 and a little E9. Smile

Joe McHam · From: Houston, TX * R.I.P.

Super job on the uni Jim.. Great tune too!!!
_________________
Houston, TX
Excel Superb S-12 8&5
Fender Princeton Amp.
Peavey Vegas Amp.
Casio PG-380 midi guitar
Ham Radio WA5OKT
Private Pilot SEL

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

Thanks Joe and Dave. Almost all of the twinned melody is 9. The break is a 50/50 mix of 6 and 9 mode.

I see great session guy Dean Parks name up there.

Dean - are you playing a Fessey still? I wasn't aware it was a uni. - Jerry and I live close by in VT. Speaking of your sessions - Did you do the slide guitar work on the theme to that TV show Simon and Simon? What a cool little noodle. - Use to play it out as a set closer while the Band leader schmoozed the crowd. Lends itself wonderfully to E9 pedals A+B.

johnopsg · From: Tracy, Calif., U.S.A.

Joe, I am interested in knowing more about E9/B6 and all the variations used by S-12 Universal players.
I play an Excel S-12U, 8/5,keyless , and a Carter s-12U,7/5 Std.
Regards to all,
JohnO
Tracy, Calif.

Eugene Cole · From: near Washington Grove, MD, USA

Dean Parks · From: Sherman Oaks, California, USA

Jim-

Nice work on your sound bytes... sounds like a fun group.

My Fessy is an SD-10, altho I have it tuned like the top 10 strings of a Uni (low G#), and I moved my Eb to RKL. VERY easy to make copedant changes of the Fessy. I like being rid of the D string (does not compute to a clumsy slide player). And makes a 6th-mode with Eb lever more straightforward, no string skipping... I've thought of restringing it down a 4th. So, pedals-down, all the same frets would work when reading chord charts, if you know what I mean (pedals down would be a big E chord).

I'm using an MSA Studio Pro for 12. It's a Uni sorta... Like Mr Doggett, I have the E9 pulls on the lower octave also (no Eb tho), and I tune the low string to an A. It's not much of a Jazz tuning, but there is a lot there. Great for blues.

Yes, I did the Simon/Simon thing, on a 335 with an E tuning.

-dean-

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

Very interesting Dean. I can appreciate the suble voicing changes to make it more like a traditional guitar.

Have you heard about Jerry's low cost 6 string steel w/2 pedal and 1 knee lever for guitarists? Sounds to me like he is onto something - attempting to tap the electric guitar guys who are casually interested in pedal steel.

I saw some of your PSG stuff on youtube. You're not so casual! Glad to see you're playing steel now. The Hollywood Hillbillies sound like alot of fun too.

I played Dobro for many years GBDBGD bluegrass. Then picked up the Uni steel, and of course the regular guitar all along. I used to play a D tuning slide style - Duanne Allman a hero of mine. I'm afraid I let that tuning go away though. There isn't much room left for more tunings especially if I want to be proficeient enough to improv. I'm out of RAM space.

Got alot of mileage emulating your Sim/Sim song.

thanks.

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Jim your tune is swung like a horse. Nice solo!!

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

Ha..ha Good one Billy!

I have words for that tune that are sung from a women's perspective kinda along the lines of: a women hangs with this rabble rouser, rounder, kinda guy who's a good dancer but she's too refined to consider marrying him even though he's "Well Swung"

I never could get any of my female singer songwriter friends to sing the track because it was somewhat misoginistic I suppose. Really though, that kinda racy lyric is historically accurate for the time period that type of tune is reminiscent of.

OK - enough off topic......yes...yes E9/b6 really swings.

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

Me 2~~

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