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Post new topic A6/E13---14string tuning?
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Author Topic:  A6/E13---14string tuning?
Rick Abbott

 

From:
Indiana, USA
Post  Posted 11 Mar 2010 6:08 pm    
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I'm preparing to build a 14 string lap steel. I have parts from Bobbe Seymour that are Sho~Bud, a neck, fretboard and keyplate. He said, "Sho~Bud made 4 castings and necks, and fretboards, for 14 string steels. Julian Tharpe got one, Barbara Mandrell got one, and I have the other two;" I now have one of those.

I am totally committed to a hybrid of A6 and E13 on the guitar. If I had a double 8, I would use A6 on the inside neck and E13 on the outside.

How would you combine these tunings into one 14string tuning? 7 each? Leave a string space between them, with 6 and 7? Some other way?

My first thought is: low to high

A C# E F# A C# D E F# G# B E G# F#

but I don't like all I see there. I'd like another B somewhere? And the D may be in a bad spot. D could go to string 2? And forget the idea of another B?

Thoughts??
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer 1963 Gibson Falcon


Last edited by Rick Abbott on 11 Mar 2010 7:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 11 Mar 2010 6:51 pm    
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My 14 string guitar I will build someday will be even more extended Leavitt tuning. Hurry up and build yours and get tired of it and send it to me!! Cool

.
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Rick Abbott

 

From:
Indiana, USA
Post  Posted 11 Mar 2010 8:16 pm    
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You see, I'm really taken by the band Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys. Lee Jeffriess is the absolute bomb!! He once said that his tunings were A6 and E13, and to think about them as one big tuning. Well, I have these parts...

The transition between the lower half and upper should be seemless? If the D was moved to string 2, then the tuning could shift to:

F# A C# E F# A C# E G# B E G# D F# Question thoughts Question

Bill, I'm thinking out loud, and please share your tuning, just in case I might see something. What is Leavitt tuning?
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer 1963 Gibson Falcon
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 12 Mar 2010 6:04 am    
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Rick. I have recorded a bunch of tunes and put them on the non pedal section of the forum. Here are just a few of them. The Leavitt tuning was originated for 6 string lap steel by the late Bill Leavitt, instructor at the Berklee School of music. The original tuning is C# E G Bb C D. You can add anything you want to it either high or low. My 12 string Leavitt tuning is pitched down from the original.


Check out these downloads. Just click on them and they will start. The site is safe. The guys on the forum here have downloaded the 12 or so Leavitt tuning MP3s that I put up thousands of times with no problems.

If you are a chord enthusiast, Leavitt tuning is unsurpassed. There are no slants needed. Slants are great, I am just not proficient at them. If you have a good slant technique then all the better!


http://www.mediafire.com/?nzznonmztwy

http://www.mediafire.com/?0hwcxqzcygm

http://www.mediafire.com/?dianolxezml

http://www.mediafire.com/?59jtbwwdmj4

http://www.mediafire.com/?qzbwrk47yoj
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Billy Tonnesen

 

From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
Post  Posted 12 Mar 2010 1:41 pm    
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Is gthere any Commercial Recordings including a Steel uwing the Leavitt Tuning? Who is playing on the posted recordings. Is there any Videos or U-Tunes showing playing in this tuning?
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 12 Mar 2010 2:35 pm    
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Billy Tonnesen wrote:
Is gthere any Commercial Recordings including a Steel uwing the Leavitt Tuning? Who is playing on the posted recordings. Is there any Videos or U-Tunes showing playing in this tuning?


That is me playing the posted recordings. No video. I don't know if there are "commercial" recordings using Leavitt or not, does not matter to me. I am not bound by what others play. The Leavitt tuning is totally a better tuning for more complex chord voicings. The extension of the Leavitt adds other notes that give it a 6th sound if you need that and others tones according to what you want.


Mike Ihde has some 6 string Leavitt things on his site. Roy Thomson here on the no pedals forum has some Leavitt stuff.

After listening to those posted recordings, you tell me another non pedal tuning that can do that.
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John Bechtel


From:
Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 12 Mar 2010 10:37 pm     For Bill;
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I don't know anything on the Leavitt-Tuning, but; possibly the Byrd C-Diatonic Tuning might contain some similarities! Lo-to-Hi: E~F~G~A~B~C~E or even the Alkire EHArp Tuning: C#~E~F~F#~G~G#~A~B~C#~E
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<marquee> Go~Daddy~Go, (No), Go, It's your Break Time</marquee> L8R, jb
My T-10 Remington Steelmaster
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 13 Mar 2010 3:37 am    
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I use some of the Alkire tuning in the extended Leavitt.
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Rick Abbott

 

From:
Indiana, USA
Post  Posted 15 Mar 2010 4:44 pm    
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Rick Abbott wrote:
You see, I'm really taken by the band Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys. Lee Jeffriess is the absolute bomb!! He once said that his tunings were A6 and E13, and to think about them as one big tuning. Well, I have these parts...

The transition between the lower half and upper should be seemless? If the D was moved to string 2, then the tuning could shift to:

F# A C# E F# A C# E G# B E G# D F# Question thoughts Question


Any thoughts? I know it seems odd.
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer 1963 Gibson Falcon
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