1st string raise: g# or g? OR BOTH?

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

I've always had the string 1 raise a full step with my RKR lever and I'm married to it. The unison with string 3 is so common, I can't do without it.

But lately I've been really wanting to have a half step raise on string 1. Having the dominant 7th with the a and b pedals down is very cool, and every time I come across licks that use the half raise on 1, I tried to half raise my lever but it's neither precise nor effective.

Which one do you guys use? Does anyone have both changes on separate pedals and/or levers? If so, where are they on your instrument and why? Very curious to see who's doing what.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

G.

For G#, I engage the "G" knee lever, then pull the first string up to G# with my little finger, behind the bar. Works for me.

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Alex.. you already have the change, you like it, I would just leave it there.. You can simply add a feel stop so you can "feel" the half tone raise, or a much better way is to just get used to "Half pedaling" into the half tone raise ... Its easy, you just need to work on it a bit.. My F# to G# raise is on LKL, and I have been using it as a 1/2 tone and full tone raise for the 40+ years I have been playing.. Just work on it, and you'll find in a short time you don't even need a feel stop, let alone another lever.. If you really can't get used to it no matter how hard you try, you can also put the F#-G# raise on a pedal with the 2nd string Eb to E raise which has become very popular in the past decade.. Of course you can also put the 1st string/2nd string raise on a lever, but you already have it, and anyone can get used to half pedaling it up a half tone with a little practice.... bob
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John Swain · From: Winchester, Va

Alex, on most allpulls if you raise 1+2 on a kl, you can't time the pulls to "pickup" the second string whe one gets to G. I pull 1,2+7 on LKL with feel stops for G.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

The full-tone unison lick really gets old fast, and it has a certain "whiny" character I don't care for.

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

It doesn't sound whiny at the speed Randle Currie plays it, ha ha ha!

I do have the raise 1-2, so timing the pulls might be an elegant and simple solution.

I'm also considering putting the 1/2 step raise on the vertical, which I'm not using at the moment. But that means stepping on a & b while raising the vertical with the same leg.

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

It's country and supposed to be whiny so quit whining and play it. Very Happy

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Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

Exactly, whiny is why they pay us the big bucks, ha ha ha!

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

It's no more whiney than the A pedal constantly being used. Whiney is OK. Country steel guitar was built on whiney. That's what people who don't know what a PSG is says when you explain it to them. "Oh, you mean that 'whiney thing'"

I mastered the half lever to get the G on string 1, but would like a definite stop.
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Tommy Mc · From: Middlesex VT

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Full-tone raise on the 1st string here. Love that bend, even when not used as a unison with the 3rd stg.

The G note can still be played with a half-knee (or at least approximated) or the bar can be slid up one fret. And if you're Jack Hanson or John Call, I guess you can reach up and pull the string behind the bar. Smile

I think there's been a migration over the decades. The old-school way to wire it was as a half-step to G. And you used to hear it used a LOT in 60's and 70's country, like, say the intro to "The Bottle Let Me Down". Some of that stuff is so much easier to play if you only go up to G on that lever!

Seems like music changed and steelers moved a little away from 7th licks in the years since then. I now hear the full-tone raise on the 1st string as much, if not more, than that half-tone note. I think it's a more versatile option since you can still easily get the in-between note with one of the manipulations listed above. But if I was playing in classic country bands that rarely left the Golden Age of steel, I would switch my copedent to go to G on that lever.

Jim Robbins · From: Ontario, Canada

G# with a feel stop. I use my 7th string raise a lot, probably more than the 1st string. Grumbling rather than whining, if you will.

Dave Campbell · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

i had the 1/2 raise to g on my sho bud, and i used it fairly frequently, but mostly in the quick swinging doors type of way.

when i got a push pull, it came with a full tone raise to g#, but i haven't managed to get the half stop feel that i'm looking for. like you i don't think i could live without the full tone raise in most of the bands i'm playing with. i make do with behind the bar pulls or trying my best to feel the halfway point of the lever.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

John Macy · From: Rockport TX/Denver CO

Wait...women look at steel players???
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Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

I get the 1st string G by pulling it a little with my finger.
G# with the lever.
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Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Yeah, me too. I can get by pulling 1 to G with a pinky, but a whole step makes me nervous. If you've ever had one
break and wrap around your finger, you understand why.

I have it on RKR along with 2 and 6 timed so I feel the half tone when it picks up 2, I think.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I raise 1 and 7 a whole step (to G#) but, if I just want the b7 (or G note) half-pedaling that knee-lever is really easy. I make use of the half-tone option on both the 1st and the 7th string, the latter in tandem with my A and B pedals for a 7th chord.

Sharpening the 1st behind the bar with a spare finger is certainly possible but the 7th string? Not so much.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

And pulling the 1st is a little difficult when down at the low frets. OUCH!!!
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Richard:

I can just pull my 1st string up a half-step at the second fret using my finger.

There's not a chance at fret one! (Where are my Band-Aids?)
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

Steve Leal · From: Orange CA, USA

I raise string 1 a whole step, string 2 a half step, and string 7 just a half step that acts as a feel stop for string 1.

Another way you can get the G note is by playing a fret up from the A B position, while lowering 5/10 a half step + raising 5/10 a whole step with A pedal + lowering 4/8 a half step.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Weird thing that I just discovered,My knee lever raises my high f#string number 1 to a G# while lowering string #6 G#-F#and with the split G,for some reason there is feel in my lever so when it's part way in I get a G on string #1 and it's really in tune....not sure why I get both G#an G with that knee lever but I use it.
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