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Author Topic:  Cool Fender 400 Copedent
b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 19 Jun 2019 3:45 pm    
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Dennis Montgomery wrote:
I still bring out the Fender 400 8 string now and then when a song needs a distorted solo. I have my own copedent I call G15 that is very symmetrical and much more fun to solo on than extended D9 (G-B-D-F#-A-C#-E-G#...aka alternating major and minor 3rds) ...

What a cool tuning!! Exclamation Exclamation Idea Mr. Green
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 19 Jun 2019 9:02 pm    
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b0b wrote:
Dennis Montgomery wrote:
I still bring out the Fender 400 8 string now and then when a song needs a distorted solo. I have my own copedent I call G15 that is very symmetrical and much more fun to solo on than extended D9 (G-B-D-F#-A-C#-E-G#...aka alternating major and minor 3rds) ...

What a cool tuning!! Exclamation Exclamation Idea Mr. Green


Thanks b0b! I find it very logical to visualize scale shapes for major/minor/pentatonic/etc soloing, but it's also slick in that every 4 adjacent strings alternate major and minor 7th chords Winking

Code:

GMaj7: G-B-D-F#
Bm7:     B-D-F#-A
DMaj7:     D-F#-A-C#
F#m7:        F#-A-C#-E
AMaj7:          A-C#-E-G#


Here's the whole copedent (a couple notes: 1) I added both knee levers with about $30 worth of stuff from the Home Depot hardware aisle. 2) Pedal C doesn't actually make 3 pulls - which is of course not possible on a Fender 400, 2 of the pulls are on pedal C and one on pedal D and I have them connected by an aluminum bar...so in practice I always double pedal C+D)



Here's a chart of the G chord family and how I get them...



My little 400 is lots of fun to play Smile
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Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 19 Jun 2019 10:37 pm    
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It's a lot like pedal 7 of the standard C6th, except for the top note:
Tab:
string  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
FMaj7:  F-A-C-E
Am7:      A-C-E-G
CMaj7:      C-E-G-B
Em7:          E-G-B-D
G6:             G-B-D-E

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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 20 Jun 2019 8:13 am    
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b0b wrote:
It's a lot like pedal 7 of the standard C6th, except for the top note:
Tab:
string  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
FMaj7:  F-A-C-E
Am7:      A-C-E-G
CMaj7:      C-E-G-B
Em7:          E-G-B-D
G6:             G-B-D-E


That's cool, I've never played C6. This pattern is just so much fun for soloing, so is pedal 7 the best one to hold down to play solos on a C6 neck Winking
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Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 20 Jun 2019 10:24 am    
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Dennis Montgomery wrote:
That's cool, I've never played C6. This pattern is just so much fun for soloing, so is pedal 7 the best one to hold down to play solos on a C6 neck Winking


For you, I'm sure it is. Laughing I'd never thought of it until now. Coincidentally, I play D6th instead of C6th. Your tuning lines up with mine real nice, when I hold that pedal. Mr. Green
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 20 Jun 2019 11:48 am    
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b0b wrote:
Coincidentally, I play D6th instead of C6th. Your tuning lines up with mine real nice, when I hold that pedal. Mr. Green


Cool...I hope you give it a try and it works for you Winking

If I ever find myself behind a D10 I'll make sure to hold pedal 7 and try a solo on the front neck Laughing
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Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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Patrick Ickes

 

From:
Upper Lake, CA USA
Post  Posted 20 Jun 2019 8:40 pm     3 pulls
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Hey Dennis,
I had a '59 400 and had 3 pulls on my high/3rd string E. It is possible.
The early 400 is my all time favorite guitar.
Patrick
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Thomas Sabatini

 

From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2019 5:59 am    
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b0b wrote:
Dennis Montgomery wrote:
That's cool, I've never played C6. This pattern is just so much fun for soloing, so is pedal 7 the best one to hold down to play solos on a C6 neck Winking


For you, I'm sure it is. Laughing I'd never thought of it until now. Coincidentally, I play D6th instead of C6th. Your tuning lines up with mine real nice, when I hold that pedal. Mr. Green


Huh! I just started with a S12U set up with Johnny Cox's D13. I'm still at the early learning stage, learning basic chords and scales while noodling looking for cool pockets.

I love P7+D because it's basically a major pentatonic with a dominant 7. Flattening the Ds with LkR yields a minor pentatonic. It's super intuitive for lead lines.

It's way too early for me to start futzing with things, but as I learn more I'll going to be looking for a good reason not to move P7 to P4 so that it's right there under the LkR.
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2019 9:57 am     Re: 3 pulls
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Patrick Ickes wrote:
Hey Dennis,
I had a '59 400 and had 3 pulls on my high/3rd string E. It is possible.
The early 400 is my all time favorite guitar.
Patrick


Hi Patrick, I didn't mean having more than 2 pulls on a single string isn't possible, I meant having a single pedal pull more than 2 strings isn't possible since they balance a 2 finger cable. If you know of a way to have a single pedal pull 3 strings, I'm all ears Winking
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Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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James Taylor

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2019 10:43 am     Interesting Informaton
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Thank you both for the very interesting information.

I wish I had known all that when I had my Fender.

BEST WISHES
JAMES TAYLOR
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Patrick Ickes

 

From:
Upper Lake, CA USA
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2019 6:18 pm    
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Oh got it.
I misunderstood what you meant.
Patrick
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Rich Peterson


From:
Moorhead, MN
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2019 10:50 pm    
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Intriguing concept. I like the 5 note 9th chords. But pedal C seems redundant. I would like the 2nd and 6th string raises to the left of pedal A. Lots of other ideas are swirling around in my brain. Augmented (and demented) chords.

This and Johney Cox' copedent show that the PSG can still evolve.
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K Maul


From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
Post  Posted 22 Jun 2019 5:10 am    
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A different style, but this made me think of Lew Houston.

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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 26 Jun 2019 12:45 pm    
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For those curious what this tuning sounds like, I used the 400 on every song on the last album of my progressive rock band, Mutiny in Jonestown. The album was released in 2017 and is called, "The Daemons Mock Me While I Sleep". All the songs are based on the stories of early 1900's American horror writer HP Lovecraft. You can check it out on bandcamp at:

https://mutinyinjonestown.bandcamp.com/album/the-daemons-mock-me-while-i-sleep

Since many of the songs are quite long and some of you will likely not be into this kind of music but still curious to hear the 400 with this tuning (though of course I'd like people to listen to the whole songs but I know how things work in the real world!) here's a quick guide to where the 400 appears on each song Winking

1) Dagon: The 400 plays the lead (no pedals) at 0:50 and plays an unaccompanied double tracked solo (no pedals) at 7:00.

2) Astrophobos: The 400 plays the guitar backing chords (with pedals) on the first vocal section and then again on the last vocal section at 4:20.

3) The Colour Out of Space: The 400 plays the lead (no pedals) at 10:47.

4) Despair: The 400 plays the main guitar backing parts (with pedals) throughout the song.

5) Polaris: The 400 plays the opening solo (no pedals) and it's longest solo (no pedals) and my favorite one on the album at 2:45.

6) Dagon Coda: The 400 plays the same double tracked piece as on the earlier song Dagon except this time with the full band.

There have been some recent threads about pedal steel outside the world of country music...well, here's a chance to hear it in progressive rock, a style that doesn't usually feature pedal steel (other than Steve Howe who only used it on a couple Yes songs and on his solo albums). I'm also going to post this on the 'Steel on the Web' forum.

Anyway, hope you like it or are at least amused by hearing pedal steel in another setting Smile
_________________
Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 26 Jun 2019 1:30 pm    
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Very cool project, Dennis. Thanks for sharing. Track 4, the one with pedals throughout, is especially interesting.
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 26 Jun 2019 5:22 pm    
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Thank you b0b and thanks for taking the time to listen Winking

The 4th song (Despair) is interesting for a couple reasons. This one (along with song 2 'Astrophobos') are both HP Lovecraft poems I set to music. 'Despair' is especially sad as Lovecraft wrote it the day his mother was committed to a sanitarium/mental asylum after a nervous breakdown...he fell into a deep depression. As it turned out she never returned, dying a few years later in the asylum.

I wrote the chord progressions with a lot of 7th chords, which my 400 tuning is really optimized for. Every time the verse resolves it does so 1/2 step lower than where it started and the next verse starts another 1/2 step down from that - so the verses are constantly dropping and the song spirals down. I thought this was a good musical way to reflect Lovecraft's descent into depression.
_________________
Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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Mark Perrodin

 

From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 24 Dec 2019 9:23 am     three pulls on one pedal
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dennis,
here is how i did it on a fender 800 that i sold recently. it raised
the top two strings and lowered string 6. easy to do and works well.
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 24 Dec 2019 10:23 am    
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^ I really like that idea Mark...hadn't thought of that. Very clever Winking

Also, very doable for me as I parted out a 2nd 400, kept all the undercarriage parts, and sold the rest as a console steel. This means I have a couple extra pulley/finger assemblies just laying around Smile
_________________
Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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Mark Perrodin

 

From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 24 Dec 2019 1:32 pm     helper springs
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dennis,
here are helper springs that i added to a 9 pedal short scale 400. i
felt that the short scale changer has a longer throw on the lowers
and this was my solution. you set it up so there is just a bit of tension
on the changer finger. makes for a pedal movement with almost no
effort. made from left-over parts and a strat vibrato spring. made a
half-stop for that guitar too. it wound up being great. by the way, this guitar
was hammered dog sh*t when i got it so i was ok with experimenting with it.




Last edited by Mark Perrodin on 24 Dec 2019 2:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 24 Dec 2019 1:58 pm    
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Hey Mark,

helper springs are a great idea. I did something similar (also using Strat trem springs) to make the pedal tension individually adjustable for each spring. You can see that instead of hooking one end of the spring onto the fixed distance changer plate, I drilled holes in the body, putting a threaded hook through and adjusting the tension with a nut. Works great for me Winking





_________________
Hear my latest album, "Celestial" featuring a combination of Mullen SD12 and Synthesizers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhh6b_xXTx4&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz0x-Sxso0NWw493qAouK

Hear my album, "Armistice" featuring Fender 400 on every song:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2Pz_GXhvmjne7lPEtsplyW

Hear my Pedal Steel Only playlist featuring Mullen G2 SD12 on covers like Candyman, Wild Horses, Across the Universe & more...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfXm8aXRTFz2f0JOyiXpZyzNrvnJObliA
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