Setting a Pedal Steel up like a Duesenberg

Sebastian Müller · From: Berlin / Germany

Dear Pedal Steelers,

this is my first post in the pedal steel section of this excellent forum,
some of you might know me from the Steel Without Pedals section.

I am a Hawaiian Steel Guitar player, focused on the early years of steel guitar like the 30s and 40ths,
so my heros are Sol Hoopii, Dick McIntire and so on.

The main tunings that I use on my National Tricone or Rickenbacher Lapsteels are
A Highbass, C#Minor and E .

When I saw the Duesenberg Lapsteels I thought that might be super cool, with the handlevers I could
access all of my favourite tunings and fake some pedal steel guitar sounds.
I borrowed one and after a hour or so it was clear that it wasn’t for me,
pushing the lever totally messed up my right hand technique and of course the changes like B to C# where for one
string only.

So, my idea is, taking a proper pedal steel guitar and set it up in a similar way like the Duesenbergs.

Last week a Singleneck Emmons Pushpull showed up for sale in Berlin, that happens not often, believe me.
I called the seller and he told me that he is pretty good with the mechanic sides of pedal steels, he could
install any copedent for me that I want (and is techincally feasible)

That sounded super interesting and I visited him and we made the deal.
Here is the copedent that I came up with:

It is basically very similar to a classic E9 setup, Pedal A, B and C on Pedal 2,3 and 4, Pedal 1 creates a E7 sound.

I only planned 7 strings for now, that gives me room to extend the tuning with two upper strings and a additional low string.

So, why all this effort ?

I am a Hawaiian steel player by heart, I know the A Major tuning inside out.
I already had a pedal steel with standard E9 tuning and the setup of the tuning was
too confusing for me.
I love the idea to let all the pedals go and have a Major tuning that I know very well.
So the idea is to take what I really know and add the classic E9 pedals and knee levers.

Any feedback on the Project ?
Any ideas what to use for the missing three strings ?
Other Ideas for Pedal 1 ?

Please keep in mind, I totally respect Buddy Emmons and all the wisdom that flew into his tuning,
6 string lapsteels will be my main focus and I don’t wan’t to play country music, it will be more
like a playground , so more in the Daniel Lanois direction.

Looking forward to your input.

Greetingsf from Berlin

Sebastian
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Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I can't help but see the things that you lose by not having the low F# (string 7 on standard E9 10 string).
But I won't try to convince you of anything. You have given it thought.
An element that you do lose that you don't have to, with what you've got there --
-- you can move everything down one place and gain standard E9 strings 1, 2, 3. Why not? I consider ringing sustained note scale tones of 3-1-4-2 to be so elemental to my playing and to what I want to hear a shimmering pedal steel do -- whether it's Buddy or Daniel.
Regardless of what you choose, you've got yourself a push pull!! That's exciting stuff.

Just some of my thoughts.

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I agree with Jon. The top 4 strings tuned that way open up an easy way to play a portion of the major scale. If you set it up that way, for now you could ignore those 4 strings and you wouldn't have to learn anything new, or change your finger grips.

Pedal steel is a different animal than lap in that a lot of the playing -- and thinking about how to play -- is done with the bar moving a bit less. Rather than doing a bar move to change notes, pedal steelers often leave the bar on one position and hit those pedals and knee lever to bring the note to the bar. For example, I can play a lot of simple songs in one fret without being forced to move the bar due to lack of available notes.

Therefore, the logic of PSG tunings is to have most of the scale tones (and therefore, the common chords) under the bar at any given time -- and the rest are obtained with a pedal or knee. And then, of course, in the real world, you combine that theoretical ability to play an entire scale without moving the bar with bar movement and it really opens up the artistic possibilities of what you can play.

So, you asked what was missing from your tuning, and that's what I see -- a few more scale tones on open strings (where you don't have to use a pedal or knee to get them), like F# and D#.

Also, one very important thing missing here is a D note that's in the upper register.

On an E9 guitar, this is usually on the 2nd string, and it is tuned to D#, but can be lowered with a knee lever to get that D. Usually, it's on the RKR knee lever. If you were going to add just one thing to your copedent, this is the one I would do.

In the open E position, that gives you a scale tone (Major 7) that can also be lowered with the knee lever to a b7.

And if you put your pedal 2 and 3 down (the A-Major position), that D note is scale tone 4 -- which is otherwise missing in that register.

With the top 4 strings set up as Jon suggested, which includes this D note I'm talking about here , you can then play an entire A-Major scale at the nut. You have to use 2 pedals and hold in a knee lever... but it's so easy to do.

Fred · From: Amesbury, MA

I’d seriously consider putting an F# in the middle between E and G# so you get your A6 with the A and B pedals down. As a non pedal player who’s moved to pedals, I found having an emergency familiar place very comforting.

Maybe even add a low A at the bottom.

Fred

Fred · From: Amesbury, MA

Also, if you lower your middle E to D instead of raising the B you get a D6 with the B pedal and Dmaj7 (with a 9th on top) by adding the A pedal.

Fred

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

If Duesy built pedal steels with the same sound as their lap/lever guitars, they would REALLY have something... They sound like an old school lap guitar from the 40's but with modern pedal steel bends.. In the right hands.. Have not seen too many guys do them justice... Probably not an easy transition for most lap or pedal players... That Luke guy from Germany is a master... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Sebastian Müller · From: Berlin / Germany

Thank you so much for your input,
I was already able to play the tuning yesterday and it made a good impression,
I am sure I will change things around in the longterm, but I am glad I found
someone who can help me to experiment with a pedal steel. One thing is for sure,
I felt way more at home with my own copedent than standard E9, and there is so much music and possibilities to discover already in this setup.
Some finetuning will be done on the Emmons and than I can take it with me and
dive into it.

And yes, Luke is great, I do know him.
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