Playing above the 12 th fret

Carey Hofer · From: South Dakota, USA

I have a couple of 8 string lap steels, a Rukavina and a Melbert. Both are nice instruments but one thing I have noticed on both of them is that at and above the 12th fret, the sustain seems less and the tone also begins to suffer. I figured out that a little more pressure and a healthy attack helps a little. Any of you guys out there with more experience playing have any advice on improving tone up there? Or for those that have experience on a lot of different lap steels, do you find different types, brands, vintage vs modern etc, do better above the 12th fret?

Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

I think scale length makes the most noticeable difference.
On armpit guitars, playing above the 12th fret on a 24” scale Jaguar is noticeably plinkier than the same on a strat. Same is true from my experience on bass; 30” vs 34” scale.

Those long scale, first generation Fender Stringmasters are supposedly really clear sounding up high, with easier to produce harmonics. I am sure the longer scale makes playing in tune up there easier!

String gauge also definitely plays a role, with heavier gauges being much thuddier up high in my experience. This is noticeable when using heavy strings on a bass. On 5 string basses, a lighter gauge B string sounds better and more in tune at higher frets than a heavier one would… (but why would you need to play on the b string up there?).

Break angle of the strings after the bridge may also affect this, as well as more contentious factors like saddle material, guitar body material, weight, etc.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

You probably already know that the 12th fret is the octave of the open fret, so natural harmonics occur there which causes the phenomenon. Letting your trailing bar fingers spread out and damp the strings behind the bar will mitigate, if not totally eliminate, those pesky harmonics above the 12th fret.

I used to struggle with this too until I had someone point out the reason it occurs and how to deal with it.

Happy pickin'

Carey Hofer · From: South Dakota, USA

Good points Jerry and Joe. My scale is 23 1/4" so not as short as a regular 22 1/2" scale but not a long scale either. I should know better but, sometimes I catch my right hand drifting to the left and getting to close to the left hand/bar as the bar moves up the fretboard. This doesn't help either.

Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

I know what you mean about the hand drift, on Fenders with trapezoid pickups it can feel pretty cramped up there. At a certain point you really have to pick-block if you want to play cleanly up there as there just isn't the room for palm blocking.
Basil Henriques, who is phenomenal, among the best, expressed really strict views about picking closer the bridge, stating that none the old school Hawaiian pros played towards the middle of the neck like you see some players do these days.
I don't necessarily agree that its that much of a vice, but its certainly a different sound; it certainly shouldn't be a bad habit or crutch, but for effect or tone color, why not?

Jerry has a really good point about the harmonics up there too, muting the stuff going on the bar is essential, and failing to do so is a common problem that new players have to face. Having control of this can also allow you to use this as an effect, however. A really cool example that comes to mind is on a version of Jerry Byrd's original tune Invitation (To Love) on his By Request album.
He's using his diatonic tuning (7 strings hi-to-lo E C B A G F E). He's playing at the 12 fret, and you can hear that for the call-and-response riff that begins around 00:39 his left hand is lifted off the strings behind the bar, allowing the harmonics to ring out for a haunting, bell-like sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGSAexwPf0
His original recording from the 60s has strings playing the response riff, but it sounds like he's letting the main riff ring out more (also played at the 12th fret).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0c2rEPwQJc
That tuning is worth checking out, and that is an easy tune to figure out how to play on it. I always have it set-up on my Fender. For 8 strings, I add a C# on the bottom.

Anyway, I digress. Another factor that I did not think of before are the effects of bar size, weight, and material on sustain! I think that's another contentious topic, but a heavier bar in my experience does make it easier to have optimum/adequate bar pressure to help the strings to ring out as they should.

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