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Topic: Don Helms on PSG what Tuning? |
Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 22 Jun 2007 8:44 pm |
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Hi, on Youtube there is a clip of Don Helms on his Sho-Bud PSG playing "Cold,Cold,Heart".
What tuning did Don use on PSG ?
Was it E9th, or did he have a variaton of his E6 straight steel ?
also,
What a great sound he has, was this a "Fingertip"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk8fIPQLRzw
Thanks,
Fred |
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Ted Tonjes
From:
Hoogland - The Netherlands - Europe
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 23 Jun 2007 9:56 am
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Another side of Don Helms!!
He has 8 strings, and the top one is obviously G#. He's getting a full A6th with (I assume) pedals down when he sweeps across at the end of the tune.
His non-pedal tuning is (low to high)
<pre>A C# E G# B C# E G#</pre>
This sounds like it could be
<pre>A C# E F# G# B E G#</pre> with the pedals raising B to C# and G# to A.
I'm just guessing, though. I wonder where that guitar is today. It's a beauty!!
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Les Anderson
From:
The Great White North
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Posted 23 Jun 2007 12:28 pm
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| Did anyone notice the type of bar he was using? Too many steelrs today swear up and down that you need a bullet bar to play the steel with any proficiency. I still use my Stevens bar and rarely my bullet: and nope, I never snag it nor pop strings off the sharp ends. |
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Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 23 Jun 2007 6:12 pm
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| Les, yes I caught that too. They also now make Stevens style Bars that have a Bullet shape nose. Sort of best of both worlds. I want to pick up one of those and see how it feels. I don't care what people will say, I'm an outcast allready anyway as I play without picks. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Shane Reilly
From:
Melbourne, Australia
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Posted 23 Jun 2007 11:01 pm
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I got a copy of the Hank Williams doco the other day titled "Hank Williams-Honky Tonk Blues".Lots of great interviews with Mr Helms and some cool footage of him playing solo and with Hank.Some close ups of that very bar,it's well worth checking out,interviews with the drifting cowboys,funny and inspiring.And some WAAAAY cool Caddy's.  |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 23 Jun 2007 11:43 pm
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Oh, the maple! What a beauty.......and what beautiful playing.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2007 8:05 am
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As luck would have it, I had a chance to play "Cold Cold Heart" with a country band last night. Uncle Don's delivery was fresh in my mind. What an inspiration!
I see how he might have removed his C# string and used a pedal instead to get that note. But he doesn't make the pedal usage obvious at all. He stays true to the original sound of the tune.
When I read through his Hank Williams songbook, I came to the realization that he never sounds the B and C# strings at the same time. It's always one or the other. That's part of the reason that his sound is so clean and unique.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2007 8:59 am
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| I freeze framed it, and I count 10 strings. It has to be a Permanent. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2007 11:56 am
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I was with Don Helms and Chris Malpass on a Hank
tribute show in Liberty, N. C. (Greensboro area)
about eighteen months ago, and the gentleman who now
own this Sho-Bud brought it out for Don to see.
Don expressed an interest in buying it back, but I
don't believe the man wanted to sell it. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2007 12:53 pm
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| Looks like 10 strings on the top neck, and 8 on the bottom neck. At that time Shobuds were changing constantly. Just watch Warden on Porter Wagoner. Pedals on the left, next week it's pedals on the right. I don't believe Shobud made very many of the all wood, no aluminum endplate, models of the Permanent. |
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Jay Yuskaitis
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2007 4:24 pm
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| No doubt, a sweetheart of a permanent. A true SHO BUD! Jay Y. |
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Paul Graupp
From:
Macon Ga USA
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Posted 25 Jun 2007 2:23 pm
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Clyde Mattocks !! What a pleasure to see your name on the Forum. It has been a long long tiome since I was on Channel 5 out of Raleigh and driving arouind the couintry to find some show or club where you where playing. Best of luck my old friend !!
Regards, Paul |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 25 Jun 2007 2:53 pm
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| Yes, but did anyone else notice the ring on his right hand? |
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Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 27 Jun 2007 11:36 pm
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| What about the ring .. ? |
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Dan Burnham
From:
Greenfield, Tennessee
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Posted 28 Jun 2007 6:10 am The Ring?
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Don was a traveling man, like many us, he was a Mason. I'm not sure what Masonic Lodge he was a member of ?
Dan Burnham
Martin/Sharon City Lodge #551 F.& A.M.
_________________
BMI S12 Zane Beck's Tuning
www.danburnham.com |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064
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Posted 28 Jun 2007 6:45 am
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Let's not have a Masonic funeral just yet, please. Brother Don is still with us! 
I believe he and Roy Acuff were two signers of Lynn Owsley's petition. Pretty cool, IMHO.
Johnny Bush and Junior Pruneda were the co-signers of my petition, after Jim Younger.
Anyone else have "celebrity" names on their petition?
Of course, it's the internal, not the external... well, y'all know what I'm talkin' 'bout. 
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 28 Jun 2007 6:48 am
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| You tryin' to tell me that Don is part of the Mason/Knight's Templar plot to rule the world? No way! |
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Dan Burnham
From:
Greenfield, Tennessee
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Posted 28 Jun 2007 6:54 am Sorry Herb
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Sorry Herb, I should have stated I wasn't sure how old his Grandmother was or where she lived. 
_________________
BMI S12 Zane Beck's Tuning
www.danburnham.com |
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Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2007 11:52 pm E9 to D6/D13
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Playing around on my E9th and watching Don Helms on this Cold, Cold Heart clip I think he may have Detuned his E9 to D6th(D13th)and is playing it without any pedals.
Of course, it is also possible that He was tuned to D9th to begin with as were many players in the 8 string days,and Detuned from D9 to C6/C13, with an E on top,but either is a very easy re-tune.
Opps, sorry, thats right we had decided it was a 10 string, either way it does look like he retuned to a 6th/13th. What do you think ? |
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Dan Burnham
From:
Greenfield, Tennessee
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Posted 3 Jul 2007 8:16 am I hope to see Don
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Guys,
Eddie Long and I are going to see Don this week or next week. I will ask him about that specific song and his copedant on it and report back in a few days.
Dan
_________________
BMI S12 Zane Beck's Tuning
www.danburnham.com |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Posted 4 Jul 2007 8:17 am
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Don sure got a sweet tone out of that Sho-Bud. He played a arppegio run and sounded like E6 to me with G# on top,on one neck. He also did have the Pedal E to A on there, like on E9 guitars....al..
_________________
Michigan (MSGC)Christmas Dinner and Jam on my 80th Birthday.
My Email.. almarcus@cmedic.net
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus |
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Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 4 Jul 2007 8:45 am
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| Yup, the more I watch it the more I think he is playing in an E9 with a G# on top, but he makes it sound as if he is not using pedals. And he does not always choose the easy positions to play some of it, but he chooses the positions that SOUND best. What a great feel Don has. |
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