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Topic: PSG deep frets |
Bo Legg
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Posted 24 Aug 2009 7:02 pm |
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I've thought about this for years.
Something I call a Deep Fret PSG with muting tone bar.
You can have steel slide or fretted guitar sounds on the same instrument. You just move the muted side of the tone bar from fret to fret and mash down for a guitar sound and use the hard steel side of the tone bar for slide and don't mash down on frets for a regular PSG sound. You can mash the hard steel part of the tone bar down on the frets for a simulated slide and synth sound.
This is a drawing of the concept, not to scale nor representing a view of the finished product.
The beauty part of this is that it can be done simply by replacing the exsisting fret board and adding the muting tone bar to your collection of tone bars.
Or you can use your fingers to push down the strings and use a regular tone bar
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 24 Aug 2009 7:19 pm
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Use a bar while playing one of these and you have it  |
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Ulric Utsi-Åhlin
From:
Sweden
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Posted 24 Aug 2009 9:27 pm
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The advent of a new hybrid instrument,Bo...interes-
ting...REMINDS me of an observation I did early on ;
many of the six-string heroes doubling on slide
guitar were not playing actual slide,but simply used
the glass or metal slide for good ol´ FRETTED stops
...in overdrive settings it sounded rather convin-
cing,but it´s not really "slide"...anyway,Your idea
would provide the player w/ two basic sounds.McUtsi |
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Chris Lang
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Posted 25 Aug 2009 3:06 pm
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Well Bo, I think that it is a nice idea, but to actually fret the strings you would have to apply so much more pressure on the strings that you would end up sharping the notes........
Couple that with the hassle of fret buzz.........
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Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2009 5:12 pm
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| Doug Livingston has a pedal steel with frets - except he plays it with his fingers instead of trying to push it down with an impliment. More combinations that way also. |
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Bo Legg
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Posted 25 Aug 2009 6:00 pm
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Chris, your right about the pressure affecting the pitch; however that could be compensated for with fret spacing and a slight slant to the frets (closer together on the lowest string and further apart on the highest string) which is pretty much the way I slant the tone bar on E9 to make the lower strings sound more in tune when used in a chord. So the frets would be more accurate for me when playing regular PSG.
Of course this could be accomplished with an adjustable bridge but that would require more than changing the fret board. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 8 Sep 2009 7:16 pm
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Michael, does Doug use a bar and his fingers when playing the fretted steel? I was thinking of building a long scale non pedal with frets. I was watching a Sonny Landreth video and thought, "why not do this with lap steel?"
He pushes the strings behind the bar and away from the bar onto frets and he can lower one or two tones from his barred chord. On a lap steel you would have the option to fret in front of the bar as well, although it would require some real technique. Also maybe do some finger tapping on the fret board while sustaining a chord with the bar. Also you could tap a note in front of the bar and sustain it while moving the bar. If someone mastered that technique the would not have to use as many slants, or pedals even.
I'm going to call it "The Tap Steel" The pedal version will be called "The Toe Tapper." 
_________________
Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 8 Sep 2009 7:22 pm
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Here's a video that shows Sonny's technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxzk46iToo4
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 9 Sep 2009 1:17 am
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| Bo, I already have a slanted bridge/changer on my modified PSG, and reduced distance between strings and fretboard. Should make adding / playing on lifted frets a bit easier - might try it out one day. |
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2009 5:30 am
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| Doug's guitar for that is a double neck GFI- one of the necks is fretted and the other is a standard PSG. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2009 5:38 am
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Blackie Taylor has one like that too.
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2009 5:30 pm
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My GFI has a 12 string steel guitar neck and an 8 string fretted neck. Gene Fields used it as his personal guitar in the mid 1990s, so many of you probably saw Gene playing it at shows.
Before that, I had a guy make me a wide fret board that I stuck on my MSA and Sho-Bud steels. That was fun but the GFI has wider string spacing so it's much easier to play. However I can't play it because I can't find (make) time to practice. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2009 7:39 pm
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No way you can play a fretted neck of ANY kind in tune unless you use some manner of tempered tuning. With a bar, you can move a bit to get intonation. With a fixed fret, you cannot. You will have to do some serious calculations before you will ever get a fretted neck to work good on a steel. The distance between the string and the fret is critical. Too low and the bar will rattle against the strings and too high and you will push the string out of tune when you press down on it.
Interesting concept.
I have a 6 string fretted pedal steel that I made the body for and Jim Flynn installed the mechanics on that I have not finished tweaking out yet. Gosh I have had that thing for a couple of years and have not finished it. 8-( |
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