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Topic: C6th - How Do You Tune Ab/G#? |
Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 9 Aug 2004 9:33 pm |
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A question for the beatless C6th crowd:
How do you tune the lever that lowers your A a half step? Is it beatless to the E (very flat), or beatless to the C (very sharp).
Also, some people have G on top and raise it to G# on pedal 8. Same question: which string do you tune it beatless to?
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 Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6) |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 9 Aug 2004 9:51 pm
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| My A-flat lowered 5th string is not beatless with anything. But it sounds pretty good with C string. And it sounds bad with E string. I guess I wouold call it G# if it sounded good with E string. |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 9 Aug 2004 10:28 pm
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I tune the A to Ab lever as the flat 3rd tone in a F Minor chord. So I play the F triad of F;C;A and flatten the 3rd tone(A) and tune it beatless to the chord. I tune the G to G# as the 3rd tone in a E major chord...so I flat the C to B and B being the 5th tone and E as the root and G# now as my 3rd.
Ricky |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 9 Aug 2004 10:41 pm
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| I go with Rcky on this one |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 1:20 am
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my tuner has both notes..and they are both bad.. 
t |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 3:43 am
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| Flat up. 12-tone scales are never really in tune, so it's all just fudging anyway. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 1:30 pm
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With Ricky on this one.
Also, b0b did you mean to say raising first string to G# on the 5th pedal, instead of pedal 8?
In any case I tune this beatless with the E string.
In fact I tune most things on C6 beatless, except the F#'s (pedal 5) and the Eb note on pedal 6. I tune them pretty close to ET using the C's as the 440 reference.
But C6 is very finicky when you start to add combinations, especially on narrowly spaced chords. Since Buddy plays soooo much C6, I can easily see why he now tunes straight up.
I am confident he would say something like "While beats tend to be annoying, ain't nearly as annoying as when two sets of beatless intervals beat like crazy when they are combined" 
This has plagued me from day one.
carl |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 2:25 pm
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I meant pedal 8, Carl, but I see that a lot of people do it on pedal 5, too. I lower the high G to F# on pedal 5, out of ignorance, I suppose. It just makes more sense to me for the kind of music I play.
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 Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com
System Administrator |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 2:26 pm
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I'm not even sure how I should tune my A string !
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Bob
intonation help
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 3:42 pm
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Interesting that you lower your top G to F# with pedal 5.
When pedals were evolving ala BE and JD, that is exactly what the original C6 setup did. Later, they changed it to the now standard G to G# pull. In fact Pete Drake recorded a classic Halloween diddy called "The Spook", where he used that F# as he held pedals 5, 6 and 7 down using both feet.
He would then pick string 1 and 2 and rock off pedal 6 (lowering the F back to E) and then finish the beginning lick by picking strings 3 and 4. Then repeat the lick several times.
And it was kind of a spooky sound. Anyway, Gene O'neal and I were talking and he told me, "I can't figure out how Pete is doing that spook lick".
He was on stage tuning his guitar; and I was sitting at a table next to the stage, so I told him what to do using the above, using both feet. It just sounded in my head like that is what Pete was doing on the recording.
Whereupon Gene did it, and he exclaimed to Tommy Williams (fiddle player),
"Dang, carl knows more than I do about my guitar and he ain't ever even touched it!"
Only one difference, Gene could play that PSG and I couldn't. But at least it has served as my only claim to fame on a steel guitar in 60 yrs! 
Finally, when I ordered my U-12, I decided to lower that string (F# to F on a universal). I love it. I would never go back to raising it. While there are some goodies raising it, I find myself using the lower far more.
carl |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2004 8:58 pm
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Yes that's cool Carl and b0b; as I also lower the high G to F# on pedal 5. I raise the G to G# on the knee lever that I raise the A's to Bb...yeeehaaa.
Bob H. are you serious??? ha..> If so....Just tune it as the 3rd tone in the F chord....Or chime your 2nd string at the 12th fret and same octive chime the 4th string at the 7th fret and tune out the beats.
Ricky[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 10 August 2004 at 10:00 PM.] |
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