Quad Stringmaster Tuning Question - BR549

Gabriel Aaron Wynne · From: Johnson Valley, CA

I have a bass neck on my quad (that is, I have large holes in the tuning barrels, and a large string nut) and wondered what this is tuned to, and what role a bass steel would even play in practical application.

As of now, I have the necks tuned to E13, A6, E7, and C6. . . I can already tell that I'm probably not going to like the E7. Does anyone actually use this tuning? Can anyone point to any recording it's used on? Does anyone use any other 8 string tuning that's interesting and practical? Otherwise, I'm going to saw off my 4th neck and sell it for parts . . . just kidding.

Does anyone know what the tuning the cat from BR549 uses? It doesn't sound like a typical 6th tuning.

I've been playing pedal steel, and the addition of non-pedal is just plain fun. I love the fact that I can stand up and tap my toe. I've been working out some old Hank Sr. songs note for note, but I know that the western swing picking style of note playing will be much more challenging. Does anyone know where you can get some material on single note runs/solos and techniques? If anyone can help in these areas, I'd appreciate your knowledge.

Finally, why do they call it E13, when it's basically set up like a 6th tuning with a 7b on the 7th string?

Shalom

Mike Neer · From: NJ

When a chord has a seventh in it (E-1, G#-3, B-5, D-b7, or D#-7), all other chord tones are extensions of that chord. Would be the same for a 9th (F# in the key of E) or an 11th (A in the key of E). So, while it's true that the C# is the sixth degree of the E maj scale, being that there is already a 7th in the chord, it becomes E13.

Ron Randall · From: Dallas, Texas, USA

Hi neighbor. You lucky dog. A Quad.
I play a couple of T8's in addition to a SU12.
To answer your questions, I don't know about using the bass strings in a modern band, but there is plenty old style western swing still around.
There are several versions of the E13. There is Leon McAuliff's, Don Helms, and several others, like Tom Morrell's 10 string version. I like Leon's E13 the best for swing.

E7 can be E6 with the twist of one tuner. For that Don Helm's Hank Sr. sound I like Mr. Helm's high notes (hi G# E C# B G# E * * lo)*=your choice.

Here's one that I love. It is a C6 with an added 7 (not 7b) and an added 9.
(hi D B G E C A G C) The D is tuned one step higher than C. The B is tuned one/half step below C. This tuning has the V chord stacked on top of the I chord. There are a bunch of chords under the bar, and the 4 chord is two frets back.

Hope this helps. Ron

Jerry Erickson · From: Atlanta,IL 61723

Gabriel,
A friend and Forum member Bob Watson saw BR549 when they came thru the Champaign,IL area. Bob met the steel player when he lived in Nashville a few years ago. Bob told me that he was using a C6/A7 tuning that had a C and C# note on adjacent strings. Could be:
C-C#-E-G-A-C-E-G or
A-C-C#-E-G-A-C-E

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

On my T-8 Stringmaster it has a neck with the large holes for bass strings. In my "youth" I used to play with some accordian players. We didn't have a bass player so I put 4 bass strings on the neck I didn't use that much and contributed some bass work to their playing. For a left-handed Norwegian I didn't think it sounded that bad.

Erv

Chris Scruggs · From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Presently, Don Herron plays a Rickenbacker Jerry Byrd Model S-8, and uses C6/A7 like this:

E
C
A
G
E
C#
A
A(bass)

This is the same tuning as Kayton Roberts. Sometimes he flattens the fourth string to F#. How do I know this? I showed him(Donnie, not Kayton).

For most of Donnie's steel playing career, his triple neck Fender tunings have been:

E13(his main tuning)

G#
E
C#
B
G#
E
D
E

When you say,"It doesn't sound like a 6th tuning he's using", that's because he has a low E string, and he plays the low six strings as an E7 alot of the time.

A6:

E
C#
A
F#
E
C#
A
F#

and E13/9(sometimes tuned down one step to D)

E
C#
B
G#
F#
D
B
E

Try this one on for size instead of your E7. You still get your E7, but you also get some easy to find Jazz chords, too(it's good for hot western swing playing).

Chris Scruggs

[This message was edited by Chris Scruggs on 12 September 2004 at 02:03 PM.]

John Bechtel · From: Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.

If I had a Quad, I'd probably tune like this:
#4 – E–D–F#–G#–B–C#–E–G# = E9/13
#3 – (E/F#/G)–A–C#–E–F#–A–C#–E = A6
#2 – C–E–F–G–A–B–C–E = C-Diatonic
#1 – Lo-A–C–C#–E–G–A–C–E = C6/A7
With only (3)-necks, I don't currently use the A6 tuning.

------------------
“Big John” Bechtel
(2)-Fender ’49–’50 T–8 Customs
Fender ’65 Reissue Twin-Reverb Custom™ 15”
click here
click here click here click here

Andy Zynda · From: Wisconsin

Chris!!!
Thank you so much!
I've been trying to decode the tunings that I hear Donnie playing, without success.
Cant wait to re-string the T8!!
(BTW, you guys are such a breath of fresh air in this same old, same old, world of today's music. Cant wait for the next BR549 Album)
-andy-

Andy Zynda · From: Wisconsin

..I dont suppose you could post the gauges that he uses for these tunings?
Thanks again,
-andy-

Gabriel Aaron Wynne · From: Johnson Valley, CA

Yes, Thank you Chris and to everyone that has posted. Andy - please check out http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/learning/gauges.html for your string gauges. Thanks to Ron for sending me the link originally. Now that we have our gauges and tunings, here comes the hard part. . . learning to play.

------------------
aaron

Chris Scruggs · From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Andy,

Donnies string gauges are whatever he has laying around!

For E6 on a 22.5" Guitar, I "tell" Donnie to use:

G#.011
E .015
C#.018
B .020
G#.024w
E .030w
D .034w
E .056w

For A6:

E .015
C#.018
A .022
F#.026w
E .030w
C#.034w
A .042w
F#.054w

and for D13/9, he started tuning it up to E13/9, and for that I would reccomend:

E. 015
C#.018
B .020
G#.024w
F#.o26w
D .034w
B .038w
E .056w

For the single neck C6/A7 tuning he presently uses, I reccomend:

E. 015
C. 018
A. 022
G. 024w
E. 030w
C#.034w
A. 042w
A. 068w

But he never changes his strings. If a .030w breaks, he doesn't mind using s .028w, or a .034w. And he leave that on there until it breaks to. For example, his triple neck Fender was stolen a few months ago. He hadn't changed strings on it in over THREE years. His comment was,"Damn, and I was just about to change strings on that thing!".

Donnie is a great player, in a Luther Perkins "savant" kind of way. He had been playing steel for one month when he joined BR549. He has never been formally trained at the steel guitar, and trully, he is a fiddler(the best swing fiddler I have ever heard live). But that is why nobody else sounds like him. He is an original. He doesn't think string gauges or anything like that. He is simply a musical soul that is just feeling it, and I have learned a few things from him, by learning to just go out on a limb, and try whatever comes to mind. He also plays great clawhammer banjo, and mandolin.

CS

Andy Zynda · From: Wisconsin

And that's why I like his playing so much. He boldly goes... and makes it work!
Thanks again,
-andy-

Dan Tyack · From: Olympia, WA USA

Check out the Sacred Steel 8 string tunings (b0b has them here on the forum). In the Campbell Brothers until last year, the steel players traded off on bass parts. I believe the basic 8 string (bass friendly) tuning is something like:

from high to low

E
D
B
G#
E
B
E
B

I don't know from squat for BR549, but this tuning will get you in serious trouble for rock and roll and blues. Hint, the low B string gives you the root at the 5th fret.

------------------
www.tyack.com

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