Brad's Page of Steel

Hi there, This is an answer to an old post so you might already know how to set up a Fender steel. I've got a 1000 double 8 which has a great tone but is a big beast to cart around, which must make a double 10 even worse. I think they sound cleaner and have a more colourful tone than short scale instruments, but are difficult to keep in tune and a bit sloppy to play. I like the organic feel of cable guitars and find they have a lot more soul than say, an all-pull Emmons.
You can change the pedal setup easily on a Fender by shifting the cables about and adjust the tuning by turning the screws in the recess at the right hand end of the guitar when you have the pedal down. turn your guitar upside down to see whats going on!! It's a good idea to disassemble the instrument and clean it up every now and again and keep it well lubricated.
My steel has 8 pedals and 6 knees which I added. My knees are self designed and a bit mad but work quite well with the benefit of teaching you how the guitar works both mechanically and musically. My guitar is set up like an Emmons often is and has from left to right: the first 3 pedals work the front(E9) neck tuned E, F#, G# B, E, G#,D#,F#. The A pedal raises B to C#, B pedal raises G# strings to A and C pedal raises B to C# and E to F# The other 5 work the Back C9 neck which is tuned F,A,C, E, G,A,C,E and go, A pedal: A's to B's = C major7th. B pedal: Low E to Eb= D9th. C pedal: G# to G, High E to F = F9th. D pedal: High A to B, High C to D = C major 9th. E pedal" low A to Bb = C7 #9. This set up allows you to use adjacent pedals together e.g. D9 and F9 = Eb diminished With more pedals and strings you could do more but that would mean taking your foot off the volume pedal and using two feet on the pedals, which is what players did in the old days. Putting knees on will help you get more of the sounds you've heard since the beginning of the 60's. That being said, you can do a lot with just the A and B pedals on The E9th. and no pedals at all on the C6th. A lot of steel players think they need a lot of changes so it's all got a bit silly unless you're a rocket scientist and nobody fires you for playing too many damn notes!! The pedals on the C6 correspond to tunings often used on non-pedal steels and you can easily get a lot of chords with forward and reverse bar slants. My Knees are cable operated because I didn't know any better at the time. They do the trick as I put in two stages of leverage for the lowered notes as Fender steels need a lot more travel on the lowered notes. If I was you, I'd get a couple of your pedals to give you more changes on the E9th. neck, or put on some Knee levers. My inside Knees work both necks. I have probably put more Knees on than anybody else. E9: Left and inside left : E's to F and Eb, Inside Right: F#'s to G, Outside right D# to D. C6: Left Knee left A's to Ab Left Knee right A's to Bb Right left high C to B Outside right C's to C# , but that's because I'm crazy and wanted to do it to see if I could. I found better designs than mine after the fact on an American Fender Steel site but mine work very well anyway and are probably lighter, Weight being an issue already. I hope this has helped. It's always good for me to go through the tunings so any more info I can give you is alright by me. I'm in Melbourne but I'm a Kiwi and do some gigs for fun and a bit of profit which is an interesting change from teaching and playing the Bass. Cheers, Rob