Tuning a Lap Steel

[jimk]

I've fooled around with slide guitar some, and with playing Dobro a little. So I was wondering how lap steels are tuned. I've heard of E tunings; presumably the strings are tuned thus EBEG#BE. And Dobros are usually tuned GBDGBD. Somewhere I saw a reference to a C6 tuning. What's that? Are either E or G tunings much used on lap steel?

I might like to own one, someday. So I'm rather curious.

JimK

[jingle_jangle]

Then Jim, old boy, you need Brad's Page of Steel:

http://www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html

Just about everything you need to know about steels with a great tuning page, too!

[jimk]

Thanks, Paul. What a goldmine! I see he mentioned Stacy Philips' G9 tuning. I really like that tuning for pedal steel effects. You can choke the 2nd string with your ring finger positioned behind the bar. Sounds really great on a song like "Careless Love." I'd like to try that on "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere."

JimK

[rickosound]

We just got back from MF with this:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=513453
This was discussed in a topic in The Others, where I mentioned the brand Morrell. Last Sunday we played two of them at MF and both had buzzing and shorts in the volume knob. So we went back today and got the Rogue, which is just as good if not better, for $210 less.
This is the tuning I have been using for all of my 25 minutes of steel guitar experience:
http://www.pedalsteelguitar.net/lapsteel.php
This tuning seems good, too, but I've yet to try it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz41D40ItzU

Matthew

[johnallg]

That's almost a stupid deal price. I have it bookmarked. I wonder what it would sound like with a toaster on it for the pickup?!

[rickosound]

I've now played the Rogue steel guitar for an entire 2 days, and I think it is a good purchase. For the most part, it stays in tune. For 80 bucks, you can't do better.
It sounds good with the tone knob turned up all the way, through the Janglebox - set on bright.
A toaster would probably sound good, but I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble of putting it in. You can't really see this in the MF pictures, but there is only about 1/4" of space between the pickup and strings, which I guess would mean you'd have to remove some of the metal plate on top to make room for the toaster.
By design, this sounds Hawaiian. Nothing wrong with that. Just like a guitar, it's not the instrument, it's how you learn to play it. Like other people, I'm trying to make the lap steel sound country. I'll tell you how that goes.

Matthew

P.S. Here's someone who can make it sound country. I think he's using C6 tuning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP7NkWU2JVM