| Subject: | Re: [RESOGUIT-L] Tunings and re-tuning... | | Date: | Sunday, November 4, 2007 02:57:11 (+0000) | | From: | reso-man <reso-man @.......net>
|
Hi George,
Mandatory reso content? When I got too old to haul a double 10 steel guitar and
a heavy amp around, I started playing reso-guitar.....and here's the good
part......I'VE NEVER HAD SO MUCH PURE FUN IN MY LIFE!!!
Even "Poob" confesses to the occasional "egg slicer" tune.....right Howard?
I did something along the same idea as your Gibson Console dbl 8, George, with
an old Fender 1952 double 8. A lot of "home-built" instruments in the early days
were built as you pointed out. Back in those days, you "did what ya hadda
do".....O;-)
Back when this thread started, a new member to the list had a question on
different tunings, and if I remember right....(a rare thing these days).....I
jumped in with the thoughts that when you are playing an instrument that's tuned
in most cases, to a Major Key, the G tuning being the most common one for most of
us, then when you consider the steel bar, it's like playing with one
finger....(the bar). The little band I play with does a banjo tune called
Nashville Blues that's in....duh....I think D-min. (I hadda check an old set
list...arghhh!) Well I used to to nuts, trying to play a decent break on this
tune, till one day, I thought "hey, why not lower the second string a half tone?
REVELATION!!! Now on a guitar that's suddenly tuned to G-minor, it's relatively
easy to get a more than decent break, and the tune ends with a major chord, so
you just reach behind the bar with your third finger, and gently pull UP that
second string a half tone to put you back into a major chor
d. Been workin' for me!!! No way am I the first to do this, I think I heard
Josh do it on the same tune, I know I heard someone do it, and thought....."aha,
I gotta try that."
There's no hard and fast "rule" that a reso *has* to be tuned to G maj. The
great Mike Auldridge, was one of the first, to experiment with eight string
dobros, and ended up recording "Eight String Swing", which I have an autographed
copy on vinyl. Theres a date on the back of the album, 1982. Way to go Mike!
So regarding different tunings......whatever you feel works, is the way to go.
And if you suddenly find yourself regularly appearing on Grand Ol Opry.....by all
means......PLEASE.....feel free to share your discovery with the rest of
us......(grins.)
So George, if you haven't already got one, by all means, GET YOURSELF A
RESO.....and have at it. You've already found the best forum on-line, right
here!
Thank you Poobah,
Richie Chiasson
www.pinehillramblers.com
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "George Rout" <georout@cogeco.ca>
> While I recognize this is a reso forum, I also have a double neck guitar,
> but with a home made changer on the outside neck. The guitar is a circa
> 1948 Gibson Consol Grande double 8. Home made changers were quite popular
> after the first recording came out with a Pedal Steel Guitar tune, and it
> was Bud Isaacs "Slowly". I have never heard of the "Stringtone" commercial
> unit, but there is always someone out there with a good idea fitting the
> "supply" requirement. My outside neck is tuned to E7, and I have it preset
> to change to A (Major) when I depress the pedal, which raises up the 2n and
> 3rd strings, and when I let go of the pedal, it is spring returned to it's
> original position. It's a nifty item of axles, threaded rods, a yoke for
> the two strings, nuts & bolts and turnbuckles. There are two rods one each
> come up through the casting just before the strings, and each has a hold
> drilled for the string to through (also through a piece of nylon tubing).
> The rods push up when the pedal is depressed, and are limited to a
> particular travel set by two bolts which can be adjusted up against the
> bottom of the guitar. This whole mechanism was on the guitar when I bought
> it in 1953, and the work was perfomred by a machinest at Fairey Aviation in
> Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
> George
>
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