r/pedalsteel

Hi!

I recently got a pedal steel, a marvelously well-loved Sierra U12 7x5 that plays like a dream. I'm new to the instrument, but Jim Palenscar set me up with exactly what I needed for a great price!

Now here's the thing, I'm a guitar teacher by trade, been teaching as my sole income since 1998. My teacher instincts kicked in as I started learning this beast and I quickly found myself describing and categorizing things in a way that wasn't particularly conducive to TAB. I'm not against TAB for this or any other instrument, it just wasn't representing my thoughts as well as it does for me while playing guitar or banjo.

So I came up with my own notation, I suppose. It's not radically different than anything anyone else has seen or used, but it just clicks nicely for my brain. Would anyone care to give it a try and see if it clicks for them? I'm not out to make a buck or change the world, but I figure if I like it maybe other people will!

I included screenshots of the website I created that makes composing/transcribing to this notation pretty straight-forward. It's a solid v0.5, haha. It works well enough for me, but I could be persuaded to add features if anyone cares.

The program can be found at:https://pickgoodness.com/psmm

I also included some screenshots of a solo transcribed for pedal steel using the notation. Note that my setup is the E9/B6 Universal, but the copedent chart can be specified and the app will use your setup to determine the notes (you type in which strings when and the mechanisms used and it calculates the notation for you).

Basically, the sheet music shows standard notation so I can always see what sound I'm supposed to expect. Between the slide position and the string numbers, I've basically covered what the TAB does, only in 6 lines of space instead of 12.

Here is how I broke down the mechanics:

• Standard Notation: Shows the expected sound.
• Strings & Slide: String numbers next to each note, with slide position below.
• Left Foot: Split into L and R (for the two halves of the foot doing leans or playing together).
• Knees: Split into L and R (because I think we only do one thing at a time with each knee?).
• Transitions: Rows can indicate slow, quick, or instant transitions on/off the mechanisms.

Anywho, sorry so long. If no one cares about this, that's okay, but feel free to comment with your thoughts, good or bad!

Hey guys, I saw a post recently discussing different pedals and their uses for steel. I’ve been playing electric guitar for around 30 years and got into pedal steel about 2 years ago. Over the years I’ve collected a decent number of pedals, and this is the setup I’ve landed on. I feel like it covers a lot of ground.

Most of my steel playing is studio-based rather than live, so I try to have different options available while recording. I use a snare stand to place the board to my right.

I play a short-scale Fender 400 (4x4). The board is a Boss BCB-1000, and I use a Lehle Volume 90 volume pedal.

Let me know your thoughts.

Hi,

I’ve been playing lap for a while now and want to get into pedal, but I can’t bring myself to spend $1000+ on something I can’t play. I saw this one on FB Marketplace and was wondering if anyone knows the brand/ can give me advice on if it seems like a good price. The listing doesn’t say that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just much cheaper than what I usually see so I’m curious what y’all think. Thanks.

After seeing how pricey they are, and I’m pretty handy myself. I decided to build my own. Mostly trial and error with aluminum and steel parts. The body will be padouk and the fretboard is walnut. All in all I’m about halfway done.

Found this at a car boot sale

I found this at a car boot sale today in the UK. I’m guessing it is an old DIY build maybe but I’m not sure. It has 8 strings and 2 pedals and is currently very out of tune so hard to say what it was tuned to or what the pedals should be doing. I’m hoping to do a bit of cleaning, tuning, and restoring but would love any tips on how to go about it, or info on what it is I’ve got here! I have an old ZB student model and play a tiny bit but don’t know much! Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!

(Pic mostly unrelated)

Can y’all think of any steel players or of PSG setups that sound more akin to overdriven slide guitar leads and less like a distorted pedal steel? I only own guitar amps and speakers, no dedicated PSG amps, but I haven’t found a nice, dynamic overdrive sound I love for steel yet, even with glass and or poly tonebars. Gentle break up I can approximate the feel of slide guitar but anything dirtier starts to collapse towards that Robert Randolph territory. I’m not a huge fan of that tone. It kinda sounds cheesy and over compressed to me lol.

Would it be as simple as finding and using a hollow glass bar?

I know our steel pick ups are wound way hotter. I’m curious about trying vintage guitar level output pickups(if they exist for 12 string). I believe Rich Hinman has a Sho-Pro with a custom jaguar style 10string PUP, but I’ve no idea how it sounds dirty :/

I’ve tried/own a truetone Emmons style single coil and the alumitone pickup.

Use an active Goodrich VP and often use a steel driver too.

Typically into a Fender BF bandmaster or MM HD130

Hi. I recently purchased a Guyatone Pedal Steel on Facebook Marketplace, where it was described as a student model. It has 8 strings, 3 pedals and no knee levers of any kind. I’m a complete steel newbie, but have played regular guitar for over 40 years.

I’ve been reading up on how to set this up for E9 tuning. I think I understand how to read a copedent diagram, but am unsure how I would set up the circumstance where the chart refers to one string that can be bent by 2 different pedals (for example the C#). Would I just add another locking collar and spring to the bar for the 2nd pedal? Or is there another way to do this? Wouldn’t doing that mean that the 2nd pedal would always bend both the strings that the 1st pedal bends too? Maybe this is the intent, but I’m not clear.

Hope someone wiser than me can advise, thanks in advance.