Help Needed with Fender 400 Setup

[Blake Balusek]

I recently bought a Fender 400 8-string with 4 pedals & no knee levers. I’m an absolute beginner when it comes to pedal steel, so I was wondering how I should set it up tuning and pedal wise. I’m thinking either B6 Sneaky Pete-style or some modification of E9.

I’m not sure how I’d condense Sneaky Pete’s 9 pedal and 2 knee lever setup to 4 pedals. Did he have a simpler setup before he presumably modified his Fender 400? Also, Is there any tablature of Sneaky on The Gilded Palace of Sin?

When it comes to E9 I need some help too. I’m guessing just drop the bottom 2 chromatic strings. Is there a good E9 copedent with 4 pedals and no levers?

I wouldn’t be opposed to C6 either. I’d just need a good repository of tablature.

Thank you,
Blake Balusek

[Tim Toberer]

I am sure your answers can be found in old posts, but it will take some digging. I remember someone else with this exact question. That said I am sure you will get some advice, but in the end just follow your instincts. If you are good at figuring stuff out by ear without teaching aids. Go for the B6. I think it is an underutilized tuning with some serious advantages over an 8 string E9. Plus you can find those sneaky Pete licks if that is what you really want. The neat thing about these guitars from what I understand is how easy it is to change the tuning compared to modern guitars.

If you are really adventurous or just want some inspiration check out Basil Henriques tuning. You would need to add pedals for this one and it is more of a Jazz approach, but it is designed with standard guitar players in mind.
http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets ... Tuning.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkDppor1hpA

[Blake Balusek]

I am sure your answers can be found in old posts, but it will take some digging. I remember someone else with this exact question. That said I am sure you will get some advice, but in the end just follow your instincts. If you are good at figuring stuff out by ear without teaching aids. Go for the B6. I think it is an underutilized tuning with some serious advantages over an 8 string E9. Plus you can find those sneaky Pete licks if that is what you really want. The neat thing about these guitars from what I understand is how easy it is to change the tuning compared to modern guitars.

If you are really adventurous or just want some inspiration check out Basil Henriques tuning. You would need to add pedals for this one and it is more of a Jazz approach, but it is designed with standard guitar players in mind.
http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets ... Tuning.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkDppor1hpA

Thank you. I should’ve looked harder. I didn’t find anyone with my exact questions. Mostly regarding the pedals. I’ll try out B6 I think. I think I’d be in over my head with that A7 copedent, but thank you for sharing. Maybe I’ll come back to it when I’m more experienced.

[Mark Perrodin]

Blake,
the Fender 400 is a great guitar and you'll have a lot of fun with it. i used to own a long scale 400 set up to B6 with 9 pedals. it's a great tuning. i think if you added a pedal to get pedals 1,2,3,7&8 you would have all of changes you'd need. as an alternative, is your guitar a short scale or long scale? if you tuned your guitar to the bottom 8 notes of D9 (long scale) or E9 (short scale) you can tune pedal 1 to be your F lever change, pedal 2 would be your A pedal, pedal 3 would be your B pedal and pedal 4 would lower your root notes a half step. there is a ton of music in those changes. good luck and learn how to work on your guitar yourself. they are fascinating machines.
mark

[K Maul]

If you are mechanically inclined at all you can find enough parts in any hardware store to add knee levers to a Fender 400. Check out the Fender pedal steel Facebook page. There’s a ton of essential info on there. For Pete’s B6 his pedals 1,2,3&7 would be most useful, I think. He played with both feet a lot of the time and relied on touch and his guitar volume knob - rarely using his volume pedal..

[Tim Toberer]

I am sure your answers can be found in old posts, but it will take some digging. I remember someone else with this exact question. That said I am sure you will get some advice, but in the end just follow your instincts. If you are good at figuring stuff out by ear without teaching aids. Go for the B6. I think it is an underutilized tuning with some serious advantages over an 8 string E9. Plus you can find those sneaky Pete licks if that is what you really want. The neat thing about these guitars from what I understand is how easy it is to change the tuning compared to modern guitars.

If you are really adventurous or just want some inspiration check out Basil Henriques tuning. You would need to add pedals for this one and it is more of a Jazz approach, but it is designed with standard guitar players in mind.
http://www.waikiki-islanders.com/assets ... Tuning.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkDppor1hpA

Thank you. I should’ve looked harder. I didn’t find anyone with my exact questions. Mostly regarding the pedals. I’ll try out B6 I think. I think I’d be in over my head with that A7 copedent, but thank you for sharing. Maybe I’ll come back to it when I’m more experienced.

Feel free to ask any questions you have. Pretty much everything has been talked about before and I love going deep into the archives, but this forum will thrive with new people. I like to share the A7 copedant, because it just shows ho many different approaches you can take. This instrument is very organic and the Fender guitar will allow you to experience that.

[Donny Hinson]

I would start out with the standard E9th tuning, or D9th (if you have a long-scale 400), since this tuning has been the staple of the instrument for over 50 years. Set it up for strings 1 through 8 of the standard tuning, as you really need to grasp the genius of the re-entrant tuning. (Those two "chromatic" strings on top add a lot to the tuning.) You'll want to have the regular A, B, & C pedals, and the fourth pedal would be open to try different possibilities. Forget the 8 or 9 pedal setups of Basil or Sneaky Pete for the time being, as you are new to the instrument, and you want to spend time learning the basics of playing and the tuning, and not anguishing over what you don't have. Down the road, you can add a lever or two and there will be enough to keep you busy for years. But have fun now as there's a ton of music in there with what you already have!

[Bob Carlucci]

I would agree with Donny for the most part, except to say I would stick with D9 and not use the E9 on either long or short scale fender .. same thing except for less tension on the strings really, and a bit more range in the bass.. Standard Emmons tuning , strings 1-8 same as any modern steel, except all strings would be a full tone lower. Pedal 4 would drop strings 4 and 8 a half tone, and you would have basic "modern" copedent that contains 90 %[or more] of what you hear every day when listening to recorded pedal steel. Sneaky pete's B6 sounded as country as anyone when he wanted to, but he had a lot more bass range, and some unusual sounds that were his own.. That might be something to look at at some point as well, but I would start with the standard Emmons set up and see how it works for you... bob

[Scott Swartz]

Here is my writeup on adding levers to a 400 including some discussion on leverage and return springs to get the levers to feel as precise as on a modern steel

viewtopic.php?t=235353

[Blake Balusek]

Thank you everyone for your advice!

My guitar is a long scale. Mark, Donny, & Bob, thank you. I think I'll tune to D9 & follow Mark's idea for a pedal setup with either the 1st or 4th pedal working as the lever. I'll move onto B6 when I feel comfortable with the instrument I believe.

Kevin & Scott thank you for the information of adding pedals/lever. I'll eventually add those things when I feel limited by the instrument. As of right now, I think where I'm is a good starting point.