A ZB E6/9th guitar

[mac639]

Posting this thread might not be such a great idea....but here goes anyway.
I just sold yesterday my last MK SD10 birdseye guitar. Now I've just got my own one to play on. I've been really intrigued by Zane Kings E6/9 tuning on both 10 and 12 string guitars. I retuned and fiddled around with that setup on my guitar for a couple of days awhile ago. Sure seems to be the best of all worlds after you get on to it. I'm going to be starting another 12 string keyless perhaps next week or so. It'll likely be 4 pedals and 5 levers guitar. Here's my question. Apart from having a guitar to try this setup out on, do you think that I'd ever be able to sell an instrument like that, or is it too foreign to be marketable. Seems like a lot of folk have been interested in this setup but maybe not enough to fork out a couple of grand for one. Not to be afraid, any opinions?
Cheers,
Mac

[Bill Ladd]

Well, seems to me that it'd simply be a 12-string steel. 4 & 5 is fairly common. You could offer buyer's choice of setup -- Universal 12, Extended E9, E6/9, etc -- if you ever decide to sell.

[azureskys]

Mac , one thing to rememberis nothing ventured nothing gained, there is all kinds of people wanting to get into pedel steel and they all want something different , Id say go for it . Russ

[Bent]

Mac, you'd be getting in on the ground floor. I know nothing about Zane's tuning but a lot of people do and all are very interested in it.
If anyone can pull it off, you can.
I agree with Russ. Go for it Mac!

[Allan]

Hello Mac, are you talking about a guitar that you actually intend to offer for sale or is this an 'if I decide to sell it later' build? If it is a 'build to sell' instrument you could probably sell it before you get to the stage where you make the final decision. Even the larger builders look for a commitment and a deposit before starting the specifics of a build.
Another way to look at it is that, if you offer it for sale later, then the price you get will depend on whether someone is looking for that particular configuration at the time. From that aspect, the more standard the better.
Over all though, if you have a cross rod for each pedal and lever and all of the changer fingers are there then you could probably rod it any way that you wanted I think. Just so long as the stops are adjustable I don't see any limits to what you could do when you get to that stage.
However you decide to proceed finally, I know you will come up with a guitar to be proud of. I would certainly be sitting pretty if I were behind one of your creations.

Regards, Allan.....

[mac639]

Thanks guys for the kind words and the valuable opinions. I realize that a regular 12 string steel with 4/5 could be rodded pretty much any way you want if you've got all the bits & pieces on it to do that. My thought was to build it and set it up as an E6/9 with the pedals and levers actuating the right strings in the way needed for that tuning. And of course without the chromatics on the top the string guages change quite a bit for this tuning. I guess my dilema was would it make sense to offer a guitar for sale tuned this way to the general pedal steel public. Of course if I get it built and really like it tuned this way maybe I'd keep it.....who knows! Trouble with this scenario is that I would still have to rely on my regular one for gigs for a long time. Can't even think about this for awhile anyway....we've (Knowles Family Band) got a show to do next Saturday where there's going to be 8000 - 10000 folks at it. Practice..practice..practice right now
Cheers,
Mac

[Bill Ladd]

Heck, you'll be able to change that copedant in no time at all. Maybe Zane King's ideas'll take root and become the new standard. Then you won't have to lift a finger!

Reading his ideas next door have me wondering if I want to re-engineer the changer and keyless head I'm working on.

'Course then I have this cherry JCH neck I'd have to figure out how to widen...

Hmmm...

Have a good show, by the way!