Wheeler 14 string pedal steel

[azureskys]

Does anyone know anything about wheeler steels?
I bought a wheeler 14 string pedal steel off ebay ,4 pedals and 4 knees, super heavy guitar all aluminum and stainless steel, its built like a tank , its not tuned however I got some papers with it and one paper says the tuning is as follows from high to low f g e d b g e d b g e d b and a low string as g, that's 14 in all , I have no idea what the pedals do or knee s do According to this paper the first pedal raises g s to an a ,second pedal raises the e to f, third pedal lowers b to b flat 4th pedal lowers d to d flat or c sharp , 1st knee raises the 9th string, second knee lowers the 6th string, third knee lowers the 5th string,4th knee raises the 8th string , they all raise and lower more than one string I think they all raise or lower three strings , getting a head ache here , any help anyone???? , the guitar looks a lot like a sierra, has grover keys on it a real interesting guitar , ill get some pic s if anyone want to see and comment.Come to think of it might be a g tuneing?hummmm, Im looking at the rollers and they about 5/8 really large rollers, they are all gauged from what I can see here, the pickup is single coil realy huge sounding nice and bright sound. Anyone got any ideas about this thing or know anything about it? Russ

[Jif]

Here's a few links which have some info on the SGF. Bit old but informative.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

[azureskys]

Jif thank you for the reply .
ive already read those post on the steel forum about lee wheeler making the steel ,seems from what I read that he worked with the siera guys and that he designed the changer that they used in their guitars, I guess its a big controversy , I got a lot of papers with the guitar with lee s HAND WRITTEN NOTES, THESE CAME WITH THE GUITAR sales brochures etc etc lessons and other stuff , from what ive seen on this guitar this guy was a very good machinist, im guessing it was made in the late 70 s, this was made before cnc machining was in vogue anyway im not sure as to how to tune it , if I didn't know better id say it was a siera but it isn't .This thing belongs in a museum if ya ask me .Wish someone knew something about it that's all .Thanks again for the reply Jif. Russ

[Jif]

Cool. Thought you had probably already read the thread but ya never know

[Dave-M]

AzureSkys ... this may be your copedent.

I like to use numerics, since they are the same for every key. This cuts the learning curve to 1/12th the time!

You could reconfigure this for a G6th (same pulls as C6, but different gauges),
and leave the dominant 7th on top.

Code: Select all

14-STRING G13TH PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
------------------------------------------------------------  
|STRG|| O || O  || K1 | K2 || P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 || K3 | K4 |
------------------------------------------------------------     
| 01 || F || 7b ||    |    ||    |    |    |    ||    |    |
| 02 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |
| 03 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |
| 04 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |    |
| 05 || B || 3  ||    |    ||    |    | 3b |    || 2? |    |
| 06 || G || 1  ||    | 7  || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |
| 07 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |
| 08 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |5#/6?
| 09 || B || 3  || 4  |    ||    |    | 3b |    ||    |    |
| 10 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |
| 11 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |
| 12 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |    |
| 13 || B || 3  ||    |    ||    |    | 3b |    ||    |    |
| 14 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |
------------------------------------------------------------  

[Paul Lafountaine]

Hi Russ,

I sure would like to see some pictures of this, both top and bottom. Seems you are going to have to learn how to play all over again, but I know you are up to the challenge.

Paul

[azureskys]

Thank you both Dave and Paul, what gauges would you use on this guitar ? Ill get some pic s, I put the guitar back in the case but im going to get it set backup in a few days The reason I got it was because of the unique or rareity of it , besides 14 strings, ha just think of the possibilities of it .this is the first one ive ever seen , the changer is something else again , very different than what you ll usually see on a pedal steel at least for me, anyway it just perked my enterest, I didn't give a whole lot for it either . thanks again Paul and Dave. Russ

[Dave-M]

Code: Select all

14-STRING G13TH PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
------------------------------------------------------------  
|STRG|| O || O  || K1 | K2 || P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 || K3 | K4 | high  GA
------------------------------------------------------------     
| 01 || F || 7b ||    |    ||    |    |    |    ||    |    |   F  .014
| 02 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |   A  .011/.0115
| 03 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |   F  .014 
| 04 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |    |   D  .017
| 05 || B || 3  ||    |    ||    |    | 3b |    || 2? |    |   B  .019  * WHAT NOTE IS K3?
| 06 || G || 1  ||    | 7  || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |   A  .020/.022
| 07 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |   F  .028
| 08 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |5#/6?   D# .032  E .030 * WHAT NOTE IS K4?
| 09 || B || 3  || 4  |    ||    |    | 3b |    ||    |    |   C  .038
| 10 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |   A  .042/.044
| 11 || E || 6  ||    |    ||    | 7b |    |    ||    |    |   F  .052/.054
| 12 || D || 5  ||    |    ||    |    |    | 5b ||    |    |   D  .060
| 13 || B || 3  ||    |    ||    |    | 3b |    ||    |    |   B  .066
| 14 || G || 1  ||    |    || 2  |    |    |    ||    |    |   G  OFF THE CHART ... TRY .076
------------------------------------------------------------  

MEASURE STRINGS WITH MICROMETER, OR VERNIER CALIPERS.
GAUGES ARE IN 1/1000 OF AN INCH.

B0B's gauges:

        PLAIN                    WOUND                    WOUND
 pitch  gauge             pitch  gauge             pitch  gauge       
---------------------    ---------------------    ---------------------
   A    .011 or .0115       A    .022w             G# Ab  .044 or .046
 G# Ab  .011              G# Ab  .024                G    .046
   G    .011 or .012        G    .024 or .026      F# Gb  .048 or .050
 F# Gb  .013              F# Gb  .026                F    .052 or .054
   F    .014                F    .028                E    .056 or .058
   E    .015                E    .030              D# Eb  .058
 D# Eb  .015 or .016      D# Eb  .032                D    .060
   D    .017                D    .034 or .036      C# Db  .062
 C# Db  .017 or .018      C# Db  .036                C    .064 or .066
   C    .018                C    .036 or .038        B    .066
   B    .019                B    .038              A# Bb  .068
 A# Bb  .020              A# Bb  .040 or .042        A    .070
   A    .020 or .022p       A    .042 or .044      G# Ab  .072 or .074

[azureskys]

I think your pretty much right on with this tuneing , I think one problem with this guitar is that it needs lubricated, if ya hit a pedal the string wont come back to pitch sometimes , ill keep at it however , time will tell lol