Kayton Roberts Front Neck C Diatonic sound

[Jimmy Washington]

Im looking for advice or recordings of Kayton using the C diatonic sound on the front neck. The full chord voicings are built within the tuning, but it doesn't seem too friendly for double stops like a C diatonic is.

[Chris Scruggs]

Kayton’s outside neck was tuned to an F13/9 tuning:

F
D
A
F
G
Ed
C
F

This was a variation of E13 only tuned up half a step and with the two middle strings reversed to accommodate some particular bar slants. As an E tuning, it would appear like this:

E
C#
G#
E
F#
D
B
E

^^^ notice the middle E and F# are backwards! So the voicing of this tuning is:

1
6
3
1
9
d7
5
1

The “diatonic” type licks you are hearing are from when you play d7, 1, 9, 3, 6. On C diatonic, you hear this voicing on Jerry Byrd tunes like “Come A Little Closer,” where the tuning is, in certain passages, approached as a G13/9.

So, if I am correct in my understanding of your question, what you’re hearing is the voicing found in these strings:

Kayton’s F13/9 tuning:

F
D 6
A 3
F 1
G 9
Ed 7
C
F

C Diatonic’s G13/9 voicing:

E 6
C
B 3
A 9
G 1
F 7
E

[Michael Kiese]

Kayton’s outside neck was tuned to an F13/9 tuning:

F
D
A
F
G
Ed
C
F

^^^ [the F and G are backwards] so the voicing of this tuning is:

1
6
3
1
9
d7
5
1

Aloha Chris,

Thank you for your contributions to the forum. I've benefited a bunch thanks to your advice and insights from old comments years past.

In doing my own research on Kayton's tunings, there seems to be some major discrepancies. Perhaps as a subject matter expert on Kayton's playing, you would be kind enough to shed some light on the subject.

If you take a look at this YouTube link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnfPBYONn3c&t=521s, it shows Kayton's Tombstone with his tunings on it. Clearly, on the outside neck, his second string is notated as a C.

You stated above that it is a D. Furthermore, I contacted John Ely because his website https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/tunings/s ... ?link=1038 is inline with the second string being a D as well. John was adamant that it was a D, and he pointed me towards an old interview in which Kayton said it was a D.

Is it possible that Kayton's Tombstone has a typo (gasp!)? Or perhaps he went back and forth from a C and a D?

Thanks in advance.

[Nathan Laudenbach]

This is why this forum is so awesome!