How to get full sound from both necks

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 26 Nov 2002 6:15 pm

On all of my 2x8 standard steels, with the neck selector switch in the mid position the sound is weaker on both necks than when switched to either individually. Is there an easy mod to get the fullest sound from both necks in mid pos.?

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Bob Knight · Post by **Bob Knight** » 26 Nov 2002 6:18 pm

WHY???

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 26 Nov 2002 6:42 pm

The sound is weaker because when you're running both pickups, you're putting the pickups in parallel, which only gives half the resistance.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 27 Nov 2002 8:17 am

Bob
In answer to your question "why," there are certain instances where I play both necks during a particular solo, and that requires some fancy foot switching. Having to flip a switch when going to the second neck is one more event that would slow me up. But it doesn't happen enough for me to worry about... I just give her a little more gas on the volume pedal.

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Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 27 Nov 2002 1:00 pm

Thank you Herb, and Jim! My pedal is down at the moment and besides, I don't always bother to set it up.

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Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 28 Nov 2002 9:57 pm

I'm with Herb on this. When I played D8 non pedal, I , as Herb says, had to keep both necks open for switching back and forth on the fly. And I did a lot of that, to get different chords, before pedals....al

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 29 Nov 2002 7:47 pm

An idea would be a small buffer/summing amp for each pickup.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 29 Nov 2002 8:40 pm

Yes, the volume is lower, but I find that the center position evens out the tone differences between the two necks of my Stringmaster. Otherwise, my back neck sometimes gets lost in the mix and the front neck is super bright. When I play with a large band, I leave the switch in the center position for that reason.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
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Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 30 Nov 2002 3:25 pm

Some interesting thots Gmen. Say bOb, care to chime in on 'why' from my recent question in No Peddlers? Thanx again!

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Lynn Kasdorf · Post by **Lynn Kasdorf** » 4 Dec 2002 8:46 am

I have the sam eproblem with my 3x8 fender custom, but more so! All 3 pickups in parallel gives a very thin sound.

Small buffer amps on each pickup would certainly alleviate this problem, but then my Fender passive tone/volume pedal would not work anymore (the tone control part, I mean). It relies on a signal impedance of 10 or 20k apparently because if I run the steel through my goodrich matchbox, the tone pedal no longer has any effect.

Or maybe I could whip up a buffer amp with a similar output impedance as a pickup...hmm

Of course, REAL non-pedal steel players use the tone knob rather than a tone pedal...

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 4 Dec 2002 9:24 am

Well, replace the ptos with 10k or 20k pots

I'm sure you can buy the 10 replacements from goodrich, or get similar allen bradley or whatever