"Ask Bud!"

Question:

Why do my strings, which are not being raised or lowered, go slightly flat or out of tune when I push my pedals down?

Answer:

What you are experiencing is physical detuning. Physical detuning occurs when pedals are used. Detuning is due to the added pressure applied to the body by the strings and pedal stops on the front rail.

All pedal steel guitars are susceptible to this to some degree, some more than others.

Notice that this is more noticeable with the pedals in the middle of the guitar. That is, pedals 5 and 6 will detune your E9 neck worse than pedals 1 and 2.

On double neck models, you will also find that the bottom neck does not detune as much as the top neck. The reason for this is that the pressure is not uniformly transferred to the bottom neck. On single neck models, the pressure is transferred to the whole neck and the detuning is about as noticeable as it is with the top neck on a double body.

Back to Introduction to "Ask Bud!"

Back to Carter Steel Guitars' Home Page

We welcome your feedback about our Site via Email at psgbuilder@steelguitar.com