Tunings

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8 STRING TUNINGS

Fender Stringmaster T8 and Fender Custom
and Remington Steelmaster T8
and Gibson Console Grande T8
and Fender Stringmaster Quad

Back Neck:

E7	E13	Em9/E9	C#m7
E	E	E	E
B	C#	B	C#
G#	G#	G	G#
E	F#	F#	E
D	D	D	C#
B	B	B	B
G#	G#	G#	G#
E	E	E	E

Middle Neck:

A6	A6/F#7	A 13	C6/A7	C6/FM7	C#m7	B11	A9	AM9	E13
E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E
C#	C#	C#	C	C	C#	C#	C#	C#	C#
A	A	A	A	A	B	A	B	B	B
F#	F#	F#	G	G	G#	F#	G	G#	G#
E	E	E	E	E	E	D#	E	E	E
C#	C#	C#	C#	C	C#	B	C#	C#	D
A	A#	A	A	A	B	A	A	A	B
F# or E	F#	G	G	F	G#	F#	E	E	E

Front Neck:

hi C6	C13	E13	E6/AM7
G	G	G#	G#
E	E	E	E
C	C	C#	C#
A	A	B	B
G	G	G#	G#
E	E	E	E
C	C	D	C#
A	Bb	B	A

4th Neck of Quad :

JB Diatonic (with added low C)

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Retuning from A6 to C6/A7 and C6

Here are the gauges I prefer:

JB Diatonic	C - .036	E - .030	F - .028	G - .024	A - .022	B - .020	C - .018	E - .015
C6 -	A-.042	C-.036	E-.030	G-.024	A-.022	C-.018	E-.015	G-.012
A6	F# -.056	A-.042	C#-.034	E-.030	F#-.026	A-.022	C#-.018	E-.015
E7	E-.056	G#-.046	B-.038	D-.034	E-.030	G#-.022	B-.020	E-.015

I use Jagwire nickel wound strings - available from b0b on Steel Guitar Forum.

Fender Stringmaster D8

Front Neck - F#13
the one Herbie gave Speedy back when music was all real . .
Speedy said it was that tuning that got him his Capitol Records contract.
E
C#
G#
E
Bb
F#
D# (1/2 step below 1 st string)
F# (whole step above 1st string)

Back Neck - E13
E
C#
B
G#
F#
D
G#
E

Rickenbacker D8

Front Neck - Leavitt Tuning
D
C
Bb
G
E
Db
Eb
C

Back Neck - E6
G#
E
C#
B
G#
E
C#
B

Regal 8 & 7

Back Neck (8 string) - Leavitt tuning raised a whole step

from to

D	E
C	D
Bb	C
G	A
E	Gb
Db	Eb
Eb	F
C	D

Front Neck (7 string) - Jerry Byrd Diatonic tuning
E
C
B
A
G
F
E

I put the transposed Leavitt tuning on this one and the JB diatonic.
This diatonic tuning is great, it's kind of like playing a harp.
The 7 strings cover 1 octave, and there are some nice combinations and slants.

Roland Peachy T-7 Tunings
(Low to High)

D9	A7	E13
E	E	E
C	C#	C#
A	A	B
F#	G	G#
E	E	E
C	C#	C#
D	A	D

6 STRING TUNINGS

Fender Champion & McKinney #2

The Fender Champion was my first steel guitar - this is the tuning I first started with many years ago when I just wanted to transfer what I'd been doing on guitar with flaming bic and foaming bud:

G6	lo bass G	D	D11
E	D	D	D
B	B	A	A
G	G	F#	G
D	D	D	D
G	G	A	A
D	D	D	D

In the first tuning, the top 4 strings are the same as guitar tuning, and the bottom 4 give you a huge 5151 power chord.
You can get a minor chord on strings 1, 2 & 3 and a major chord on strings 2, 3 & 4 with a straight bar.
It's a good first tuning for a guitar player who gets his first steel and wants to take it to the gig that night.

Then it's a quick retune for the G and D tunings . . . . . . . . .

Dobro Squareneck Reso

& front neck of Supro D6

& Gibson BR9

G	G6
D	D
B	B
G	G
D	E
B	B
G	G

Basic Dobro Tuning aka high bass G

Fender Champ

A tuning

E
C#
A
E
C#
A

This is one of the first steel tunings, a nice basic tuning with lots of slant possibilities - a whole step up from "Dobro" tuning

Rickenbacker 6

& McKinney 6 & back neck of Supro D6