C6 - choosing only 2 knee levers

[Mike Preuss]

If your C6 pedal steel guitar had only 2 knee levers, what changes would you put on them? And why?

[Mike Drassler]

3rd string lower, 4th string raise is pretty standard and hard to live without once you have them

If the knees are shared on RK:
- 3rd string lower, C to B, RKL
- 4th string raise, A to Bb, RKR

Long story short, lowering the third gives you a multitude of common voicings and phrases that may be familiar to most E9 players. For example 5,3L,1 with the D on top is a root position G major triad, and playing 543L312 is the G major scale up to 6. Lowering this is essential for many C6 players

Raising the 4th string gives a dominant 7 chord in “root position”, and also pairs nicely with the 5+6 pedals for a root position minor7flat5 chord, for example.

Adding the two center knees to C6 opens up even more possibilities, but two is plenty! I don’t think Herbie Wallace ever used more than 2 on his records, and look what he did

[Ian Rae]

If I had only two I would add a third.
I need to lower 4 to get 7b5 chords with P5

[Dale Rottacker]

I agree with Mike, (he doesn't need my endorsement) That 3rd string lower is used all the time, as is the raising of the A's to A#/Bb ... And what Ian says (again, doesn't need my approval) about lowering the A's to Ab if you can have a 3rd knee.

You'll use the 3L all the time either by itself or in conjunction with the 5 or 6 pedal or both.
The A's-Bb is probably my 2nd most used lever, again either by itself for the Dom7 or with the 6th pedal for m7 or 56 pedal for m7b5 ... disclaimer: I shouldn't even mention theory stuff cause I only mainly know that I like how it sounds when I use them how I use them. I'm not always aware what on earth I created.
And like Ian said IF you can have a third, for me it would be A-Ab which I also use all the time with about any combination of individual 5th 6th pedals or both. I'd have to rethink a lot of things if I didn't have those 3 used all the time levers. I have 5, but could survive without the other 2.

[Mike Preuss]

Thank you for the insights! I am building a D10, but have never played C6. I am looking forward to wading into PSGs other ocean.

[Daniel Morris]

Mike, you probably know that the old C6 copedent was 5 pedals and 1 knee lever.
I've never played a D10; strictly U12. When I freed up a knee lever, and wanted to use it for B6 mode, Doug Jernigan said the best choices would be to raise or lower my 6th string - your 4th - a half step. (Since I prefer the concept of 'one big tuning', I try to avoid thinking too much about E9 mode or B6 mode.) Either would be good.

[Dave Grafe]

Bruce Zumsteg's standard 8+5 rodding chart shows RKL lowering 3 C>B and RKR raising 4 A>A# just like the guys said.