Shown below is a chart depicting Roy's tuning, the gages of his strings, and how the pedals, knee levers, and lock lever are set up to affect the pitches of the strings.
(The term used by steel guitarists to describe the setup of the steel guitar is "Copedent".)
Roy Ayres' Excel Superb S10 with
E 6/9 tuning shown as Mode 1
6 pedals, 5 knee levers, 1 lock-in lever
A6 tuning shown as Mode 2
P
E
D
A
L
S
Knee
Levers
LockLever
String #
String Gage
Mode 1
Mode 2
1
2
3
4
5
6
LKL
LKV
LKR
RKL
RKR
1
0.14p
E
E
-1 (D#)
2
0.18p
B
C#
+2 (C#)
+3(D)
-1(C}
+3 (D)
+ 1 (C)
+2 (C#)
3
0.22p
G#
A
+1 (A)
-1(G)
+3 (B)
+1[A]
4
0.26w
F#
F#
+2 (G#)
5
0.30w
E
E
-1 (D#)
-1 (D#)
6
0.34w
C#
C#
-1(C)
+1 (D)
7
0.38w
B
C#
+2 (C#)
+2 (C#)
8
.0.42w
G#
A
+1 (A)
-1(G)
+1 (A)
9
0.46w
F#
E
-2 [E]
10
0.52w
E
D
-2 [D]
Blue notes used with Mode 1
Note: + and - indicate half tones up or down, and all changes are referenced to Mode 1.
Red notes used with Mode 2.
(Example: Pedal 6, string 3 raises the pitch 3 half tones above the G#, not the A.)
Errata: Pedal 5 String 6 was shown in error as Pedal 5 String 5 and was corrected on 04/18/2008 Last revised 01/07/2009 -- Lock-lever pulls added to strings 9 and 10
Steel guitarists will notice right away that Roy does not have the usual three chromatic strings on his steel guitar. His open tuning (i.e. with no pedals or levers engaged) is E6/9. This is similar to strings 4 through 10 on the common E9-chromatic tuning.
With the lock lever engaged, the tuning is changed to A6, and is essentially the same as the common C6 tuning used by most of today's steel guitarists. When in the A6 mode, his pedals 4, 5 and 6 are essentially the same as pedals 5, 6 and 7 on the modern C6 tuning. Thus, he can make many of the usual C6 changes when in the A6 mode.
Steel Guitarist formerly with Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys