Without pedals to change the pitch of individual strings, a non-pedal player gets different chords by moving the bar, slanting it, and choosing which strings to pick. The tuning decides what's easy, so players choose it by style:
- C6 is the most versatile and the usual starting point. It's the classic Hawaiian and swing tuning.
- A6 is associated with Western swing.
- E13 is a bright, hard-edged country tuning.
- E7 is a straightforward major-based tuning used in Hawaiian and country playing, and it adapts to several alternate setups.
- Open G and open D are common on lap steels and resonators, especially in blues and roots music.
Our Scotty's non-pedal and lap steel sets were developed with the late DeWitt "Scotty" Scott and are gauged for C6, A6, E13 and E7, each in 6-string and 8-string versions. Every wound string is a Silencer semi-flat, so the bar slides quietly.