Joe McHam's Keyless 12 String

BMI E9/B6 Universal Tuning

Joe "Mac" McHam is a steel player who lives in Houston, Texas. He sent me a chart of his very interesting "universal" 12 string tuning. Notice the heavy bass changes on Left Knee Left.

The BMI was made by the late Zane Beck. This guitar is probably the last keyless guitar that Zane made before he passed away. I owned the guitar from 1986 until 2000. It was a great little guitar. I now own a Kline S-12 with a similar setup on it.

            LKL    1    2    3    4    5    6   LKR   RKL  RKR  Vert 
1  .013 F# ______________________+G__________________________________
2  .015 D# ________________________________________________-C#_______
3  .010 G# ____________+A____________________________________________
4  .014 E  _+F______________+F#_______+E______________-Eb____________
5  .018 B  _______+C#_______+C#____________+C#__________________-A#__
6  .022 G# ____________+A__________________+A#__+A#__________________
7  .026 F# ______________________-F__________________________________
8  .030 E  ___________________________-D______________-Eb____________
9  .038 B  _+C____+C#______________________________________+D________
10 .046 G# ____________+A_______________________+A#__________________
11 .056 E  _-D#__________________+F________________________+F#_______
12 .068 B  _-G#__________________+C#_________________________________

The player typically shifts his foot position to work pedals 4 thru 6 when B6 tuning is played. The setup that I use is easy for me to play. The pedals are easy to reach as I have short legs. The BMI came with 7 pedals, but the 7th pedal was removed and placed on the LKR. This arrangement is as tricky as it seems...

I rarely used the 8th string being raised to F so I took it off and put the DO-WAH pedal on the LKL. You don't use string 4 with this pedal, or do you use the other strings with string 4. It may seem "odd-ball", but it works fine with me and you can use it with pedal 4, like you're suppose to.

I am Joe "Mac" McHam and I live in Houston, TX USA. I have been in Houston since August of 1994, after retiring from the US government. I retired with 32 years of federal service, of which 4 was in the Navy.

I have been playing pedal since 1967. I was able to take lessons from Julian Tharpe about a year. I use to drive from Sherman, TX to Dallas to get lessons once a month. I was able to tape the lessons and practice a lot. Played with local bands in the Sherman - Denison, Texas area. I played lead guitar for a few years until someone would let me play with them as a pedal steel player. I also played with some of the local groups around El Paso and Las Cruces, NM. I don't have any great claim to fame, but I've met a lot of musicians, and had a ton of fun trying to play pedal steel. I would recommend this most versatile instrument to anyone that wants a ton of challenge.

Currently, I am playing a BMI keyless that I've owned since 1986. I have a modified E9/B6th universal setup on it. The guitar is light weight, and plays really good.

I am married to the former "Joanie Breuer" of Shaker Heights, OH, and we have 5 beautiful grandchildren, Jaron 12, Christopher 11, and Kassandra 10, Chelsey 14, Brittany 18.

My other interest are flying, and "Ham" radio. I hold a Single Engine Land (SEL) Private Pilot license. My ham radio call is K5MAC.

Although I retired from federal service, I began a new career in Novell Network Administration. I am a Certified NetWare Administrator (CNA). I currently work for UT Health Science Center, Houston, Center For Health Promotion as their PC Specialist.

My email address is jmcham@houston.rr.com