How did Brumley use his copedent?

[John McClung]

Hey forumites, got really curious of late to have a better understanding of how Tom Brumley used some of his unique changes on his 4+7 11 string guitars.

Anyone have insights and examples to share with me?

Is some of that found in the Tom Cattin' tab available from his widow Rolene?

Thanks in advance!

[Skip Edwards]

Hey John... he used it very well...
Kidding aside, I know he had a lever that raised his 4th string a whole tone... E to F#.
You might give Pali a call...he has Tom's Mullen in his store, and he could tell you how it's set up.

[Dick Sexton]

I have a friend that wanted this change installed on his Derby. I had not seen it before and was curious. He said it gave him the ability to get his BC changes without using his C pedal. When I was done with his steel, I installed it on mine and must say, it does open up some moves that were/are difficult without it and that are now very smooth. I'm still exploring it. Nice passing tones, AB down, LKL to F#/F/E then Eb on my RKL, as an example. Still have my BC change. Getting a positive half stop on that 4 string raise was a little tricky.

[Bill C. Buntin]

John, this is a great topic. Tom had a unique style. It’s from trying to copy Tom that I became so dependent on the 5th string lowers. In old tunes like cryin time, that change is just perfect. I don’t have any tab of it. But it’s just such a fundamental part of that style.

Bill

[Brian Hollands]

Does anyone have his copedent to post? I check on the E9 copedents page and it's not there. I think that would be a good one to add...

[J R Rose]

I have mention my mentor on here before, Jim Florence. He played a ZB D-11 with RKR raising the fourth string a whole tone to F#. He used it all the time and used it well. He and Tom were friends and Tom built the guitar. He installed that on it for him. One of the last guitars out of Bakersfield. I used to have it on my guitar but along the way learned how to use the floor pedal. Been thinking about tuning up my KLL that raises the fourth a half tone to a whole tone and see how that works. I do like that move. J.R. Rose

[John McClung]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I actually know Tom's copedent, I'm posting that here, showing his original copedent of his lacquer body SD-11 4+7 Mullen, and how the student, Chris Newell, revamped it.

As he and I discussed it, we kept getting confusing on which staggered lever we were referring to, so see my note about settling on Near and Far, but actually shown here those are labelled F (Front) and B (Back).

I also circled his pedal 1, that's the biggest mystery to me, how he would use that, were the changes used together, or separately. The rest I'm pretty clear on.

And yes, I have had that string 4 E> F# change on MY Mullen most of the time, it's currently off for some other experiments, but a great change I'll definitely return to, I found it had a lot fo uses and unique sounds.

But folks, it's not a replacement for the C pedal, it's too slow to use for Mooney style use of the C pedal, and I'll state here for the record DO NOT ELIMINATE PEDAL C!!! Rant complete.

I came very close to buying it that great guitar, but knew I'd never be content without the full 12 strings fof my extended E9 setup. That guitar had Tom's "In Time" album tone imbedded! It was great.

[b0b]

I agree with you 100% about the E>F# change. I use the knee lever a lot, but there's no substitute for the C pedal in Mooney licks and up-tempo country.

As for pedal 1, I had the 7th string change on P1 for years and really liked it, especially for country licks. But I'm not sure why he's raising the 10th string on the same pedal. The uses that I imagine don't sound like Tom Brumley.

[Dag Wolf]

Listen to Tom;s "Hank Medley"
He is using the E-F# all the time. Much 6&4 string with near 3&5 string sound. (Together Again)
Sometimes he used it very fast on even slower songs.
Also the 1/2 tone lower on string 6 " I Sang Dixie" lick is typical Tom.

Now to what I like: Let`s use fret 7, Hit strings 456 AB ped > off B ped> lower 6> Then raise E-F# lever. and it all resolve to fret 5.

7---7------7---------7#-----5
7A--7A-----7A-----7A-----5
7B--7------7b------7b-----5

b- 1/2 drop
#-Whole tone raise.

Dag

[John McClung]

Cool, Dag, I'll check out your riff! And thanks for the song tips.

[Dag Wolf]

John, I edited the tab

[John McClung]

I'll be able to get that riff with the splits on my B pedal, G lever.

So: no one has a clue about Tom Brumely's 1st pedal? Chime in, folks, I woke up with a mind curious about all sorts of things this week!

[Dag Wolf]

The 1st pedal raises string 7 F# to G#. Works very much in open position like A pedal squeeze in AB pedal position.
I use that a lot but with the Paul F knee lever.
Tom has another string that raises- -10 I belive.

[Pete Burak]

There are some ascending/descending licks that combine the Whole tone raise/lower on string 7 and string 10.
For example pick string 10 and raise it to C#, then pick string 8, then pick string 7 and raise it to G#.
Now do the same lick backwards starting with string 7 raised to G#.
Sneaky Pete uses this lick alot, too.

[b0b]

P1+P2 is a very strummable C#m with S9 also lowered to C# (his RR). The F lever makes it C# major. Releasing P2 (his "A" pedal) would put a 7th on top of those chords without affecting the root on S10.

But I never heard Tom Brumley strumming strings. Did you?

[Kenny Davis]

Steinar Schrøder would know. He and Tom were pretty close, and he has at least one of his ZB's.

[Dag Wolf]

I don’t think Tom had this setup on the early ZB’s.
His Ranch ZB are for sale and has only 2 knee levers. But it’s all original

[John McClung]

What's a Rach ZB? Did Rachel make it?

Kenny, good idea about Steinar, I'll contact him!

[Dag Wolf]

It should read Ranch The one Tom used on the Ranch TV show.

[steinar]

Dag has asked me to chime in here, but I think his own analysis is very much to the point.
By the way, I had a nice talk with Noel Anstead today, and I think Noel himself is the right person to comment on Tom`s guitar set up, since he made him three of what was to become a a favorite of Tom, - the Anapeg.
Tom was concentrating on the definite use for all of his levers and pedals, - nothing was there "just in case." And when he discovered the true potential of his 11 string extended E 9 tuning, he said that he regretted having carried so much unnecessary weight up through the years with double neck guitars
Of all his extra levers, I think the full raise on the E was the one he used the most, - just think of his ascending lick on 4 and 6 on Dwight`s I sang Dixie, - a lick that he used a lot.
As for Tom`s ZB guitars, the black D 11 that was so much used on the Ranch shows and on the special that was made of Buck and the Buckaroos traveling around the world, is still with Rolene Brumley and is for sale. Greg Jones and I had the pleasure of sitting behind that guitar and it is in very good condition, has great resonance and has the original set up with two knee levers, LL lowering the E `s, RR lowering D#.

[John McClung]

Thanks for the info, Steinar!

Any big insights on Tom's uses for pedal 1?

How have you been?

[steinar]

Hi.

I talked to a guy who was close to Tom and who knew about his guitars very well. He said that this "pedal 1" raising 7 and 10 originally came on a ZB, and the raising of 10 was to get a positive stop, - something that had been hard to achieve.

As for using the functions, Tom used the raising of 7 quite a bit in descending runs, and you can hear it on "The Heart that you own" and on the last cd Tom recorded with the Desert Rose Band. As for the raising of 10, the function seems to have been more for a mechanical reason.

I`m not mechanically inclined, and if I have misquoted/misunderstand my friend, the mistakes are all mine.