Franklin pedal options

[John R. Harris]

I have a “Franklin” pedal at zero (willams s10, emmons setup) I never use it and am wondering if others have changed zero to a more usable pull. It seems a shame to have a pedal there and never use it.
My guitar currently doesn’t manipulate string 7. Is that a viable possibility for a zero pedal?

[Dave Grafe]

Forget changing string 7, just slack off the other pulls and use P0 to lower string 10 alone B>A and you have an extra step available at the bottom of the scale, and it's already located in the handiest place.

[Paul Strojan]

I raise string 7 F# to G# and string 6 G# to B giving me a complete E6 chord on the middle six strings. Get the Don Helms book and play Hank as it was meant to be played.

[Greg Cutshaw]

I use the Franklin pedal a lot but it's not a must have for me. I do have the G# to B raise on string 6 and the F# to G# raise on string 7. You do need to add in the B to C# raise on string 5 to get the Don Helms sounds. For me that would be pressing LKL1, RKL and P1 at the same time so pretty easy to do and a bit clearer sound than doing the same thing up the neck using other changes.

[Chris Brooks]

Hey Greg. My 0 pedal flats the G#s to Gs. Great change: used alone it gives a minor chord in "no pedals" position . . . and a 7th.

For example, on Fret 3, we have a G minor chord but also C7. And used with A pedal, you get a nice minor 6 chord. Again, on the 3rd fret, 0 + A = Gm6.

BTW, thanks for your site's write up on Williams guitars. My 12 string is on order!

Chris

[David W.D. McCormick]

I raise string 7 F# to G# and string 6 G# to B giving me a complete E6 chord on the middle six strings. Get the Don Helms book and play Hank as it was meant to be played.

This is brilliant and I’m gonna try it out. I have the franklin changes but really only functions as a lick pedal for adding a little extra bend to the end of phrases. Feels underused although I’m sure it’s me who’s not seeing all the possibilities.

Seems like the above changes give you most of an E7 tuning in addition to E6 too - B D E G# B C# E G#. Can’t wait to try this out for some lap steel style rock and blues playing.

[John R. Harris]

Thanks for the replies. Chris’ suggestion sounds very interesting for my needs. I’ll definitely try that change on 0 pedal