MI7®

I have my own ideas on this, but if you're not a drummer, and/or you don't have the space for a drumkit, what do you do? I find audio dance-type loops much too limiting, and I'm not a good enough drummer to be able to program samplers.

Well, I got myself an 8-string from eBay. It's a hand-built job, and some of the hardware isn't as shiny as a factory model, but it sounds fine through a Line6 Fender Twin emulation, or though a Matchless Chief emulation. Sounds pretty good through a Roland MicroCube, too - either the Deluxe Reverb or the AC30 settings. I have it tuned in an A6 tuning, giving me minor and major chords without having to slant the steel, and an easy way to run up and down scales without too much left hand work. Listen to the beast in action on my song "Better Class of Loser" - I recorded this originally with my 6-string steel in the background, but I felt I had to get the pedal steel sound better, and the 8-string does it just great. Thanks, Mike, for building such a cool beast.