The DeArmond Stringtone and the Hise Multi-Harp Triplex are small units that were offered in the 1950s and '60s. They were add-ons which the steel player could use to change tunings on a single neck steel. They both feature a lever which changes the guitar's tuning with one movement of your right hand.

By the way, the Triplex I'm referring to here is not to be confused with the the ones on the National Triplex guitars. Those had the lever on the side of the guitar. Mine is one of the later ones which were re-designed. It sits right behind the bridge like the Stringtone.

The DeArmond Stringtone could be added to a guitar with an existing bridge/tailpiece as long as there was one inch or more behind the bridge on which to attach the changer. They are often found on vintage Fender Champ and Oahu steels. (On this Fender, the tone suffers because there is not enough downward pressure on the bridge. I may try to countersink the changer into the body a little bit deeper for more tone. )

The Stringtone came in three different models; A-E-C#mi low bass, A-E-C#mi high bass and C6-E7-C7. The second one seems to be the most common. Of the few Stringtones i've seen, all of them have been this model. This unit changes the pitch of 4 different strings in one movement of the lever. The A tuning is E-C#-A-E-C#-A (high to low) and the E tuning is E-B-G#-E-B-E. The C# tuning is simply E-C#-G#-E-B-E. After adjusting the first two tunings for a while, i got them to both play nicely in tune. Even on the second day, they were still in tune and usuable on a gig. The exception was the C# tuning which never sounded in tune. I decided to forget about using that one. The way you adjust the changer is with set-screws for each of the four strings which change. It takes a fair amount of experimentation and a good ear or tuner to do this, but it seems stable so far. I imagine if you changed strings, the process would start all over, especially if the string gauges changed. It's also important to stretch new strings for a few minutes before making adjustments.

The Triplex replaced the traditional bridge/tailpiece on steel guitars. The one i found was on a Carvin steel from 1960. They were available in 6 and 8 string models. I don't know the 8 string model's tunings, but in the photo i've seen, it appears that all 8 strings may have the ability to change. The 6 string changer's 3 tunings were; A low bass, E and C#mi7. It was designed to change from E-C#-A-E-A-E (A low-bass) to E-B-G#-E-B-E and E-C#-G#-E-B-E. A low-bass was described as the "basic" tuning. This is different than the Stringtone where 'E' seems to be the basic tuning, although the musician can make that decision. And unlike the Stringtone, the Triplex only changes the pitch of 3 of the strings.

After spending some time trying to adjust the various Triplex tunings, i found that the 5th string changes never really played in tune. I tried it as a high bass tuning and had the same problem. Since i prefer high-bass anyway, i left it that way and bypassed the 5th string change completely. This can be done by tightening the thumb-screw (a nice feature) all the way down. The three tunings now work very nicely and stay in tune. They work out like this: E-C#-A-E-C#-A (A high-bass) to E-B-G#-E-C#-A and E-B-G#-E-C#-A. That last tuning can be an E tuning if you just play the four high strings, or a Amaj9, if you strum it.

The lever on the Triplex has a much longer travel than the one on the Stringtone, but it feels much smoother and more substantial. The lever handle also has a set screw. When i first started messing with this, the handle had been set in the wrong place making it impossible to adjust the tunings correctly. By experimentation and luck, i found another position for the handle where everything worked.

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Dan Sawyer
Fender Deluxe 8® (stringmaster), Fender Deluxe 8 (trap), Gibson EH-150, Wayne Lap Steel, Fender "White" 6-string w legs, Carvin steel w HiseTri-plex.