Hi Rob

You seem to be more organised than me regarding your plan of action for learning.

Been a member of the Steel Guitar Forum for years,absolutely superb bunch of guy's
some real gentlemen on there.
After my initial chicken screaming noises I actually thought Pedal Steel was easier,but after
my bad experience with the one I had,I would think twice now before getting another.
Wife say's I am too old to be starting new stuff,huh what does She know?????lol

Carter Starter is a really nice Steel,but everyone will tell you get a Pro model,yeah like
$2500 upwards for something decent,unless I was really confident,or a bit younger,a starter
will do just fine until you get the hang of it.

I considered a Stage One but the import and shipping costs to the UK were very high
so that was a no no.

Regarding tuning the Lap Steel,a search on the internet shows many different tunings,but I tuned
mine to C6 because all the instruction DVD's in the UK show excercises in C6.

Alan