Ed Packard 5/24/1933 - 5/21/2021

[Kevin Swan]

(From his daughter, Sandy)
The Letter
For my Father
We are born into this life as a blank sheet of paper, each wrapped in an envelope we call our flesh. As time goes by we are touched by others, each leaving their impressions on our lives.
The years pass by and our blank sheet of paper become colored with memories and the impressions of others who have influenced us throughout time. This now becomes our letter.
The letter becomes the personality of ourselves to eventually imprint our character on those we encounter and becomes part of our identity.
At the time of death we continue to live on through the impressions we've made on the sheets of paper of our family, friends and acquaintances we have known.
Dad has touched many hearts and we will continue to keep him alive through the reminiscence of the impressions he has given to us.
It is time to say good-bye to the envelope we call the flesh of the soul we once knew. But Dad will forever remain with us in the letter that we were so privileged to read which in turn is impressed on us to once again pass on to others.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Condolences to Sandy and all Ed's family. I don't think I ever met him and did not know him personally, but certainly read all of his entries here concerning "The Beast" and Sierra guitars. His approach to tuning was intriguing to say the least.

An intellectual, no doubt and a very interesting mind.

May he rest in peace.

[Dave Mudgett]

I am very sorry to hear about Ed. He was a forward thinker and cast with a rock solid base in science and engineering, but obviously loved the steel guitar and made many useful contributions here and elsewhere.

And I always think of him when I don one of my zirc bars, which I still use often.

RIP Ed.

[Georg Sørtun]

[Kevin Swan]

For five years I owned one of the "student" 14-string Sierras Ed had built to introduce (just ONE of) his interesting tuning ideas. While I never quite cracked the entire code it sure was a fun learning experience. Never met the man but exchanged emails and his knowledge, patience and sheer love of everything steel was legendary.

An avid Forum member he tallied 2162 posts over 23 years.

Here's Ed explaining his tuning scheme, from 2005:

The PST 13 SERIES simplified: Someone asked, in another thread, for a simple explanation…..I will try.
The 13 series name is because the structure provides the M13, 13, m13, and the 13s4 chords on the same strings by using PX,PY,R>, and P2.

The 13 series is integrated into a basic 14 string E9/B6 uni configuration that has a low E on the bottom, a C# for string 12, and the top strings in the C6 order. The P1P2 changes are per E9. L<is> is E to D#, R<is> is E to D and C# to D. L^ takes F#s to G to give a 7th chord on the IV neck (P1P2 activated).

The standard P3 (C#F#) is sacrificed…it does not have to be…the sacrifice is to get the M13s4, 13s4, series of intervals by combining P3&P2.

The 13 series makes available 7 sequential and adjacent intervals on adjacent strings; think in C and P3 gives C,E,G,B,D,F,A = CM13. This C would be on string 11 at fret 8 for the E9 basic open tuning/neck. The remaining strings would give C,F,A,C,E,G,B,D,F,A,C,D,E,A. You can see how many 3,4,5,6 and 7 tone chords are found within this series of notes...use any string as a root. With two exceptions, these are the line notes of the treble staff = read sheet music directly onto the PSG strings.

If we flat the 3rd (P4) we get Cm13M7, and all included chords.

If we then flat the 7th ( R>)we get Cm13, and all included chords.

What about the space note = D,F,A,C,E,G,B. This spells Dm13. We had a Im13 by activating P3P4R>. Move it up two frets and we have Dm13 = IIm13 and all included chords = space notes.

If the root note for the 13 series chord is on a line (sheet music), all of the chord intervals are on a line…if the root is in a space, all of the chord intervals are in the spaces.

The IM13 and IIm13 intervals (strings) provide all the chords for scalar harmony of the Imaj scale = (in four tone chords for the key of C) CM7, Dm7, Em7, FM7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5, etc., and all within two frets and on adjacent strings.

There is much more that is just as logical.

Release P3 et al and resolve back to the E69 like structure/tuning. Use L>, or the LOK, and get the full C6 structure/tuning as a B6.

In the TESTING section of the Forum, Nov. 22, by Charlie McDonald, Charlie has collected a “short” list of the available chords re the 13 SERIES, and the P1P2 set. The E9 and big C6/B6 chords are not included.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Known to me only via his SGF posts and a zirc bar.....Ed was an impressive man.
I am sorry to learn of his passing.

[Erv Niehaus]

I have two of his bars, a white one and a black one.
Sorry to hear of his passing.
Erv

[Ross Shafer]

Ed was one sharp guy. RIP ED!

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

This is very sad news. Ed was a friend. I have 2 of his bars.

I was intrigued when I saw his 30 inch "beast," but didn't try to play it (Or lift it up.)

[Stu Schulman]

My Condolences,The Zirc Bar on my steel guitar is a tribute to Ed!!

[George Duncan Sypert]

I first met Ed in January of 1998 if memory serves me correctly and also met and became friends with Bill Stafford. There were building the zirc bars just over a half mile from my home. At the time I was driving a school bus and finished my routes about 9:30 or so. I would stop by and visit with both of them and many times Bill was in the shop turning outs bars.

Bill always had his pedal steel setup in the office. In my opinion Bill Stafford was and is a very close second to Jerry Byrd.

As for Ed, I have never met anyone that knew music theory better than Ed Packard. I mostly just had to listen as there was nothing I could contribute to the conservations. Ed was a very intelligent man. Sorry to hear of his passing.

Bill and I used to hang out some while he was in the area. I highly respect Bill Stafford.

Peace to all.

George

[Larry Dering]

My condolences to the family. I have one of Eds wonderful bars. Read his comments often. I enjoyed our connection.

[Jeremy Threlfall]

Condolences to family and friends. Ed struck me as a leading edge human, an innovator and someone with a wicked sense of humour. A rare combination and a loss to our community. Love one another, folks

[Charlie McDonald]

So sorry to hear this. Ed and I corresponded over the 13th tuning and I found him brilliant and a lot of fun, and a really nice guy.

[Pete Burak]

Sorry to hear of this. My Dad and I met Ed at the St.Louis Convention when we were all regulars in the Sierra room. To hear Ed talk about music theory was beyond mind boggling at that time for me. He could really rattle it off, and he had a way of keeping count with his fingers that looked like a magic trick. Here on the Forum he often used Charts that were also over my head.
I got to try his 13-Series tuning on a 14-string PSG13 steel that was at the Sierra shop here in Portland. It was cool! I was instantly able to play the Linus and Lucy Theme.
I tried his Zirc bars but never bought one. He really brought that Bar idea to life.
He told me his Grandfather was the inventor of a car called "The Packard", back in the early automotive days.
He had the "Inventor" gene, for sure.
RIP, Ed Packard.

[Mike Neer]

RIP Ed, condolences to his family and friends.

[HowardR]

My condolences and sympathy to Ed's family.....

I met him once in Dallas and enjoyed his stratospheric thoughts with regard to the road he was traveling on steel guitar.....I also have one of his bars......cool guy.....

[John McClung]

Sincere condolences to Ed's family. Ed was a high level intellectual forward-thinker, probably in many areas, but his understanding and analyses of many things pedal steel was, like Pete Burak said, mind boggling! I remember his over-the-top frequency analysis of the tone of various pedal steels, trying to get to the truth of tone and where it comes from.

[Andy Volk]

Ed was a member of this community for as long as I can recall. RIPand condolences. He will be missed.

[b0b]

So sorry to hear this. Ed had an inventive mind. He was an early contributor to my web site, which begat this forum. Links below. I first met him at Tom Bradshaw's steel guitar show in 1995. I always enjoyed his conversation and technical demonstrations at steel guitar shows.

My condolences to his family and close friends.

https://b0b.com/infoedu/science.html

https://b0b.com/infoedu/gearless.html

https://b0b.com/tunings/edpack.htm

[Jim Palenscar]

Ed was my friend and he will be missed.

[Herb Steiner]

I really liked Ed, and enjoyed bantering with him. He and I had differing musical philosophies, for sure, and our conversations were quite often pleasantly contentious, if that makes any sense. Ed had the mind of a mathematician/scientist; I'd tell him that the best steel is played from the heart, and my heart doesn't read an Excel spreadsheet. That kinda frustrated ol' Ed.

RIP, my good man. I hope you're finding wherever you are to have the correct specifications.

[Wayne Franco]

I have a vivid memory of Ed with that guitar that looked like the deck on an aircraft carrier. He was a great guy and it boggled my mind what his mind could come up with. Always a pleasure to see him in StLouis.

Rest in piece Ed

[Jerry Fessenden]

We both were from central Maine, about 50 miles apart. I stayed with him a few yrs ago in AZ. Then one day he showed up at my house in Vt on his return from a search of our common Canadian roots. Goodbye Cuzzin Ed

[Joel Martin]

I am so sorry to read this. My first really good guitar was a 14 stringer I bought from him and we had an excellent afternoon of hanging out at Steel Guitars of North County and many many emails - mostly because I couldn’t wrap my brain around this amazing tuning he put together!
He loved steel guitar.
My condolences to his family and friends.