The Steel Guitar Forum

Ray correct. Oil bad. I've been designing and building machinery for forty years, and the rule that stays with you after a couple of, shall we say, unfortunate experiences, is that the choice of hydraulics should be the very last one you consider.

Ed, I'm game, but we have to design the experiment properly. For example, I had considered the idea of standing on the top of my steel with my left foot on the tuners and my right foot on the pickups. Then I could take a 5K dynamometer (I already own one) and hook it onto one string at a time at the...

Ed, You are right about the downward force at the nut in that it is analogous to a bridle in the world of rigging. But the vector must be a true bisection of the included angle, is it not? This would be due to the fact that the roller nut freely adjusts and puts the string tension fore and aft of th...

Gary,
That's exactly right. The frictive load will be the same, but the higher ratio gives you a bigger mechanical advantage. Or, to invert that, it becomes easier for the bearing to affect the string's return.

Gary, The above design has a mechanical problem unrelated to sustain. That is, the ratio between the OD and the ID is too small to allow free spinning. In wheel and axle design, especially for journal bearings like a roller nut, the coefficient of rolling friction is made lowest when the ratio is ma...

To Chas Smith. The design ethic behind those two cycles you showed just blows me away. Fantastic. True originality. The timber frame one could have an issue with termites down the road, but stunning nonetheless. Thanks for posting the photos.

Howard,
First, How's the unloading situation in front of your place? In other words, can we stop to unload without blocking up traffic? Second, do you know the location of the nearest open parking lot? Third, do you have plans to video the workshop for archival reasons? Thanks.

Bill, Don't worry about a thing. Do the business thing; no music baggage. That's how things go. I think probably everyone here has had to set the guitars aside for a time. I only played a little at home for the past thirty five years, and you know yourself how into it I am now that I'm retired. I su...

Another way to make the wrapped ends less likely to be a problem is to to tin them. By this I mean: Get out the soldering iron, flux and solder. Apply a thin film of flux, heat the wrapped area, and touch it with the solder when hot. The solder will run into the area nicely and make the end one soli...

A pedal rod hook is sort of like a J-bolt, so here is how I made J-bolts when I only needed a few. Get a steel tube about the same ID as the OD of the rod. Cut two sections off and taper the ends on a grinder. Clamp one piece vertically in a vise. Warm the end of the pedal rod with a torch to a redd...

Mine came with no RKR on the C6 neck. I ordered the parts from GFI, and the installation was very easy.

I play Teles too, and the posts about the Deluxe Reverb and the Peavey Classic 30 are right on. The older Fender amps can cost a bit much, though. The reissues can be made to sound as good as any boutique amp costing many times more if you just swap out the factory speaker and the factory tubes. I g...

I have used Calzone cases for 19" electrical racks and other gak for twenty years. I picked the company after a pretty thorough search. I must have purchased a hundred or more in that time. They build to my specs and I am a satisfied customer.

Bending thin wall tubing to tight radii can be tricky. If you have a Hosfeld bender with dies that support the tube you can do all right. One trick from the old timers I've known is to fill the tube with either sand or melted resin. These will keep the tube walls from collapsing too badly, and can b...

Lyle, I have used the SGX2000 on both six string and PSG. It is a 2U unit because it is both a preamp and a signal processor. The preamp is a 12AX7 tube preamp, and can be quite nice sounding with a PSG if you can find the right balance between tube drive and EQ. The processor has all the usual effe...

James,
Another good souce, similar to McMaster-Carr,is Travers Tool, https://www.travers.com/index.asp, in Queens. Good luck.

Joey,
Another possiblity is that if you are using a stainless steel bar, the friction against stainless strings is greater than if you were to use a chrome bar. Do a side-by-side if you can. I think you will notice a difference.

Correction. Sorry. The chord I use after the Fm is a Gdom7flat9. Not an augmented.

Ron, I think that the Fm is the way to play it. It lets you take the melody line up to the Aug V more logically to my ears. I don't know how anyone can be certain of the original progression except for the composer. The fake books are notoriously inaccurate and oversimplified.

Ricky, Brilliant job on the guitar, man. Congratulations. As for the wrist and hand problems, you may well be able to help yourself. I have been through the injury/recovery cycle hundreds of times (ironwork, carpentry, ice hockey, taking out the garbage) and I have found that rest is the first best ...

I did have my ears reversed once. Of course it got depressing to hear what people said behind my back.

I was on the phone with Bobbe Seymour one time, and I asked him that question. Without an instant's hesitation he replied 'one hundred eight two thousand six hundred and forty four'. Then after some reflection, he revised the format of his estimate into a ratio of about 100 six string players to 1 p...

I was on the phone with Bobbe Seymour one time, and I asked him that question. Without an instant's hesitation he replied 'one hundred eight two thousand six hundred and forty four'. Then after some reflection, he revised the format of his estimate into a ratio of about 100 six string players to 1 p...

Bushings are a type of bearing, specifically a "journal" bearing. I use all types in my work building machinery, and the determining factors in selection are just what you'd think they'd be; radial load, axial load, rpm, duty cycle, enviromental concerns, access for servicability. Stuff li...

There are two larege electronics companies that I use, and they will sell pretty much any quantity of anything, (business being what it is). One is Newark Electronics,(I can't seem to find the address), and the other is Allied Electronics, see address below. They take phone orders, and accept credit...