Byron Towle's Miller D-10

Cass Broadview · Posted 7 Aug 2008 1:07 pm

Here are some great photos of a Miller D-10, that master builder Paul Redmond rebuilt. Paul told me this fine Miller steel plays as smooth as butter. Paul builds the great whitney keyless pedal steel guitars, George Redmon owns a whitney. As a side note paul says "I didn't want to re-invent the wheel 100%, but wanted to make it a job-playable guitar for him and re-finish the walnut body so it would look like something decent. Satin finishing seemed the way and I proceeded along those lines until the entire guitar ended up being satin-finished. I opted for the skinny 3/32" rods over the former Miller 1/8" rods. Since the Miller's never had any adjustments at the right endplate, the nylon tuners actually had to be put onto the ends of the rods themselves...normally a nightmare in today's world of guitars. But this thing was built 30 years ago and I wanted to at least keep the 'spirit' of the original design, but bring the accuracy into the 21st century. I just basically upgraded what Miller had originally designed and used today's ideas in doing so."

Russ Tkac · Posted 9 Aug 2008 6:40 pm **Great work!**

Nice job Paul! That looks like a new steel. Very Happy

Russ

Ron ! · Posted 9 Aug 2008 6:54 pm

My hat goes of to you Paul.......Superb job on this axe.
Way to go!!!

Ron

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Thanks, guys! For all intents and purposes, it IS a new guitar. I started with new, larger-radius changer fingers, new axles, etc. The underside was gutted as it had been completely trashed by its former owner. The only parts retained were the heavy springs on a few of the shafts to 'hold neutral', and the four KL's...and even those were shortened 7/8". Everything else is new. The nylon snubbers on that reinforcement rib were drilled eccentrically so that each could be tweaked in individually. That rib eliminated all cabinet drop...this thing drops literally zero. The rib is 3/4" square. The shafts are only 5/16" stainless, but they are more than sufficient. I used nitrided 3/8" shafts for the changer axles with .016" Teflon spacers in between the fingers. The black frame bushings are BMI and are a tough grade of nylon. The ends of the cross-shafts were cylindrically ground rather than just lathe-turned...much smoother surfaces. On a few pulls where the strings are both raised and lowered, there is the usual backlash found with any pull/release system, but with the larger-radius fingers, pullrod travel is less, so backlash was minimized. Bottom line is now this thing stays put when it's tuned!! The action is smooth and direct, and having used the over-center principle on the bellcranks, the pulls are now also accurate and repetitive. I have a Miller S-10 and it most certainly doesn't play anything like this. Now I've got to get busy on that guitar!!
PRR

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Wow Paul, that is real nice work.

Cass,
Not to hijack the thread, but what is the guitar in the background with what looks like the changer on the left end?

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

That's my Whitney S-12 Universal.
PRR

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

I guess I should have explained it more thoroughly...the changer on the left end as shown, holds the primary tuning arms AND the lowering levers. The changer you don't see on the right end, raises only. Four up, four down. Balance springs are on the underside of the left endplate.
PRR

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Thanks Paul. I've seen posts on your Whitney in the past and it is definately an impressive guitar.

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