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Topic: Adjusting the lever/pedal stop. |
John McGlothlin
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 5:25 am |
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| I have one of the older pedal steel guitars, a D10 and I need to tighten the stop on one of the cross rods and it looked very simple to do...all I need is a good variety of allen wrenchs. Thats what I thought before getting into the situation. You have to be a friggin Nuclear Submarine rocket scientist to even begin doing a job like this. To get to one little part to loosin or tighten one microscopic little screw...you first have to remove a half dozen rods just so you can get to it and then when you do you are not able to turn the allen wrench because they just ain't enough room to do it. Hell, its like being a one legged man at an ass kickin contest, you just can't get anything done. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 6:50 am
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I don't suppose you'd care to mention the brand?
I've never encountered such a problem on the various and sundry pedal steels I've worked on.  |
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John Fabian
From:
Mesquite, Texas USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 6:52 am Re: Adjusting the lever/pedal stop.
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| John's signature shows an MSA d-10. That's probably what he is talking about. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 7:22 am
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| If that is the case, I won't be buying an MSA very soon. |
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John McGlothlin
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 7:42 am
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| Sorry, don't get me wrong. It is an MSA but not one of the newer ones...this is about an early 1970s model and the adjustment that I was working with is at the back apron of the guitar and in order to get to it easy you would have to remove the apron to access the part better but that is something I would never attempt to do. By the way, would anyone know if there are small socket wrenchs on the market because they would be the perfect tool for a job like this. |
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Bobby Bowman
From:
Cypress, Texas, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 7:53 am what to use?
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Johnboy,
Try a 7/64 "ball end" allen wrench and/or cut the short arm of the wrench off somewhat. There should be no need to remove rods for adjusting that stop.
Call me if you wish and I'll try to talk ya through it as well as some other pointers. 281-856-9453.
BB
_________________
If you play 'em, play 'em good!
If you build 'em, build 'em good!
http://www.bobbybowman.com |
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John McGlothlin
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 8:17 am
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| I appreciate your help Bobby...this is an excellent guitar to be as old as it is. I bought it used for a great price and the reason I stumbled on this problem was because whoever owned it before had changed the lever from raising the seventh string F# over to lowering the sixth and I wanted to restore that lever to the standard...raising the F#s, first and seventh strings but I think I finally got it tightened enough. One thing I would want to ask you about...do you sell return springs that would fit this model of MSA because it is possible that some of these return springs could stand to be replaced. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 1:58 pm
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That problem is not just with MSA guitars. My Carter is the same way. And to top it off, they use these crappy torx screws that are so tight, the screw strips. I have a few rod pullers (bell cranks) that are permanently a part of the guitar that now have no purpose. And often you have to remove rods to get enough room to use an allen wrench. I suppose that is true of most guitars.
Now my Williams 600, although I have not had to do much work on it, would probably be the same. When I first got it (new from Willims), the vertical knee lever for the C6th neck was mounted in a place that it was unusable. It hung down so low that when I put my knee into the cluster of C neck levers, my knee would hit the lever and try to tip the guitar over. Adjusting the angle so it was closer to the bottom of the guitar didn't work. It would hit the back of the verticle lever on the E neck and not get the string changes to pitch. Bill Rudolph of Williams was a real help and sent a shorter bracket for C neck vertical and I was going to move the lever to a spot further to the center of the guitar. Then my knee wouldn't reach it. I had to move to the back or the guitar, right close to the back apron. It now works. BUT, the way Williams attaches these brackets to the crossrod is with a small, short screw (hex head) with 2 washers that you have to try and line up with the hole of the bracket, which is parallel to the body of the guitar. Dropped that screw so many times, or the washers fell off, I almost tossed the guitar off my balcony. I finally got it and this was located between two pull rods with no real room to work. Using needle nose pliers and a ball end hex wrench finally got the job done and everything works. Luckily, I didn't have to remove any pull rods to do this.
Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to show examples of how hard it is to work on other brands of guitars. So don't feel bad. |
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John McGlothlin
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Posted 10 Jun 2009 2:29 pm
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I was even thinking about taking mine to the hospital and asking my doctor if they could do some lyposcoptic surgery because for a while I thought it was gonna take that to reach some of the parts.  |
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