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Topic: metal sounds |
David Biggers
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 3:49 am |
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I was thinking, well I know that could be a dangerest thing, but anyway........
When you depress the pedals and then release them you get a clank or clicking sound when it is both pressed and depressed because it hits the aluminium frame which is also metal.
Has anyone ever take small round pieces of felt or some sort of insulator and adhered it to the frame at the contact areas to reduce the machine sounds?
I know retuning will be required since I am changing the position of each pedal stop by doing this.
I hate this sound and want to quiet it somehow.
Your feedback would be welcomed. Thanks |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 4:28 am
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I have glued on thin strips of mica a few places where the metal-against-metal noise disturbed me. That muted the clicking-sound enough for me.
Mica is hard enough to provide steady pedal-down stops, but may crack if adjust-screws keep pounding it. Softer material may be used on pedal-return surfaces, but make sure such a cushion doesn't interfere with free-play. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 7:26 am
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| Soft materials used for stops usually have too much "give", and thus the pedal tuning will not be stable. (Pushing the pedal harder or softer will cause the amount of throw to increase or decrease too much.) The only way to use a somewhat softer material (like nylon), and not have a problem would be to increase the contact area. (On most steels the stop adjustment is a screw-end, and that's a pretty small area to be putting a lot of force.) |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 9:54 am
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| I've used Dr Scholl's toe pads with success. Also Velcro works very well. |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 1:26 pm
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I think that on all-pull guitars it would seem advisable to keep a metal-on-metal stop vs. nylon-delron or any other softer material.
One issue is tuning stability, the other is that the vibration of a string on an all-pull guitar can be led from the changer finger into the pull rod. If at the end, there is a vibration consuming stop, some of that vibration (energy) will be lost (sucked up by the dampening device) instead of sent back into the frame/body.
Just a suspicion ...
Now, on the way UP (release)... like when you slip off the depressed pedals, I think it is quite OK to have a dampening stop, there is no more sound issue. Some brands actually use the self adhesive felt dots the OP suggests... Carter does or at least used to.
J-D. |
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Ulric Utsi-Åhlin
From:
Sweden
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Posted 15 Oct 2009 11:48 pm
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...if You put a CD of Banjo-music in the Hi Fi-system
& turn it up very loud,You will NOT HEAR the noise
from the undercarridge...McUtsi |
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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 16 Oct 2009 6:37 pm
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I'm always yelling at people for playing too loud, but you might be playing too soft. Have you tried plugging your steel into an amplifier?
(That's an attempt at humor. Don't take offence!)
In the studio, run a line out from your amp rather than miking it, or have the amp w/ mic far from the steel...
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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