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Topic: nylon tuners up against changer |
Erich Meisberger
From:
Vermont, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 12:05 pm |
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Can someone provide the procedure for tuning the pedals and levers on my Fessenden sd-10? Many of the nylon tuners are bottomed out against the changer. I have read that they should be backed off a bit. Now what? I can get them back in tune, but now they are, once again, up against the changer. What am I missing?
Thanks in advance for your help. |
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Dick Sexton
From:
Greenville, Ohio
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richard burton
From:
Britain
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 1:33 pm
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| It seems like you should increase the pedal/lever travel a bit, to get a bit of slack at the nylon tuners. |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 1:37 pm
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I make no pretense at expertise, but while many people seem to say the nylon tuners should be backed off the finger when the pull is not in use, it has always seemed to me that the ideal situation would be for the nylon tuners to be just lightly in contact with the finger, thus eliminating unnecessary travel from slack. It's just necessary to make sure the nylon tuner is only just touching, not pulling the finger away from its full rest position at all. That can cause difficulties in tuning a string with raises and lowers, because it puts the finger with no pull activated in an unstable "balanced" position.
But those are just my opinions. |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 8:06 pm
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| i think that may just be on a pull release changer. |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 9:04 pm
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| Quote: |
| It's just necessary to make sure the nylon tuner is only just touching, not pulling the finger away from its full rest position at all.That can cause difficulties in tuning a string with raises and lowers, because it puts the finger with no pull activated in an unstable "balanced" position. |
I probably shouldn't have said "balanced." What I meant was that the finger section is never released by the over-tightened nylon tuner, so is held "out of position", away from whatever is its intended positive stop, which I envision as altering the interaction among the component members of the finger assembly.
But again, I have no hands-on expertise, so my theories may not hold water. |
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Pat Comeau
From:
New Brunswick, Canada
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Posted 18 Dec 2010 11:20 pm
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As a builder myself i can say from my experience that what Brint said is right in my opinion and that is how i tune my steels and it works good, the way i do it is i check the slack by pulling on the bellcranks and try to set it at about 1/16 of slack, also the cross shaft should have alittle of slack from the front to the rear.
this my opinion on how i setup my steels, i'm sure if other steels are build different the setup could also be different.
I took those tips from the Carter steels websites...there's alot of good stuff on that site about how to tune a pedal steel ect...
Pat C 
_________________
Comeau SD10 4x5, Comeau S10 3x5, Peavey Session 500,Fender Telecaster,Fender Stratocaster, Fender Precision,1978 Ovation Viper electric. Alvarez 4 strings Violin electric.
Click the links to listen to my Comeau's Pedal Steel Guitars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIYiaomZx3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2GhZTN_yXI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvDTw2zNriI |
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Erich Meisberger
From:
Vermont, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2010 8:52 am
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Thank you all for your replies. Introducing slack via the pedal/lever travel is probably the solution. Some of the nylon tuners do, in fact, appear to be so tight as to prevent full return. There is slack in the cross shafts.I plan on having the guitar looked at real soon. Is it damaging to to the guitar to play it in this condition? I am a beginner (since January) so I am hesitant to alter the setup if it can wait.
Thanks again,
Erich |
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richard burton
From:
Britain
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Posted 19 Dec 2010 9:16 am
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Some steels have aluminum pull rods, which can be troublesome if there is hardly any slack between the nylon and the finger.
I'm not sure, but after looking at some photos of a Fessenden, it looks like the end of the pedal travel is a fixed stop, and the beginning of the travel is adjustable.
Can you take a few photos, Erich, so that we can advise you on the very simple matter of increasing the pedal travel |
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Jim Smith
From:
Midlothian, TX, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2010 11:12 am
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| Since you're already in Vermont, you should take a run over to Montpelier and let Jerry Fessenden take a look at it. He can show you how to do it right and give your some other tips and tricks too. |
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Erich Meisberger
From:
Vermont, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2010 12:15 pm
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Hi Richard,
These are the only two photos I was able to download successfully. The first shows the lever which raises strings one and two and lowers six. The second shows the pedal stops.
Good advice Jim, I am going to see Jerry as soon as he's available. He's a real good guy and has always been willing to help me out. |
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