Brought home a Dekley: weird detuning issue

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 3:49 am

Well, I couldn't stand to see it languishing any longer in my local music store, so I bought an early (pre-slimiline) Dekley S-10/3+4 yesterday. I haven't checked the serial number yet, but the pedal rods attach on the top of the pedal, so I believe it is the earliest model. Nearly identical to the one I owned before my Fessenden. I'll post a few pics soon.

I spent a lot of time getting it set up to my copedant and it sounds and plays great already; nevertheless, I intend to strip it down completely and clean it up. The changer moves freely, but I doubt it's been cleaned in a long time, and there's lots of dust and grime clinging to parts down there.

I did run into one (fairly serious) problem, though. On at least three of the bellcranks, the tiny set screws that secure the bellcrank to the crossshaft are stripped. I applied way more WD-40 than I would usually let near the underside of a steel, but to no avail. Even tried grabbing them with some needle nose pliers to turn them, but they're tiny little suckers. Any suggestions? I can't really use the fourth knee lever or the ninth-string lower until I move those bellcranks.

I'd also like to figure out who owned it before they sold it to the music store here about a year ago (probably not a Forumite). In the gig bag that came with the steel, there were some velcro wrapping bands with the hand-written initials "SBJ" and one that said "Little Bobby John." Any of my fellow NH steelers recognize anything there??

Dan

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 27 Nov 2011 5:18 am

You will probably need to drill out those stripped set screws. Congrats on a cool score!!

James Mudge · Post by **James Mudge** » 27 Nov 2011 5:20 am

That sounds like a good find Dan. Are the set screws slotted or are they Allen screws? If they are Allen screws you might be able to use an Easy Out screw extractor. If it requires drilling a machine shop is probably your safest method to handle this. Maybe there is a machine shop at UNH that could help you out.

Jim

Ray Anderson · Post by **Ray Anderson** » 27 Nov 2011 5:56 am

How strange is this? I just got back from a Holiday trip, and I acquired a Dekly D-10. It's a beautiful guitar but it is a Day set-up and I need an Emmons set-up and guess what? Those tiny setscrews are rounded out im mine also, I was thinking that I would take a soldering iron and try and put some heat on them . Don,t know, but it just might work. Will post some pis whenI get it cleaned and set-up. Let me know what worked for you, and I,ll do the same.

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 5:57 am

Thanks guys. They're Allen screws. Problem is these are truly miniscule and not easily accessible, so drilling is likely to be a tough nut. I read on line somewhere that one option is to epoxy an expendable Allen wrench to the screw. Kinda hate the idea of then having an Allen wrench stuck inside my steel if it doesn't work!! Some other ideas were Torx bits or metric Allen wrenches.

Dan

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 6:00 am

Ray, this coincidence would be too funny if it weren't so aggravating! I'm not in quite so bad shape as the pedals were Emmons already. I tried the opposite approach: put some ice against the bellcrank for a while, hoping it would contract just enough to loosen the screw. No luck.

Dan

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 27 Nov 2011 6:20 am

Yeah, try the metric wrench/torx bit route. Sometimes you can carefully flatten out the opening enough to get the standard hex wrench to bite. Use a nail set or punch with a hammer if you have enough access.

I had the same situation on an old Emmons I'm working on. Ended up having to take the cross shaft off the guitar and drill 'em out with the drill press. Don't know how practical that is on a Dekley.

It's tedious work everything being so small. Good opportunity to break a few drill bits. I chuck them up really short and take my time.

Just thought of this, if you have one of those watchmaker's screwdriver sets, you might get one of them to wedge in there.

Anything that small is likely to break or round off if they're really tight though unless hardened like the allen wrenches.

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 6:46 am

Jerry,
I tried the jewel screw driver to no effect. I'll try the torx next.

Dan

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 7:34 am

Putting the Dekley through its paces this morning, I noticed a strange detuning issue. If the B pedal is depressed and then the 4th and 8th string E lower is engaged (RKL in this case) the sixth string A goes way flat (we're talking something like a quarter-tone) and stays there even after the 4th and 8th strings are brought back up to E. No detuning of the open sixth string when the Es are lowered, though.

????

Dan

Ronnie Boettcher · Post by **Ronnie Boettcher** » 27 Nov 2011 7:36 am

I would try BLASTER, or LIQUID WRENCH, first. Keep them soaked for a few days, then try to unscrew them. If that doesnt work, then try the alterative methods, described earlier.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 27 Nov 2011 8:52 am

Worse comes to worst, you could cut the bellcranks off with a Dremel if you can't drill 'em out.
That IS weird. Does the 7th string move as well?

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 27 Nov 2011 5:26 pm

Ronnie: I'll try one (or both) of those.

George: Thing is, I don't see how I can get the cross shaft out with the bellcrank on there. Maybe there's just enough wiggle room.

Lane: no, the seventh string is out of the loop here (although the previous owner had LKR raising 1 and 7; those are two of the stripped set screws). But it's even a little stranger than I thought. It's not the 4th and 8th lowers that are doing this, it's those changes in conjunction with the B pedal. And(!) if I push the A pedal and lower the Es without pushing the B pedal, the sixth string goes slightly sharp. I'm hoping that the bath that I have planned for the changer (and everything else) will clean out a lot of accumulated gunk, and hopefully that's what's causing the problem. The guitar sounds and feels great, so it will be worth the effort, I think.

Dan

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 28 Nov 2011 1:02 pm

Well with some generous help from Georg, I ended up under the hood and made an interesting discovery that explains the weird de-tuning: the thin metal stop-plate to which the return strings are attached was loose, sliding forward quite a lot when A and E were engaged together. Tightening that down firmly solved the worst of the de-tuning. Now that I have some progress on that I can get back to my initial problem with the set screws, then this whole thing is getting a good scrub down (starting with the changer).

Dan