A few questions about pull rods and such.

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

To learn more about how the guitar works, to experiment with a new change, but mostly just for the heck of it, I moved my 5th string B>Bb change (which was on my fourth pedal and which I hardly ever used) to the 9th string D, which I can now raise to E. So now my extended E9 can turn into a sort of "Sacred Steel" style tuning with the push of a pedal. The low strings are now: (low to high) E G# B E E after pushing pedal four--a slightly more "strummable" chord.

(An aside: It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Just a short trip to the hardware store for the right sized allen keys, a few things unscrewed and rescrewed and there you have it.

I don't know how useful this change will turn out to be in the end, but I've found a few things to do with it already--which is more than I can say about the B>Bb change, which I hardly ever used way over there on pedal four.

The next move is to take the third and sixth string G#>G change that I've got on pedal five and move it to strings six and eleven. I hardly ever use the third string G anyways (if I want minor chords in that register there are lots of other options) and this way I'll have a minor seventh and dominant seventh, as well as a "strummable" major and minor chord--all rooted on the low 'E.' And I can rock back and forth on pedals four and five to alternate between the various options.)

If anybody's still reading, I do have a few questions:

1. How can I get all the pulls on one pedal (or knee lever) to happen simultaneously? What I mean is, my 'B' pedal raises my three G#'s to A. The third and sixth strings move in perfect harmony, but the eleventh string doesn't "kick in" and start moving until the pedal is half way down. They don't go up in perfect synch. I tried all kinds of adjustments underneath, but it seems to be an issue of how far the eleventh string (being thicker) has to go to get up to pitch. It just needs less movement, so if the pull was perfectly even and all the strings were pulled the same amount, the low string would get pulled too much, or the high strings too little, and there's no way to fix that. Is this correct, or am I missing something? (I did notice that the fifth and tenth strings are different guages, and yet they pull perfectly evenly and smoothly... hmm...)

2. The bell cranks don't seem detachable (MSA parts, I believe... it's a Linkon). They can be loosened and slid around on the cross shaft--which is what I did to make the change mentioned above--but not removed. If I ever want to add extra pulls to this guitar, does this mean I'm going to have to disassemble the whole bloody thing, or can you get bell cranks that attach without taking apart the whole guitar? What about the extra cross shaft if I added a knee lever? Would adding that require complete disassembly as well?

3. Related to question one, my 'C' pedal doesn't pull the fourth and fifth strings evenly. This obviously isn't an issue of string guage. The only difference I can see is that the fifth string pull rod is bent so maybe it's a little longer than the fourth string pull rod... Any thoughts?

-Travis

David Doggett · Posted 7 Dec 2003 1:18 am

Travis, the way you get different guage strings to pull together is to place the pull rods in appropriate notches of the bell crank. Thinner guage strings with longer throws go in the notches furthest from the body, and thicker guage strings with shorter throws go in the notches closest to the body. When you are dealing with wound strings you have to remember that the core is thin. So the highest few wound strings may have thinner cores and longer throws than the lowest few plain strings. If your bell cranks don't have enough notches to get the strings pulling together, then your new tuning may require new bell cranks with more notches. Hope this helps.

Gino Iorfida · From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Not sure about the linkon, but with the MSA, if you needed to add/remove bellcranks from a cross shaft, you need to remove the back apron cover, slide out the cross shaft (at least enough to allow the bellcrank to slip over the end of the shaft.

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Depending on the specific guitar and what changes a person desires, it an make for a very easy or very difficult (and anywhere in between) job to "time" all the pulls on a give pedal or knee lever..

As the poster said, on older MSA's, one does have to remove the rod to add or remove bellcranks. The same is the case on Emmons's P/P's. Also, on P/P lowers it can be a nightmare to add changes.

This is why it is best to let someone who is well experienced do it; unless one has a high degree of mechanical aptitude.

To expound on your 11th string G# to A change not in sync with the others, this is one of the major design criteria on any PSG. And it runs the gamut from very poor to excellent.

There are two major factors that come into play here; IE, how many holes in the bellcrank and how many holes in the changer finger. And these holes work totally opposite in theory of operation.

For bellcranks the closer to the axle the less travel. For the changer finger, the closer to the axle the further the travel. Knowing this, plus detailed study, can end up being the difference in a poor job or the best that can be had.

The most classic example of this is strings 3 and 6 on our E9th tuning. The 3rd srting travels many times further than the 6th string. As a result it requires study and practice to pick the "optimum" holes the pull rod should go thru in the bellcrank and the changer finger.

One of the worst things that can happen is, one ends up with the "timing" being correct; but the pedal is too stiff or too easy albeit with longer travel.

The best advice I can give anyone is (if one wants to do it themselves) is to get in touch with the factory or speak to someone who is very experienced. Simply tell them what changes you want on a given pedal (or knee lever), and then let them tell you what they feel are the best holes in the bellcrank and changer to achieve these pulls.

carl

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the good replies. I'll go back and experiment a little with different holes in the bell cranks, and see if I can get those pulls even. I knew there had to be something I was missing...

-Travis

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

OK, I went back armed with the new information and mucked around some more. What do you know, the advice was right on the money. So thanks for that. Now my 'C' pedal pulls the fourth and fifth strings perfectly in time.

The 'B' pedal I might want to tweak some more though, as the changes are now in time with each other, but the pedal action is quite stiff and the pedal travel very short. I think I'm willing to sacrifice the timing (as long as 3&6 are in time, eleven is less important...) for easier pedal action and a smoother longer pull. Unless anybody's got a suggestion on how to get both...

At any rate, what a fun way to spend some time on the weekend. Is this one of the secret joys of owning a pedal steel or what?

-Travis

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Welcome to the world of PSG.

carl

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