Information please

Frank De Vincenzo · From: The Garden State

OK all you gear heads, Frankie needs a lesson in the nomenclature of the pedal steel guitar. What do these following descriptors mean? Why do they dictate the quality of the instrument? Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

1) TRIPLE RAISE,TRIPLE LOWER
2) PRO QUALITY CHANGER-compared to what?
3)SPLITS ON ALL STRINGS
4)MULTI HOLE BELL CRANKS-why is the amount of holes important?
5)ADJUSTABLE RETURN SPRINGS
6)WOOD NECK vs ALLOY NECK
As ridiculously fundamental as these things may be to you, it is totally out of my wheel house. I thank you in advance for your tutoring.
Respectfully,
Frank

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Well, I'll take a first crack at these; I'm sure others will be able to add info and/or correct anything I have to offer.

1) TRIPLE RAISE,TRIPLE LOWER
This refers to how many times the changer on an all-pull guitar can raise or lower an individual string. So, for example, pedal steels using an E9 tuning and an "Emmons" pedal setup raise string 5 from B to C# with the A pedal and with the C pedal (reverse those pedals if it is a "Day" setup). Thus, the changer needs at least to raising holes (the ones closer to the top of the guitar as seen below) to make those pulls. Any string that you want to raise or lower more than one pedal/knee-lever, will need more than one raise and one lower hole at the changer.

Beyond this, which hole you use for a change will affect how long the pedal or knee lever has to move and how stiff the action is in moving it. I'll get back to that under number 4 below.

2) PRO QUALITY CHANGER-compared to what?
A pro-quality changer will allow you to reconfigure which strings the various pedals and knee-levers activate. Some student model pedal steels have the these changes permanently set. Some would add that a pro-quality changer will be of the all-pull variety (raises and lowers are activated by rods pulling on one or the other part of the changer "finger" to which the string is attached) or (less common) a push-pull mechanism, whereas many (but ever fewer) student models come with a pull-release mechanism. Pull-release is also a little trickier to set up. However, there are still some strong proponents of the pull-release changer; they argue that once it is properly set up it holds its tuning very well, and it provides a beautiful tone.

3)SPLITS ON ALL STRINGS
A split refers to the note that is produced one more than one pedal or knee-lever is engaged. So, for example, if you raised that fifth string from B to C-sharp as mentioned above, and you also used a knee lever that lowers that string from B to A-sharp, you get a note somewhere around C-natural. There are many ways to tune this "split." One way is to have a built-in set screw at the top pack end of the changer that will only allow the string to lower a certain amount. If you have these screws on all the strings, you have great flexibility in how you set up your pedals and knee levers to raise and lower strings; you can have a split tuning on any string.

4)MULTI HOLE BELL CRANKS-why is the amount of holes important?
As mentioned above, which hole you use at the changer affects the length of travel and stiffness of the pedal or knee lever. Likewise which hole you choose at the other end, i.e. the bell crank, will affect this. All of this is critical when (as in most cases) you are raising or lowering two (or more) strings with one pedal or knee lever. Different gauge strings require different pulling lengths. By adjusting your choice of holes at the changer and at the bell crank, you can "time" the pulls so they all start at the same time. This makes the feel of pedal or knee-lever much smoother.

5)ADJUSTABLE RETURN SPRINGS
On all-pull changers, a return spring is placed on every string (under the guitar) to counterbalance the tension of the string) . When you lower a pitch with a pedal or knee-lever, it puts tension on the return spring, which then allows the string to return to pitch when the pedal or knee-lever is released. Again, as in the previous item, adjusting the tension on the return spring can effect length of travel, This is, however, a much subtler and trickier art, and one needs to think very long and hard before fiddling with return strings. To paraphrase Mr. Oleander: "they can do great things â€” terrible, yes, but great."

6)WOOD NECK vs ALLOY NECK
Necks are typically made either of wood or of aluminum. Many people believe aluminum necks give the pedal steel a brighter tone, many others believe it does not make much of a tonal difference and it just a matter of aesthetics.

Okay, that's the best I can come up with on the fly. Someone please step in and clean up my mess.[/i][/b]

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Dan has it pretty well nailed.
HOWEVER, the Sho-Bud "single raise single lower" can raise or lower every string many times, because they share one rod.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Frank De Vincenzo · From: The Garden State

So far so good. WHAT ARE HALF STOPS?

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Going back to that raise of the fifth string from B to C-sharp: if you have a mechanism that allows you to feel when you get to the note C-natural (half way between B and C-sharp) that would be a half stop. The split described previously gets you that note, but not on the way from B-to C-sharp. There are at least two ways to achieve the half stop (and probably a slew of others that don't come to mind at the moment). The most common is a change found on many E9 all-pull steels, where a knee lever lowers the second string from D# to C-sharp, and also lowers the ninth string from D-natural to C-sharp. As the second string gets to D-natural (on its way to C-sharp) the lowering of the ninth string kicks in. The player feels that and knows they are at D-natural. They may want to continue, then, to bring both strings down to C-sharp, or they may just be aiming to get D-natural on the second string.

Another way is to have a compression spring mechanism under the guitar that is engaged when you get to the half stop. This creates enough of a stop to let the player know he or she is at the half way point, but not so stiff as to prevent pushing through to the final note (C-sharp int he example above). Some combination of these two is often employed as well (I have it on both of my Sho Buds).

Frank De Vincenzo · From: The Garden State

Thank you Professor, and thank you Lane for taking the time to respond. All the best, Frank
_________________
JusticeJudge

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Frank, for a visual description of the second kind of half stop, see this video: http://youtu.be/nZoVqgtGk3o
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

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