Pedal Rods becoming Detached at the Top while Playing

[Alan Brookes]

I have several pedal steels but one of them has a frustrating problem. All pedal steels that I've worked with have just a hook to attach the pedal rods to the cranks. This is to simplify take-down and set-up. But one of my steels, a Fender/Sho-Bud hybrid, has a habit of detaching one of the pedal rods while I'm playing, which is very annoying. It's only on that one guitar and only on the first pedal.

Has anyone else had this problem, and can you suggest any remedy? I've thought of putting some sort of locking collar on it, but there's not much room.

[Lane Gray]

Alan, is the problem with the rod or the cross-shaft?
I bet one of the two halves is different from standard.
Have you tried swapping pedal rods (like trading 1 for 3), and did the problem stay with the rod or cross-shaft?

[Jon Light]

Bend a little more angle in the rod hook?

[Kevin Raymer]

Could be a turkey laid eggs up in there and they won't let the rod hook up properly.

[David Mills]

I have an old fender starter made by shobud with 3x1 that I had this same problem with, i found out i was looping them in from the wrong side when i saw someone else set it up, :/ whoops ha ha, might try that if ya havent already, not sure if it has the same setup but if i put them in the correct way the body kind of holds them in.

[Donny Hinson]

Bingo, give the man a cigar!

[Alan Brookes]

Thanks, folks. Larry Petree made the same suggestion. I'll have to try it. I was starting to think about tapping a new rod with a longer hook bent on the end.

[John Billings]

Had that problem on the B pedal on my Kline. Just took a couple taps with a hammer on the hook to fix it.

[David Mason]

Worst come to worst (or lazy comes to laziest? ) there's a wide variety of sizes of flexible vinyl tubing available by the foot at a good hardware store. Once you figure out the right diameter, you could just cut off a few inches and slide it on the rod. When you put it together, slide the piece of tubing up over the connection so as to snuggy things up.

[Les Cargill]

Worst come to worst (or lazy comes to laziest? ) there's a wide variety of sizes of flexible vinyl tubing available by the foot at a good hardware store. Once you figure out the right diameter, you could just cut off a few inches and slide it on the rod. When you put it together, slide the piece of tubing up over the connection so as to snuggy things up.

Alternately, add heat shrink tubing. It's easy to remove if you mess up or it doesn't work out.

[Alan Brookes]

Thanks folks. Yes, plastic tubing was the first idea I came up with. In the end I turned the rods round, put them in a different sequence, and slipped short pieces of tubing over the ends of all the rods, and so far it has worked.

[Robert Rhea]

I'm having this problem on my Carter. 2 of the hooked ends on the rod shafts are far too short and sometimes pop off when releasing the pedal. I used a twist-tie from a loaf of bread to hold each in place. I've got to figure out something better when I start having to set up and tear down my guitar. It works fine now because I'm still just practicing at home, and not playing anywhere.

[Roger Shackelton]

A Ball & Socket Arrangement Per Sierra PSGs Will Take Care Of This Situation.

There is A Ball Mounted On The Cross Shaft Bell Crank & A Socket Mounted On the Upper End Of The pedal Rod.


Roger

[Zeke Cory]

I had the same problem with a Shobud Super Pro. The hook end of my rod kept falling off when I turned the guitar upright to set up. I thought I would have to rebend the hook a bit till I noticed the hole in the little bar attached to the crossrod was badly enlarged. I replaced the little bar and it was back to normal. Figures too, it was the last thing I thought to look at. Hope this is an easy fix for you. Best Regards. Zeke