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Topic: Sierra Lap Steel - Stuck Ball-ends. Help Please |
Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 8 Jan 2002 1:05 pm |
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I started changing my string set Saturday, and ended up with 2 stuck ball-ends on strings 7 & 5. Gauges are .034W & .024W respectively, George L stainless. They weren't tuned any higher than they should've been to my best knowledge - C# & G, bottom end of a C6th/A7th tuning.
For people that don't have one of these guitars, Sierra lap steel, it's through-the-body-stringing which means if the ball-end gets stuck, you can't push the old string out through the body. Neither of the 2 strings are stiff enough to use to push the ball-end out. And the body is pretty thick with the ball-ends being about an inch up from the bottom, and close to that from the top. Each string has it's own individual hole throught the body, big enough for a ball-end, but not much else.
I sent the Sierra folks an e-mail asking for help, but haven't heard anything from them yet. Since my guitar is effectively out of commission, I'd like to see if I can solicit advice from other Sierra owners and get the show back on the road.
I'd like to find a way to dislodge them without doing any cosmetic or physical damage to the guitar. And if and when I'm successful, I'd like to understand how to avoid this situation in the future.
I've tried to push them out from the top by using a slender hex wrench shaft, 1/16", but it just slips around the ball-end without causing any unsticking progress. It's kind of a catch 22 deal - the string takes up some of the entryway space in the hole, so I can't get a bigger tool down there.
I've wondered whether the bridge can be safely removed from the top using the 3 hex screws, which I'm willing to try, but I don't know whether Sierra has used any adhesive in addition between the bridge bottom and guitar top. If they have, I'm thinking it might get ugly to try to remove it. But if I could, it ought to give me some better access to the ball-ends from the top.
So, anybody had this happen to them? I love this guitar - I bought it new near the end of '99 and it's been great; this is the first difficulty that's showed up.
Anybody know of a good brand of ball-end shrinker? Should I call Hogwarts? |
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Del Rangel
From:
Clayton, NC
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Posted 8 Jan 2002 1:33 pm
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| When I have had trouble with my string through tele on those larger strings I have been able to use the smallest plain string I have (.010)and get a loop around the offending ball (through the hole from the back and back through, then take a bic type pen--with the ink tube removed--and twist it around the pen and the ball end . Lay the guitar upside down and top down on your bed, and use your legs to immobilize the neck, and grab the bottom of the guitar with the other hand while giving a sharp, hard tug and see if it dislodges. If it is too deep this probably will not work. |
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Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 8 Jan 2002 2:11 pm
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I just cancelled my call-waiting to Hogwarts.
Nice job Del - I have them both out, no damage, and I didn't even have to ruin my Bic - I was able to just grab the threaded string ends with a pair of pliers, and out they came.
Good suggestion, thanks a lot. |
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Del Rangel
From:
Clayton, NC
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Posted 8 Jan 2002 3:44 pm
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| Glad it worked out Bob. Nothing as frustrating as having an instrument that because of a string--stuck or broken--you can't play. I guess the thing now is to figure out how to stop it from compounding in the future. Good luck! |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 9 Jan 2002 8:22 pm
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I had the same problem when I owned one of these. It was one of the very earliest made (ser. # 0006, I believe) and I purchased it from Bobby Black. I finally managed to get the ball ends out using a narrow hex wrench, pushing from the front side (which apparently didn't work for you). I mentioned the problem to Don Christenson (who has since sold the Sierra company) when I saw him at a show and he told me that he was aware of that problem with the earliest batch of guitars but had corrected it for later models. He had invited Bobby to send his guitar back to him for a retrofit to correct the problem, but Bobby never took him up on it, and neither did I. We both sold the guitar (for other reasons) before getting around to it. Just FYI.
------------------
The "Master of Acceptable Tone"
www.jimcohen.com
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Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 10 Jan 2002 2:34 pm
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I appreciate your input Jim - Mine's #18.
I heard from one other individual via e-mail who had similar comments (early model, possibility of factory retrofit, later models modified).
I still haven't heard from Sierra, but in the meantime Del Rangel's solution worked pretty easily and quickly; not what you'd call convenient, but livable.
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Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2002 1:40 pm
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One last piece of info on this thread just for closure -
Tom Baker of Sierra got in touch with me last week by e-mail and offered to do a factory upgrade on my guitar to address this situation. He explained that some earlier models such as mine were prone to this particular problem and that a design change had been incorporated into their current guitars some time ago.
So I'm sending my guitar up to the factory this week, and want to thank Tom for the kind offer to do this mod - this is very nice customer support. Thanks Tom, I'm very grateful. |
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