Getting a Dekley back into shape

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 27 Jun 2020 5:19 pm

Hi all!
Iâ€™m a long time noodler on lap steel. I am going to make a second try at learning pedal steel (first time was in my late teens with a Shobud Maverick, an ankle injury and getting busy with life and I didnâ€™t get too far)

Anyway I purchased this S12 Dekley (SN 112-0083) that I think will work for a new run at this. 7 pedals and 6 knee levers triple raise/double lower. I purchased it from a woman who says it hasnâ€™t been played in 11 years since her father had died. I set it up for the first time tonight and I can see I have some work. It looks like he was using some large nuts as a â€œliftâ€ for the front legs and I canâ€™t figure out the pattern of the peddle rods to match each pedal. It must have something to do with the yellow tape but I donâ€™t see it. Also the neck itself needs tightened back down. I donâ€™t know what the 6 position rotary switch on the back plate does but Iâ€™m guessing it has to do with different pickup settings. Iâ€™m usually pretty mechanically inclined but this is looking like a little bigger project then I initially guessed at.

I would like to get it working well enough to figure out the copedent and then decide if needs to be taken apart to lube and clean and how far to go with it. Probably should try to see if anyone in the Spokane area does basik setup. At a minimum I know I need to go through and make sure all the screws are tight. That made a WORLD of difference with a Remington D8.

Any advice about this model of Dekley or how to get it playable would be helpful. It seems like a nice one with the thick chrome knee levers and the inlay patterns on the front. I think itâ€™s a Slimline model.

Thanks!

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 27 Jun 2020 7:46 pm

Wait, i've seen those stickers before... https://www.jambase.com/article/buddy-cage-1946-2020

Anyway, can look up Spokane forum members and ask around (or Boise, Missoula etc)

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/memberl ... tart=15480

Chris Reesor · Post by **Chris Reesor** » 28 Jun 2020 6:55 am

Nice find. I had one of these for several years and wish I hadn't sold it in one of my periods when PSG got too frustrating. It came between a Sierra and a Carter, (all U12 guitars) and was the best of the three, IMO.

That switch is for the pickup, which is a George L 12-5, I believe. 5 different sounds available. It has been discussed here along with its !0 string sibling the 10-5. Wiring diagrams have been posted as well.

Sorting out the height of the pedals and the guitar overall isn't terribly hard and you can find all the info you need right here.

After 40 or so years, a teardown, clean, and re-lube is almost certainly going to be necessary. Whether you have the tools. skills,and inclination to tackle the job yourself is a question I can't answer, but if so, you can get all the help you need here, and Michael Yahl at PSG Parts has Dekley parts, as does Jim Palenscar, I think.

Post some more pix for us, undercarriage, where the pedal rods connect to the pedals, etc. please.

Chris Reesor · Post by **Chris Reesor** » 28 Jun 2020 3:20 pm

I might add that this is likely an E9/B6 Uni, but a good clear shot of the whole undercarriage and one of the endplate showing the nylon tuners will allow us to suss out the copedent PDQ.

Cheers, CR.

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 29 Jun 2020 10:53 am

I made some progress last night. I think the pedal rods were sorted with the first one having no tape and the others with the tape moving down a little bit:

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 29 Jun 2020 1:04 pm

Tuning up the old strings and it seems like the copedent is:
Dekley S12 copedent

Larry Phleger · Post by **Larry Phleger** » 29 Jun 2020 6:43 pm

I have owned 2 Dekleys and did a lot of work on each of them. They are fine instruments that sound great and stay in tune when set up properly. They are relatively easy to work on as well. The Dekley manual is available in PDF format here and can be downloaded.

https://www.steelguitar.com/manuals/Dek ... Manual.pdf

It has most if not all of what you need to get your guitar up and running. Enjoy!
Larry

Chris Reesor · Post by **Chris Reesor** » 29 Jun 2020 7:11 pm

Looks like a kind of mashup between Ext. E9 and E9/B6.
You should probably pick one or the other.

Lots of pedals and levers for a nice uni or an ultra loaded Ext E9.

Pedals and levers are pretty much E9/B6 except those two LL levers. Can you mic the strings and see what gauges you have on the bottom 4, esp. 9 and 10?

Pat Chong · Post by **Pat Chong** » 29 Jun 2020 8:07 pm

Lots of pedals is right. I am a fan of Dekley, too. And it does look like an E9/B6. However, play your cards right and you should come out on top, as your dealing with a stacked Dekley!

Pat.

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 1 Jul 2020 1:08 pm

It seems like I should map out a standard universal copedent. Is the Newman one on the website still the â€œbestâ€ for someone to start with? Is there anyone in the Spokane area who does this sort of work if it gets to be more than I can take on myself?

George Geisser · Post by **George Geisser** » 1 Jul 2020 1:47 pm

Joe, I have the same guitar but it's #112-0030. The copedant that's on your guitar looks identical to mine except your first 3 pedals are Emmons and mine are Day (like the Jeff Newman Uni). When I got mine the previous owner tried Uni but eventually gave up but didn't change anything under the hood. The same might be said of yours. Yes the Newman Uni copedant is what you want for now. You've probably found the numbers by now but here's where to look. Feel free to PM me if I can help further
George

Chris Reesor · Post by **Chris Reesor** » 1 Jul 2020 10:46 pm

Joe,
Newman's Uni setup is a pretty good place to start, but I see lever locations aren't listed in the copedent you get through the link here, probably because Jeff mostly played Day and didn't use a LKR.

I'd suggest you go to the Williams Guitar Co. site, select technical info, then copedents from the menu on the left side, then E9/B6 Universal
You will see that there aren't many changes to make to get to where you want to go.

I'd still like to see a photo of the whole undercarriage, and especially of the left knee levers, so we could figure out how many bellcranks you have and hence how many more you need, if any.
I have to admit that I didn't look under my Dekley much if at all in the six years I had it, because it had an excellent, probably factory, setup and had zero malfunctions in that time.

Cheers, CR.

George Geisser · Post by **George Geisser** » 2 Jul 2020 7:28 am

I found this a while back and screenshot it. If you are new to the world of steel then it shouldn't matter what the order of the 1st three pedals are. The advantage of Emmons is that better'n half of the steel players went with Buddy and there's supposedly less "cabinet drop". The advantage of Day is, especially with UNI'S is that it puts the C pedal on the outside and you will use A and B pedals when in B6 mode if you ever get around to the B6 thing. Personally I spent 7 years avoiding the B6 . You stand the same chance of catching the Kung Flu as you have of there being anything wrong with your Dekley. The consensus is the the "E9 neck is the money neck while the 6th is the fun one"

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 2 Jul 2020 9:48 am

Here are the requested additional photos:
It looks like there is an unused 3rd bell crank on the B pedal.

This shows the two different types of bell cranks.

George Geisser · Post by **George Geisser** » 2 Jul 2020 3:28 pm

Joe, it looks to me like it's set up Emmons ABC and the next 4 pedals like the Jeff Newman UNI Copedant I posted. If the 9th string is a D on yours then I'd suspect that it may have been altered to accommodate whoever did want to relearn. Otherwise it looks to be factory. And the extra rod pull on the B pedal is for string 10 G# which is often disconnected to make pedal easier to push

Chris Reesor · Post by **Chris Reesor** » 3 Jul 2020 1:54 am

That under carriage seems pretty clean, complete and mostly unaltered, Joe. Another rod to hook up the string 10 raise on the B pedal would be nice. You will also want another rod to set up split tuning on the string 6 lower to F#, which I prefer on the LKR, along with string 1 raise to G.
Not having the E to F raise on string 11 is no big deal, IMO.
Lowering string 2 D# to C# along with the E lowers is pretty important for the B6 side of things, though.
I would set up the LkL rear lever to lower string 2 to D and raise string 9 B to D. Don't know what I'd do with the LKL front. Probably some E9 change, though. Perhaps raise 1 & 2 to G# & E.

Looking at the changer cutout where the nylon tuners are, I see a broken string end jammed in there, and that lower return spring really doesn't belong there.
It also looks like the lower return springs have nearly all been adjusted to maximum tension. Probably not good.

All in all, looks like a good solid instrument in quite good overall condition that won't need much to get back in top playing condition.
But it does need attention from someone who knows what they are about, and I think a changer clean and lube would be a great idea; then you would be set for the next couple of decades.

Cheers, CR.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 3 Jul 2020 12:53 pm

I took another scan of this and it came out better.
Hope this will help if you choose Newman's set up. this is large enough to read the sweetened tuning on it too.

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 10 Jul 2020 1:10 pm

I had some time to start working on it and see now that I overlooked a few of the changes that were backed off so far they werenâ€™t engaging the changer. Here is the additions:

Can you take off the changer without removing all the rods?

James Flaherty · Post by **James Flaherty** » 23 Dec 2020 5:28 pm

Unfortunately no. All the rods have to come out of (or backed out of) the changer in order to remove it.