D10 lift Kit

Asa Brosius · Post by **Asa Brosius** » 5 Jul 2020 9:28 am

What would you recommend for a solid D10 lift kit for an older Zum? Also curious about how people are raising their steel seats- is it worth fitting new legs, or would you recommend selling and buying one at proper personal height? I sat in on a taller set-up recently, and at a long legged 6'1", I realized I've been playing with a lot of unnecessary muscle tension.

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 5 Jul 2020 10:55 am

As far as the seat, I canâ€™t believe I cheaped out as long as I did. I had an old ShoBud seat I kept rebuilding. I eventually ordered a new 1â€ over standard, seat, and it was perfect.

Iâ€™m not that handy, but was able to gain 1â€ by doing this:

Rather than longer legs, three 1â€ blocks to the bottom of the seat works well. Just buy longer bolts to remount the hardware, including the center attachment retainer. I sprayed mine flat black. Worked fine for a long time, but when folded up the legs stuck out a bit past the bottom of the seat. Not a big deal, but not perfect. It gave me the proper height.

Also, if you add longer legs, be sure you have room to fold them up under the seat. I made some extenders once, and found I couldnâ€™t fold them up.

I eventually sprung for a new seat , 1â€ over, from Joe Naylor. I should have done that a long time ago. Well worth it.

Steven Meister · Post by **Steven Meister** » 5 Jul 2020 11:43 am

I added cane tips to my seat, which only slightly raised my seat, but works good for me. It's cheap and easy fix.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 5 Jul 2020 11:53 am

I could not function on a standard-height pedal steel without a lift kit. A lot has been written on this, and I wrote a lot of it. A few previous threads, and there are a lot more -

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=339606

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=297964

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=247021

I sat in on a taller set-up recently, and at a long legged 6'1", I realized I've been playing with a lot of unnecessary muscle tension.

When I first started playing, at 6'4"+, I couldn't even get my legs under a standard-height steel. I raised the back up and it helped some but I still couldn't really function. I made some type of home-brew sleeve to support lifting the front legs a wee bit and was able to raise my back legs a bit more to get my legs under the thing, but the tension on my leg muscles was inexorable. I see absolutely no reason to put extra tension on my leg muscles - the Achilles tendon and ankle were the worst, and that can lead to real problems if let go. I think being talked out of a lift kit and basically told to "man up" and slink down while playing really screwed me up for a while. Messed up my back too.

My first link gives links for supply - I got a bulk supply of pedal-rod lift parts from McMaster Carr. I prefer using a single female-to-female standoff with a single set screw to couple to the rod coupler.

There is also the issue of a sleeve to keep the raised front legs from collapsing under the pressure. I got a couple of 3' long Steel Works 3/4" outer-diameter aluminum round tube from Home Depot. There are two codes on it - 6710 and HILL# 11397. The UPC code is 5353856710. I see only a steel version there now, but an aluminum one at Lowe's. I actually brought one of my front legs with me to make sure it would fit over the extendable part of the leg. The key measurement here is the inner diameter, and it's in the range of 21/32" or perhaps 11/16" to be safe, in case you can't find that exact tubing - the walls on it are pretty thin.

Anyway, I've made a pile of lift kits from those tubes, and still have most of the second one left. I cut them to the correct length using a cheap pipe cutter.

I've used these successfully on Zums ('94 and '01), an early Franklin, a Mullen G2, a Rains D10, BMI, old Sho Buds, and Emmons (both PP and a LeGrande SKH). I imagine there are a few steels out there on which they would not be correct. If in doubt, measure everything carefully.

Of course, if you raise the guitar, you'll probably want to sit higher. I have guitars at different heights - I typically use 2" on a standard-height D10 and 3" on my Zum U12, which is wider than a lot of S10s, but not as wide as a D10 of course. So I settled on good, solid, adjustable-height drum thrones.

Asa Brosius · Post by **Asa Brosius** » 5 Jul 2020 12:23 pm

Thanks team- I appreciate the info, experiences, and the links.

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 5 Jul 2020 2:20 pm

I don't trust clutches on adjustable legs so I've cut what Home depot sells as 1/2" PVC pipe, which is actually the same outer diameter as the leg's lower section, 9/16, I think and put that in the upper section so the leg can't collapse if the clutch slips.

If you need to buy longer lower leg section tubing, i've had good experience with metalsupermarkets.com and onlinemetals.com, order online and pickup instore.

But you should still take the metal and plastic ring out of clutch, clean them and the lower leg section and make sure the beveled sections of hte metal and plastic ring are facing each other.

Dave Meis · Post by **Dave Meis** » 5 Jul 2020 4:25 pm

I used a threaded plug that fit tight in the tube, and adjustable glide feet... all available at the local hardware store in the furniture parts section.

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Johnie King · Post by **Johnie King** » 5 Jul 2020 4:48 pm

ASA NASHVILLE STEEL GUITAR SELLSV GOOD LIFT KITS FOR STEELS.
JIMY HUDSON BUILDS GOOD PAC A SEATS