I'm a newbie and I'm struggling to get comfortable, with my chair at it's highest I'm only just getting my knees to the levers, forget about the vertical one!
I'm 5'7 I didn't think that was too short to make a big difference, maybe I'm wrong.
The steels legs are at their shortest as far as I can tell.
Hi Matt you don’t say what kind of chair your using?And if your steel is standard height?
It’s much easier and cheaper to adjust the height of your seat.Try one one of those inexpensive adjustable piano benches.Or even pile on a pillow or two just to experiment.
Lowering the height of your steel involves new front legs and pedal rods.
Will cost approximately 125-150$ and also involves resetting your pedal heights etc.Not always easy for a new player.
It looks very close. You don’t have to be right at the top. You get better leverage at the lower part of the levers. Is your right foot on the volume pedal? That brings the right knee up a good bit. I see a vertical on the right knee, which is unusual. Most have it on the left
Find a way to raise the seat rather than mess with everything else..
I'm currently using an adjustable office chair at the highest it goes, as you can see my thighs are far from parallel to the floor.
The vertical is on the left, the photo makes it look different.
The Fessenden has extendable legs but they are at the shortest it goes to, the bottom of the skirt is just over 26".
Maybe I need some nice sparkly 2" stiletto heels
For an quick fix, to extend your knee levers you can get some PVC tubing from the hardware store and slide it over your knee levers. You can use a small piece of foam on the inside of the tubing as a shim to hold it in place.
You can also temporarily attach a block of wood or foam to the Vertical Lever to make it lower.
Don't scratch up those shiny levers though!
Don't ask me how I know this... I'm 5'7'... and a quarter!
Last edited by Pete Burak on 10 Aug 2021 6:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
You can just adjust the back legs lower, and that would help some, temporarily. (There's no law that says the guitar has to be level.) But in the end, you'd probably be happier and more comfortable lowering the steel and using a lower seat.
If you do decide the steel is too high as-is, I strongly suggest you think it through carefully, try a bunch of different things like lowering back legs a bit (I would not suggest extremely), try some shoes that elevate your knees a bit, try to find someone to swap legs with, and then if all else fails, measure twice, thrice, or four times before cutting.
But your knees do look a little low to me and, as stated, the angle of your knees relative to the horizontal plane is already fairly large. To me, this means that raising the seat further would not be a reasonable solution.
I personally have the reverse problem. I'm tall and had to raise my steels before I could really do much of anything with the levers. But I think it is absolutely essential to make the steel fit you, not force yourself to adapt to a steel that doesn't fit you. Just proceed methodically and logically. The biggest issue, I think, is the distance between the top of your kneecap and the bottom of your foot. If you can somehow lower the levers a little or raise your knees somehow, you might find the steel comfortable as-is. But if not, I'd do whatever it takes to make it fit.
This man needs a pair of good old fashioned Cowboy boots! Done!
... J-D.
__________________________________________________________
A Little Mental Health Warning:
Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.
The sitting surface of your seat needs to be about 21" high.
If the chair you are using is that height or taller, you will need to lower the steel guitar.
2 things:
1) Set your seat height so your thighs are level with the floor (with footwear)
2)THEN, set your guitar height so your forearms are level to the floor.
If you don't, you may be setting yourself up for all sorts of ergonomic problems, including joint pain and ability limitations down the road from bad habits due to compensating for an improper set up.
To me:
Seat height is a function of lower leg length. Full stop
Guitar height is a function of upper arm length once the seat height is correct.
We're ALL built differently.. my guitar is 2" over, and my seat is raised 3"(long lower legs).
God knows it's hard enough without handicapping yourself right out of the gate! 😄
Your picture doesn't show the front legs at the pedal bar..is the clutch right on the pedal bar, or is there some kind of spacer? Are the pedal rods (ABC) extended in any way?
As mentioned above, it's YOUR guitar! Make it fit!
Best of luck!
I also had a thought this morning 'What if I sit a little closer to the steel'? This has helped no end, the seat height went down to make my thighs parallel and I can reach the knee levers and almost the hit the vertical lever which might just need some adjusting, it's not like I'm going to be needing that for a while in my journey anyway!
Matt, I hope you get it worked out. Please post your results. Did you mention the height of your steel and seat? If so I missed it. I'm at 6 ft tall and most steels and seats work for me but I have a new GFI and none of my seats worked. Had to raise rear legs to max and then I purchased some longer boots to use as adjusters. 2 inch raise total. My seat is 21 inches. I just got some taller legs and rods to try. Good luck.
Matt Kidney wrote:
I have ordered a drum throne.
I also had a thought this morning 'What if I sit a little closer to the steel'? This has helped no end!
When I looked at your photo a second time I was going to suggest sitting closer. I think the drum seat will work much better for you.
I have a Zum Encore. The rear legs had an extra inch I could lower them. It didn't bother me at all to have the steel leaning towards me. I eventually sent the front legs and pedal rods back to Doug to shorten them an inch. I am glad I did. Much more comfortable than any other work around I tried.
looking at your picture,i think you need to lower your guitar.
I have lowered a lot of them,including mine.if you know how to use tools it is easey. very little cost,would be glad to instruct you if you think you can do it.call if you wish. 270.442 .2106
I am 95 year's old and I can still this job.
I'm 5'8" with what must be a short foot-to-knee length and I'm playing a GFI student model that has no leg adjustment. My legs (my body's legs) were in about the position yours were in and I was getting all kinds of soreness and pain. After about a year I ordered shorter legs and rods from GFI and that helped immensely. Actually, I overestimated how much I had to reduce the leg length (I ordered legs that were 2" shorter) and ultimately ended up not using the legs I ordered. I solved the problem by cutting off the stock legs by 1 inch and cutting the pedal rods the same and rebending them. My bending wasn't perfect so the action is a bit noisier than before, but now I can play the thing without hurting.
I hope this helps. From my experience, you absolutely do not want to continue playing a guitar that doesn't fit.
Gettin' better . . .
Excel ExSTAR U12, Mullen Royal Precision D-10, Sho-Bud Pro II Custom D10, GFI Student Model, Peavy Nashville 112, Fender Princeton, Gibson RB-3, Gold Tone dobro, Martin D-28, and other stuff
