Sho Bud Maverick Knee Lever Problem

[James Rash]

Hi Everyone,
I have had a Sho Bud Maverick that I bought years ago that sat in storage. I have recently been playing a lot and when I changed the strings (which I had done before) the knee lever has stopped returning to pitch. It will engage, but unless I depress the C pedal the knee lever does not return. If I depress the C pedal the knee lever works fine. I do not know a lot about the mechanics of the pedal steel but I was hoping someone on here might know what to try or who to call. I live in SC.
Side note, I am working on saving up to buy my own new steel, but in the meantime I would like the practice using the knee lever as well as the pedals. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

James

[K Maul]

Pictures of the undercarriage might help.

[James Rash]

Here are some pictures of the undercarriage. Thanks for any suggestions or help anyone can provide!

[Bill Moore]

Your guitars entire underside has been modernized, including the changer. Now it is set up like other pull-release guitars. The problem is you have adjusted the lower stop screw, located on top, behind the changer finger for the 4th string. That screw determines the lowest note possible for that string. In order to both raise and lower a pull-release, the changer finger needs to be in a central position, not against the stop screw.

how to fix it:

Loosen the stop screw quite a bit, so it is not touching the changer finger. Loosen the tuning nut on the 4th string a couple of turns.

Step on the B+C pedals, tune the 4th string to F# with the tuning key.

Then, operate the lever, reset the stop screw so that the lowered note is D#.

Then go to the tuning nut on the 4th string, turn it in until the open string is tuned to E.

You might need to repeat this sequence a couple of times go get it all working together. You can do a search for tuning pull-release guitars which will give more information. When set up right, your guitar should play much better that a stock Maverick, you will be able to lower both 4+8 and also raise 4 to F#. Gook luck.

[James Rash]

Thank you for your response! This is probably a dumb question, but which screw is the stop screw?

[Bill Moore]

Looking more closely, it seem like the changer fingers for 4+8 actually have some kind of scissors configuration. If that's true, what I said above won't help. On the stock Maverick and other pull-release guitars, there is a row of screws behind the changer. One behind each finger. On your guitar, are there screws above that flat piece of aluminum behind the changer? This is a strange set up, without seeing how the parts actually move, it's hard to tell what the problem is. Is it possible that it might be set up to raise 4+8 rather then lowering them? With all the fingers tight against the aluminum piece, they can only move in one direction, to raise the strings.

[Ian Worley]

From what I can see in your pics, it appears to be a modern pull-release setup like a Stage One, it doesn't appear that there are lower stop screws so would you tune off the fixed stop plate for lowers, everything else would be tuned with the nylon nuts. Very simple setup. It also appears that the lever is way over-tuned, it seems to be pulled tight against the stop. It looks like this is mostly a product of the nylon nut on string 8 being way too tight, but you'll want to back all the nylon tuner nuts on strings 4 & 8 way off so that the long return spring on the lever is allowed to pull the lever back to its neutral position against the stop screw just above the spring. It's possible that there is something else binding or inhibiting the lever's travel, not allowing it to return to neutral position but most likely it's just over-tuned. You also need to make sure there is enough "slack" in the C pedal string 4 raise rod to allow the changer fingers to "release" all the way to D# when the lever is engaged.

From there, tune the D# lowers at the keyhead with the lever engaged so that the fingers are contacting the metal stop plate, then tune the open notes with nylon nuts on the lowering rods, and verify that both 4 & 8 return consistently between D# and E when the lever is engaged and released. Next tune the raise on the C pedal. If after tuning the C pedal the lever will no longer drop 4 & 8 all the way to D#, you need to add more travel to the C pedal to allow enough slack in the rod. Re-tune the C pedal raise with the nylon. Lather-rinse-repeat. It sometimes takes a little back and forth to balance the necessary slack and pedal/lever travel so that the raise on the C pedal and the lower on the lever can coexist, particularly if the tuning has been tweaked indiscriminately as it appears it may have been here.