Home made Pedal Steel

James Shenk · Post by **James Shenk** » 20 Jun 2022 8:30 am

I'd like to share a few photos of my third attempt. I've been playing pedal steel (marginally at best) and making acoustic guitars and mandolins for twenty-some years. So it was only a matter of time before I tried this. I've managed to do this with my bench top drill press, bandsaw, and endless filing and sanding. Pull/release changer because that's what I can understand. It does play nice and easy, stays in tune most of the time, and sounds great to my ear. Still so much to learn about both building and playing these machines, but I'm having a blast.

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 20 Jun 2022 11:00 am

Hi James,
Looks great. Keep up the good work.
Andy

Gary Spaeth · Post by **Gary Spaeth** » 20 Jun 2022 12:50 pm

cool looking pedals. rest is nice too.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 20 Jun 2022 2:32 pm

The wooden pedal rack is unusual, but why not? Looks nice. The whole thing looks well made and deserves to sound good

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 20 Jun 2022 3:06 pm

Ian Rae wrote:The wooden pedal rack is unusual, but why not? Looks nice. The whole thing looks well made and deserves to sound good

Hi Ian,
The old 1956 Dewey Kendrick PSG I'm restoring has a Birdseye Maple wood pedal rack so not unheard of.
Best wishes,
Andy

James Shenk · Post by **James Shenk** » 20 Jun 2022 4:16 pm

Ian Rae wrote:The wooden pedal rack is unusual, but why not? Looks nice. The whole thing looks well made and deserves to sound good

Yes, not to mention the peghead as well. It's also made of hardwood. I tried cutting one from a block of aluminum, and then smoothing it up with a file. That was a disaster, so I I started over and relied on my woodworking skills.

Greg Forsyth · Post by **Greg Forsyth** » 20 Jun 2022 7:56 pm

Fine looking machine James. The cabinet looks to be made from plain sawn cherry, one of my favorite woods. I hope I'm correct!

James Shenk · Post by **James Shenk** » 21 Jun 2022 4:00 am

Greg Forsyth wrote:Fine looking machine James. The cabinet looks to be made from plain sawn cherry, one of my favorite woods. I hope I'm correct!

Thanks, the cabinet is hard maple with ⅛" cherry veneer. I wanted the strength of the hard maple, but the look of cherry. The neck, pedal bar, and peghead are all solid cherry.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 21 Jun 2022 8:51 am

Haha, Andy - I've never heard of a Dewey Kendrick so its wooden pedal board is, technically, to me at least, unheard of!

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 21 Jun 2022 10:13 am

Nice work James!

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 22 Jun 2022 4:51 am

I've managed to do this with my bench top drill press, bandsaw, and endless filing and sanding. Pull/release changer because that's what I can understand.

I think we are in the same place with this. I do have a mill/drill which helps a lot. I use router cutters for milling the aluminum changer parts. They work very well. For nut rollers actual milling cutters are needed. Great job! Very well thought out and practical looking. I have never seen springs like you have where the pull rods attach to the bell cranks or I guess those might be retainers? I was just going to use small shaft collars. I mostly play lap steel, I haven't got a pedal machine up and running yet. Its a huge undertaking with lots of problem solving, but so much fun!

James Shenk · Post by **James Shenk** » 24 Jun 2022 5:36 am

I managed to make the nut roller string grooves with a machine screw and nut chucked in my drill press. It was a little hit or miss. It took about fourteen tries to get ten that I could use. I saw the spring retainers on another steel somewhere on the internet. They are kind of a pain to make, but they are easy to release and re install when making adjustments.

Sonny Jenkins · Post by **Sonny Jenkins** » 25 Jun 2022 4:35 am

Looks like your shop is just about as well equipped as mine. You have certainly made the best of your resources!!!! BEAUTIFUL GUITAR!! I think we can take a lot of pride in being able to figure out HOW to accomplish something with the limited resources we have available. BTW I'd love to see how the legs are attached?

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 25 Jun 2022 6:11 am

Didn't Fender pedal steels have wooden Pedal bars? Hudson has wooden pedal bars.

James Shenk · Post by **James Shenk** » 25 Jun 2022 7:12 am

Sonny Jenkins wrote:Looks like your shop is just about as well equipped as mine. You have certainly made the best of your resources!!!! BEAUTIFUL GUITAR!! I think we can take a lot of pride in being able to figure out HOW to accomplish something with the limited resources we have available. BTW I'd love to see how the legs are attached?

Yes! I'm not trying to do this for a living (I do well enough with guitar repair work). So I just made the parts with the tools I have and then ended up taking a lot of time to get them as accurate as I can, smoothed up, and looking right, using the woodworking skills that I do have.

I made the leg mounts pretty simple with a chunk of 1" x ¾" aluminum. Here's a photo of that.

Tony Glassman · Post by **Tony Glassman** » 25 Jun 2022 8:34 am

If you built that entire steel using only a drill press, band-saw and hand files, I am impressed

……and with a scalloped neck too. My hat’s off to you!

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 25 Jun 2022 9:38 am

I'll second what Tony said! I've been there....not anymore gladly, my shop is dreamy with tools. But that's after 48 years in the trenches...trenches that seldom had all the tools I'd have liked to have on hand.

I wouldn't trade my early years making do with whatever I had or could afford for anything. There's no way I'd be able to do what I do today without the problem solving skills this instilled in me.

It's all about solutions! Again great job!

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 25 Jun 2022 12:51 pm

Richard Sinkler wrote:Didn't Fender pedal steels have wooden Pedal bars? Hudson has wooden pedal bars.

Your right. I'd forgotten that the 800, 1000 & 2000 had a maple pedal bar.

Johnie King · Post by **Johnie King** » 26 Jun 2022 2:05 pm

Nice build!!!

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 30 Jun 2022 8:34 pm

That is a unique way to build the fixtures for attaching the legs.
The spring clip for the pull rods are unique.
Neat set of pedals.
Great Craftsmanship

Rich Sullivan · Post by **Rich Sullivan** » 1 Jul 2022 3:23 pm

That is a beautiful guitar. Good job.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 4 Jul 2022 5:51 am

awesome guitar

The Steel Guitar Forum

Home made Pedal Steel

Home made Pedal Steel

Looks great.

Wooden pedal rack

Your right