F lever/E raise support

Dan Neave · Post by **Dan Neave** » 21 Oct 2023 10:11 pm

Hi members,

I need a little support for a lever issue I'm having on my E9. I am generally happy with my tuning system which starts with the typical pedals down E strings to 440, then pedals up I use harmonics to tune the rest of the guitar however the other day before a fairly important gig at a local country music festival here in Australia I experimented with the SE9 and SP9 Jeff Newman Istrobe soft sweeteners to see how they sounded compared to my typical tuning and I stumbled across a bit of an issue.

After tuning all the open strings using the SE9 sweetener I used the SP9 sweetener to tune my pedals and levers. I was having some issues getting the E raise strings into tune with this sweetener and as a result I must have over tightened as the action of the knee lever jammed up and became too stiff to engage effectively. After this I proceeded to loosening the 8th string back to its original pitch of F (engaged) which helped bring the position of my knee lever back to its original position, however I was not able to loosen the 4th string enough to get it out of its new almost F# which resulted in the nylon hex nut falling off the pull rod end.

I have proceeded to tuning my guitar back to how I usually have it however I still can't seem to get the 4th string lower without the nylon hex nut falling off?

Any ideas would be muchly appreciated and apologies if this is not the specific section of the forum for this matter.

Regards,

Dan

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 22 Oct 2023 4:45 am

Dan, what kind of steel is this?

Dan Neave · Post by **Dan Neave** » 22 Oct 2023 5:26 pm

Picture file

Dan Neave · Post by **Dan Neave** » 22 Oct 2023 5:26 pm

ZB custom

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 22 Oct 2023 6:36 pm

You should put “ZB Custom” in your topic title. They are somewhat unusual critters and it would be best to get the attention of somebody who has some expertise working with them.

I can tell you that the problem probably doesn’t have anything to do with your tuning method. Something is binding up (maybe those foam pads?) and strings are not raising, lowering, and returning to proper pitch.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 23 Oct 2023 4:18 am

More pictures (closeups) of the changer, end plate, and undercarrige would help. Those kinds of pics will help.

Unless that is one of Kevin Hatton's later ZBs (never seen one), that is NOT a ZB undercarriage. As far as I can see, it's just a ZB body.