The Steel Guitar Forum

Interesting Georg. That sounds like it would work well. When I loosened the screws and resnugged then, I am pretty confident in saying its tight enough not to rattle by resonating in contact with other parts. By all means I do not think they ought to be about ready to jiggle out loose, but not to the point were you need to break a sweat cracking them loose.

Erv Niehaus wrote:I heard there was a difference in tone between a slot headed screw and a Phillips head, any truth to that?
Erv

Doesn’t it depend on when the screws were made? I heard the pre-war screws were really THAT much better than anything since.

—Al Evans

I’m curious. Do you people who have experimented with this hear a change in the acoustic sound of the steel? i.e. without plugging in?

To think of it, no. I do not remember hearing a difference (noticable) in the un amplified instrument. But I couldnt say for sure

Al,
Yes! It makes all the difference in the world!
And also, make sure your shirt is make out of Pima cotton, no other type will do!
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Al,
Yes! It makes all the difference in the world!
And also, make sure your shirt is make out of Pima cotton, no other type will do!
Erv

Is that what Buddy worn??

Yes!
Nothing but Pima cotton for Buddy!
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:I heard there was a difference in tone between a slot headed screw and a Phillips head, any truth to that?
Erv

I have heard that using black screws improves the tone. But you have to use a black screwdriver to tighten them.

Erv Niehaus wrote:I heard there was a difference in tone between a slot headed screw and a Phillips head, any truth to that?
Erv

I have heard that using black screws improves the tone. But you have to use a black screwdriver to tighten them.

I guess some people must be certain that it makes no difference. I'd like to see some of the push/pull restorers (Mike Cass, Tommy Cass, Lynn Stafford & Billy Knowles) reply with their opinion. Just my 2 cents. Thanks, Tommy.....

Goerg just gave me a good idea!...
I have some Steels where I wish the fretbord were closer to the strings.
A coupla washers between the neck and the body and, 'voila!
While the neck is off I could make a template, then make a spacer out of baltic birch or something...
hmmm.

fwiw, The best sounding PP I have heard in recent memory is a 3x2 G10 with basically no neck.

Pete Burak wrote:The best sounding PP I have heard in recent memory is a 3x2 G10 with basically no neck.

I have a couple of old GS-10s. Both instruments were set up by a noted push/pull guru in Minnesota. One is a sunburst lacquer with 3x4 and no neck. The other is a bowlin' ball 'mica 3x1 with a BR-10 neck (basically a 1/4" thick chunk of black-painted maple). Both have had their legs upgraded to pro-style, adjustable steel legs for added weight and stability. The bowlin' ball has it's tone and volume controls intact; on the sunburst, both had been disconnected before I purchased the instrument. The point being that these two instruments are far from identical.

Just the other day, as an experiment, I plugged them both into the same amp (a Polytone Mini-Brute II) via a Morley ABY. Both have Emmons volume pedals with the new Goodrich pot installed, and were hooked up with identical cabling.

To these old ears, my two "student" instruments sound more alike than different. And in no way do they take a back seat, sound-wise, to my #1 -- a 1973 8x4 rosewood mica fatback D-10 with fat pedals that I've been playing since '77.

I consider the addition of the BR-10 neck a significant upgrade, so I recently fabricated another that will be installed on my sunburst as soon as it warms up enough around here that I can go outdoors and shoot a couple coats of black paint on it.

Tommy Auldridge wrote:I'd like to see some of the push/pull restorers (Mike Cass, Tommy Cass, Lynn Stafford & Billy Knowles) reply with their opinion.

Don't know about Mike, Tommy, Lynn, or Billy, but the aforementioned push/pull guru told me the neck screw tightness theory was a load of hooey.

Jack,
It ranks right up there with: "black guitars sound the best".
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Jack,
It ranks right up there with: "black guitars sound the best".
Erv

That's undoubtedly true, Erv.

Nevertheless, whenever I do get the chance to paint my new BR-10 neck black, I plan to give its attachment screws a couple of coats, too.

Slot head or Phillips head?
Erv

At this point I'm leaning towards Torx, Erv.

Good choice,
That's what the Norwegians serve up here in Minnesota in the Winter time.
Oh, I'm sorry, I guess that's Torsk.
Erv

I guess it's time to move this over to the section with the jokes.

Buddy commented on this issue a few times. Here's a link to the old Ask Buddy site where he talks about it some.
http://www.buddyemmons.com/_board/00000147.htm

Tommy,
You are correct!
The whole topic under discussion is a joke.
Erv