The Steel Guitar Forum

I used One Shot lettering enamel. I would have preferred to mask and spray this, but ended up using a wide brush and thinning the paint with turpentine. There are some brush marks, but pretty subtle. The black on ebb's guitar was in bacd shape, so we agreed that anything I did would be an improvement. The 4 screws on the 4 corners of it were already drilled and were not exactly where I would have put them. I just had to work with what I had.The paint # is 114-7 Medium Brown. It's available at autobody supply stores or good artist supply stores. It dries real slowly, so I let the thing sit for over a week B4 even touching it to avoid fingerprints, etc.
PRR

Mea Culpa!! The paint number is- 114-L Medium Brown, not 114-7. Sorry!!

By now I'm sure everyone here has read about Sneaky. He is truly one-of-a-kind, and was a tremendous help getting my "Sneakycaster" put together right - although I used the newer type, it still has the sae "spirit" - he and his Daughter Anita made it possible; I could never have built it otherwise.

As part of this thread, I'm curious - how many use some version of Sneaky's copedent, and how many use others?

My 400 is set up like his - B6, 9/2. The only variable is the 9th pedal - he didn' actually use it, just had it as a foot position reference...so I may do something different with it.

My 1000's front neck is B6, with the first 7 pedals of Sneaky's copedent (the 8th pedal is hooked to the other neck - tuned to the "inside 8" of C6, with the pedal on strings 1 and 4 - basically open with one ""movement" pedal)

next?

Sneaky's B6 no KLs.



My pedals are:

8,2,1,3,4,5,6,7,9

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Russ Tkac on 18 August 2006 at 08:34 AM.]</p></FONT>

I set up ebb's 400 so that FP1 thru FP8 are exactly the same as Pete's. FP9 drops #1 to C# and #6 to A#.
PRR

Paul,

Ed says you are a fan of the first string drop to C#.

Great work by the way!

Russ - You're right! Ed made a convert out of me. But I don't play B6, so I felt compelled to add that same change to my Whitney E9/B6/A6 Universal. Just finished it a half hour ago. The pull is balanced with the 6th drop to F# and pretty accurately splits the A raise to G. Even with the 2:1 "accelerator" I put on it, it's still a long throw, but only 15.5 degrees of KL rotation. Tomorrow I'll mill an "escape slot" into the accelerator and add a weak spring so that that change can be engaged or disengaged at will. What surprises me is that there's no hysteresis on the change!! May switch to a .012" string to shorten things up a bit. It's a beautiful change. Sneeky obviously used that change on his legendary ride on Linda Ronstadt's "I Fall To Pieces" live recording. What a masterpiece!!
PRR

Paul,

That was one of the first songs I learned off the record on steel. I don't have that change...that explains why I don't sound like him! You are so right about that song.

Russ

Russ - I used to do a rather generic version of that song, but Sat. night @ Lostant IL, I'll now do Sneeky's version of it. Love that change!!!
PRR

Paul, can you explain or illustrate the details of your "accelerator" ? I'm looking for a way to shorten that throw also. thanks for any help.

Steve - It's just a 2-to-1 lever. One end pivots on an "ear" I mounted in one of the front frame rail positions. A very short pushrod drops into a hole roughly in the center of this piece of flat stock. The rod that actually pulls the changer then goes into a hole at the outer end of the piece. I added a "runoff slot" adjacent to the pushrod hole so that I can reach under the guitar at any time and disconnect it. There is a small spring that applies just enough pressure on the pushrod to hold it either in the "drive hole" or the "runoff slot". There is a small shouldered nylon bushing on the pushrod to prevent friction when it's riding freely in the slot. I still have to experiment with a longer, therefore "softer", balance spring to lighten up the pull a little. I don't have a way of posting a pic yet or I would. I do want to snap a 35mm pic and send it to ebb or someone who can post it. This gizmo probably won't work on every guitar, but the principle of accelerating the travel motion could.
PRR

Paul, I 1) had no idea there was a way of shortening throw on any of this stuff, or 2) have ANY idea what you mean by the explanation - I think it's in "steel-mechanic-ese" or something. I don't even know what a 2/1 lever is, much less "ear" or "runoff slot"...so I'm living with a very long-throw LKL change to C# and no idea how to change it. I just connected a lever with a short crossrod to a...whatever the thing is with the holes in it...to a turnbuckle, soldered to a cable, to a loop at the changer just on string #1. I saw similar pictures and just copied them, having no real experience with ANY steels before, much less building one. I use that lever a lot, and it's a calorie - burner.

I can scan/post pics if you want. I'd love to see it, because It's the only way I'll have the slightest clue what you mean.

Jim - I'll be more than happy to "snail mail" a pic of this lever if you leave a "snail mail" address on my gmail. Simply put , it's a 2-to-1 lever to double the travel of the pullrod which activates the changer. That became such a long throw that I tried to shorten it up by "accelerating" its motion and merely picked 2-to-1 as its ratio. I came very close!! I use an .011" 3rd and an .022P" 6th. I just surmised that the travel req'd to pull down #3 would be roughly double that of pulling down #6. I came very close, so the answer lay in "accelerating" the 3rd pull 2-to-1 over the 6th pull. It worked. The slot I referred to was my way of disconnecting that pull when I don't need it or want to use it. Promise as soon as I get these 35mm pics developed, I'll send you one to post. As I stated in my previous post, it may not work on all guitars, but the principle of "accelerating" its motion would work on all guitars. I also stated that I have some "tweaking" to do on the balance spring to help "soften" up the pull. Remember that my guitars lower on the left and raise on the right. The present "lower" return spring is definitely too harsh. I'll work that out for sure. This is the 1st time I've even tried to get that elusive change and with my present work load, I've had to nip away at this thing minutes at a time. But rest assured, it DOES work!! When raising #1 to G#, the note is "choked" because of the increase in tension. When lowering #3 instead, the string slacks in tension. Don C. even warned of it becoming "ropey". It may be true on a keyed guitar, but mine are keyless, so there is very little string left to cause it to sound "ropey". I know exactly what Don referred to. . .if you lower a string beyond reasonable limits, it just plain sounds ragged!! I find now that I have to watch what I do re: volume pedal because the volume on #3 definitely increases when it's lowered!! Didn't know that would happen. I'll be playing I Fall To Pieces Sat. night in Lostant IL at a country/gospel jam and, for the first time, I'll be using Pete's licks on it. I've done it as an instrumental for over 20 years, but not like this!!
PRR

Count me in, I've got a Fender 1000, but how's this for being maybe a little wierd. I also still have my D-11 ZB custom that I had built in 1968, also Fessy, BMI, Clark, a 1948 Ricky, and 1935 National resophonic, and I'm not a collector, just can't seem to bring myself to sell steel guitars.
Jim

Here's my "lowtech" hot-rodded Fender 400.
GP


</p><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gerald Pierce on 26 August 2006 at 05:50 PM.]</p></FONT>

Gerald, Looks cool! Rods?

Yeah...rods. It don't mean I threw the cables away. Just something I wanted to do. I'm really pleased with it so far.
GP<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gerald Pierce on 26 August 2006 at 10:45 PM.]</p></FONT>

What's happened to the 'Convention' idea ?
Basil

Fred - Are the PS-210 guys to be included in the Convention plans or just the "cable guys"?
PRR

Paul, us PS-210 guys could hold a convention in a 'phone booth and still have room to spare !!

All ?? of us .. How many are there ?
Basil

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Gerald,

Did you make the rods or use parts available and modify them. How does the pedal action play?

Thanks,
Russ

Whooops, I forgot to do something about some rods.

Gerald, email me....

What happened to the Convention idea??
PRR

Russ... I used the original pedal rods, but made everything else from the end of the pedal rod to the changer fingers, including the changer pull loops (I didn't want to un-solder the loops on the cables I removed from the guitar so they'd remain intact).
It works fine and feels good to me. I've made some minor changes to the system since the photo.
GP<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gerald Pierce on 07 September 2006 at 11:13 AM.]</p></FONT>

Fred - Are the PS-210 guys to be included in the Convention plans or just the "cable guys"?
PRR

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