The Steel Guitar Forum

Is their a standard way of remembering which one of the pedal tuning rods go with which pedals ? or are they all different on different steels? Every time I tune my pedals by rotating the tuning rods on the right side of the steel, I go through the same process of some experinmenting to be sure what I am doing. Of course I know some but not all. thanks, gene e jones

Gene, I am sort of forgetful also so the way I remember is I put 1 dab of red fingernail polish on the #1 rod, 2 on the #2 and 3 dabs on the #3 rod. Since I only have 3 pedals, it makes it kind of simple. My rods also have the numbers on the bottom of each one where they connect to the pedal. I hope this helps.

Gere

If I'm understand your question correctly, your asking how to tell which tuning nut at the changer end of the steel is connected to which pedal or KL pull. I just lean to the right so I can see which one moves when I "work" the pedal or KL in question and then put the tuning wrench on that one! You could put a dab of paint or nail polish on the end of the tuning nuts also.
JE:-)>

If I understand your question.... I just step on the pedal to see which one of the plastic hex nuts moves.
My rods have tape on them going up at an angle so I can tell which rod is 1, rod # 2 etc.

I have discovered that manufactures differ slightly when it comes to what order the rods are installed on the guitar. This, what the pedal and knee set-up is along with how much pull might be requiered is what determines which hole on the pull finger the hex nut will be located.
Sometimes when you activate a lever or pedal while looking at the hex nut area it seems as though several nuts are being moved at the same time. This is normal depending on the aformentioned. If you have several pulls on any one string such as the 4th string (E), 1/2 step raise (F lever), and a whole step raise (C pedal) it can get confusing especially in low light situations. Then add a bunch more pulls for more fancy smancy chords combinations along with compensators and I have a friend that has 32 pulls on an E9 10 string neck. Whew! Well beyond the fact he's utterly insaine here's a soultion I came up:
With a red sharpie fine point, color the hex nut compensators for those pulls. Red stands out very well. Then use a black sharpie to draw a line on the end of the hex nut that has the 1/2 step raise on the F-lever, string 4. Next for the whole step raise string 4, for pedal C, color the very tip of the hex nut completely. Now color the 5 string raise for pedal C. This will get you started. Of course if you have more pulls (both raise and lower), you will have to come up with other markings in a similar fashion to help out.
A word of caution on two fronts. Don't go crazy marking all the hex nuts or you will need a ledger to remember which one is which. And this is the reason we did this to begin with. Mark only the ones in a busy area carefuly. Use colors that will show up in low light/ stage light situations.

Keeponapicin'
CAB

Thanks to all for their kind attention to my question of pedal rod tuning. Chris, you have given me a good approach which I will implement today. gene

This might be too simplified but if you're asking then maybe you don't know. And I'm sure there are some beginners who don't know.

Your changer has a "top" and "bottom" section of nuts to turn. Normally, the top section is the "raise" section and the bottom ones are all "lowers".

So for example, if you're tunning your E string levers (one raise and one lower) then obviously, the top row will have your F lever and the bottom row will lower the Es to D#.

Other than that, I do what's mentioned above one the ones I'm not sure of. Look at the rods and see which one moves when you stomp a pedal or lever.

Also, on most guitars, the bottom row turns in the wrong direction. A clockwise rotation will make the lower go "more lower". A counterclockwise rotation make the lower, um, "lower less."