The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm not adept at things mechanical but out where I'm living now I'm on my own as far as adjusting this push-pull. Any pointers from you would be much appreciated:

(1) My 10th string keeps drifting sharp when I pedal down. I readjust the tuning at the peg head, let off of the pedal, then when I engage the pedal it's sharp again.

(2) My 5th string goes slightly sharp when I engage my E-Eb knee.

(3) This guitar has an X lever which I never used. I guess I need to adjust one of the collars because I can't get it to Bb by adjusting the top-row screw. I mention this in case it's related to (1) or (2).

Thanks for any tips!
Dan

Dan, ls your changer in tune? Start there first.


www.melmusic.com/laceyj/guide.html

Try the above link.

Thanks, Craig. Yep, already tried that, thinking maybe the changer was gummed up. Same results. I had already printed out the field guide but haven't been able to apply it to my problem.
Regards,
Dan

Dan, Do a search and find Bobby Bowman's Houston phone #. If he can't walk you through the problem over the phone, he can certainly fix it if you get the guitar to him. He is a master on these p/p's as well as being a great guy.
thanks,
Billy

Thanks, Billy and Ricky. That's what I'm going to do. Bobby has set up steels for me a couple of times and he is a super great guy.
Dan

Dan,
Check that the 10th string finger is touching the body of the guitar when the A pedal is fully pressed.
If it isn't making contact, either the pedal stop screw has lost its adjustment, or the collar on the pull-rod has slipped.

Richard, Thanks. It is touching the body. I'm starting to wonder if it might not be the tuning peg itself. I replaced them about a year ago, and maybe the one on the 10th string is starting to give slack.
Dan

ever figure this out? I'm having the same issue - 10th string keeps pedaling sharp

Hey Jeremy,

I still do every once in a while but when I mash the pedals for a while it eases back and stays pretty much in tune. I think in my case it was probably the fingers being gunked up. Good luck, man, I hope you figure it out!

Dan

Jeremy Reeves wrote:ever figure this out? I'm having the same issue - 10th string keeps pedaling sharp

Jeremy, do you lower 10th string and use the lower a lot? If you do lower it, you could be having what I call string gather. There are other fancy words for it that I can’t even spell but basically, that’s what it is. When you lower a bigger wrapped string, the windings sorta gather over top of changer and it will come back sharp, then when you pedal it, the windings are still gathered over top and will make it pull up sharp. It’s only a few cents and doesn’t bother me but some people it does. Cabinet drop doesn’t bother me either. Most didn’t even know of it until electronic tuners came out. Lol
A temporary fix is to put a drop of oil on string where it makes contact with changer. Sometimes this works and times it doesn’t do much.

Henry Matthews wrote:

Jeremy Reeves wrote:ever figure this out? I'm having the same issue - 10th string keeps pedaling sharp

Jeremy, do you lower 10th string and use the lower a lot?

No lower on the 10th string, but that is a good point to look out for - thanks Henry

Jeremy,I think your lower return spring has lost some tension causing the finger to drift. If you put a little more tension on it the finger won't move off the zero position.I think when you tune the open string the finger is floating.

To add to what Charlie has said, you could screw in the tuner (arrowed red) to keep the lowering segment up tight to the body.
Don't overdo it, just nip it up

Hi Charlie - appreciate the input. I don't have a lower on string 10 so I have the finger screwed down tight so it doesn't move that direction.

While this may not be relevant here, ( maybe it is ) on the last P Pull I purchased , a 1983, a few strings were NOT returning to pitch. The items mentioned above all checked out. BUT what was noticed was the allen screws with the red LOK stuff, several were NOT tight. It doesn't take much to cause a slight NON pitch issue. Ever so slight causes ever so slight pitch issues.

I replaced every one of them, the problem went away !

dan, we were replying about the problem the other night, i did not want u to think i just left you dangling but our house got struck by lightning and i am probably still shaking a little. any way if you do not the problem solved if you can come to the gulfport show in november (pending virus?) i will fix it for you....i thanks jack

Bill just announced that the show was canceled for this year due to the virus concerns.

george, where is the announcement listed?thanks jack

I am pretty sure it was on Facebook. Look up his FB page and I think you will find it. Otherwise, find him on the forum and send him a note. I have his email address I think but you should be able to find him.

If you don't find it, shoot me an email.

I just looked at my FB page and it was reported there by Bill Stafford.



George

thanks george,
i found it.

Jeremy, if you can't figure it out, Jerry Erickson is a pedal steel tech at Corson Music (217-352-1477)in Champaign IL., which is probably around 2 hours from where you're at. He works on P/P's and All Pull pedal steels, and pretty much anything with strings, and does great work!