The Steel Guitar Forum

I had a question. I just got a new steel through the mail today. It's my first professional type steel, a Carter S10. I'm having trouble tuning the 1st string. It tunes fine to itself, but when I tune the G lever to G#, it drives the open string sharp. When I tune the open string back into tune it drives the G lever back flat. Not sure what to do. I've run it through 5-6 times, and the endplate adjusting screw just keeps driving farther inward, I don't want to damage anything. Any suggestions.

Common problem, Lyle and this fix is good for 99% of these problems. Actually, not a mechanical problem at all--just an adjustment issue.

---When at rest, the changer must not be hanging on any of the nylon tuners. The fingers must come to their full stopping point. You need to back off the nylon tuner until it has a tiny bit of slack and is not at all engaged with the changer. How to get enough travel to raise the string that full step?

Either:

--change the screw on the knee lever assembly to allow increased travel

or

--move the brass barrel in the 'bellcrank' farther away from the guitar deck to increase the leverage and yield greater pull out of the lever movement.

also

--change the hole in the changer that the rod is pulling thru----the hole closest to the guitar deck yields greater changer travel.

Your solution can be any and all of these things. The simplest is the first suggestion---increase the lever travel.

There is nothing wrong with the guitar and in the process of adjusting this you will gain some understanding of the workings of it and that is a real good thing.

Good luck.

ps----definitely study at the Carter website to better understand everything I just wrote.

http://www.steelguitarinfo.com/infoindex.html

Hi Lyle,

You have probably a "Tunable-Splits" feature on your Carter. (RKL-1 is split to allow you to get G on string 6 using P2 in combination)

Note: It's posible that the RKL and RKR has been reversed if your guitar is not new.

1. Tune open tuning with the tuning keys.

2. Tune raises with the nylon nuts.

3. When P2 and the RKL-1 are engaged at the same time, the resultant note is tuned with the nylon nut that lowers the string. Turn clockwise to lower the note.

4. Finaly, tune the lowered note alone with the respective Red or Black raise nylon nut.


If you want call Carter Technical Line

http://steelguitar.com/source.htm#ContactInfo

Good Luck!

Louis

Hey thanks a bunch Jon. Problem taken care of and you're right, I learned a little bit about how the nether regions of the steel works. You guys are the best resource ever.