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Topic: Up and running...Got it!!! |
John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2009 6:19 am |
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I went an picked up the Roberts from Jim Flynn on Saturday. We decided to just leave it set up pretty much as it was so I could play it for a while and decide what to do with it. He did a minimum of work on it to make it functional...cleaned and lubed it and changed a couple of rods to make it somewhat conventional. Here's the way it's set up at present:
_____LKR__P1___P2___P3___P4___P5___RKL__RKR
F#_________________________________________
D#____D___________________________________
G#__________________A_____________________
E________________________F#_________D#___F
B_________Bb___C#________C#_______________
G#__________________A_____________________
F#____________________________F___________
E___________________________________D#___F
B______________C#_________________________
A_________G#______________________________
I'll make a couple of changes and probably free up P4 for a different pull, but I'm not sure just yet. It's a little awkward to change the rods.
It's not a conventional push-pull, but it tunes like one - tune the raise on the tuning machine, the middle pitch with the bottom allen screw, the lower with the top screw (some sort of riveted changer maybe?).
It sounds great and plays in tune with the exception of the E's...I just can't get them to return. The B string is raising and lowering and it does just fine, but neither E will go back to pitch. I've tried messing with the return springs and just about every combination of screw adjustment.
Eventually, I'll get it back in Jim's hands and he can figure it out, but meanwhile I want to try to adjust it better. Any ideas?
Thanks
J A
_________________
John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com
Last edited by John Allison on 13 Apr 2009 8:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bobby Burns
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2009 7:59 am
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Hi John. How are things in Austin? Who'd a thought we'd both end up on this forum? My guess is that you have a sort of pull release system. I have worked on quite a few of these. I could probably help If I had a picture of your underside. (Please don't send a picture of your underside, but the guitars underside.  ) I bet you need to add a spring in a place that it pull the E's up to a solid stop. Or, maybe it just needs cleaning somewhere. Good to see your playing, and building still. I hated the news about Paul Skelton. Good luck with the guitar. |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2009 11:57 am
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Hey Bobby!!
How's things in Chat'noogie? Yes, it was quite sad about Paul. Been staying quite busy here. Lew's working for me and he says to say hey...
So, I think I have a picture of the changer, but I may have to get a better one to do much good. I wondered about a helper spring on the other side of the pivot. I haven't gotten a chance to see if the B is set up any differently. We just added the drop on the B so it may be that it's working because it's just not worn out and the E's have some wear in the pivot points. I'd like to avoid taking the changer apart (or rather having Jim Flynn do it), but I'll do it if I have to .
I'll email you a pic or two later.
J A
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2009 8:17 pm
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Got it all working!! All it took was clipping about half the coils off of the return springs on the E's.
Jim had just got started tinkering with that part of it when I came to pick it up, so I took a couple of springs with me to replace the stretched ones that were on it. They just weren't near the right length for that changer and I could never adjust them tight enough. When I finally got them to the correct length, everything firmed up and it's playing great and returning dead on to pitch.
Now all I have to do is polish out a flat spot on the high E to get rid of the slight sitar effect on the D#.
I'm a happy camper!
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Bobby Burns
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2009 5:02 am
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| Hey John. Glad you got it running. I looked at the pictures you sent. I was going to suggest shorter springs, but it looks like you figured that out. I remember seeing that one, mostly from the cast pedals with the R on them. I bet thats the only steel like that in town. That is an interesting changer. It tunes the raises at the head like a push pull? That is interesting. Maybe it has the all pull advantage of less slack and less wasted travel, and the push pull advantage of solid contact with the body on the pulls? I bet it sounds good. If the stops on the middle notes are solid, I bet it'll work fine. |
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Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2009 5:13 am
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Congrats John
Ken Metcalf
Austin
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MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2009 6:46 am
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I am so bit! I have to move this thing out of my shop so I'll quit messing with and get some real work done.
Yeah, Bobby, it sounds just fantastic! I don't know anything about the differences in changers, but this one has an old-school vibe to it. It helps that I'm going through my 30 watt tube amp, but I don't doubt that the tone is enhanced by having less linkage and more solid contact.
I changed the P1 pull so it looks like this:
_____LKR__P1___P2___P3___P4___P5___RKL__RKR
F#_________________________________________
D#____D___________________________________
G#__________________A_____________________
E________________________F#_________D#___F
B_________A____C#________C#_______________
G#__________________A_____________________
F#____________________________F___________
E___________________________________D#___F
B______________C#_________________________
A_________G#______________________________
I don't really know what I'm doing with it, yet, but I'm getting there little by little. I'm pretty sure I'll have to find a way to get a low D, but I haven't missed it yet.
_________________
John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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