The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi all,

I'm brand new to this but what I do know is that I had a knee lever on my Dekley student model (I think that's what it is) which used to stop at the vertical position (6 o'clock, if you will), and then, after a friend was playing around with it for the first time, now that lever is pointing towards my right foot. Is the lever bent (I don't think so). Did I snap the adjustment screw? Lose a bushing? I'm totally mystified. Or was it just tightened such that it stopped there before without the benefit of the screw?

Help! Anyone! (not the end of the world, but these things do drive me nuts)

Gonna try to attach pic too, which should make this less cryptic (even if it's a crappy pic, sorry)

Thanks to all in advance!
El

Elliott,My guess is the screw that holds it on the cross shaft isn't digging into the crossbar enough because it's a round cross shaft as opposed to the newer hex ones,I had that happen on my Dekley,Someone needs to tap into the shaft to secure the knee lever,Not sure where you live but Jim Palenscar in Oceanside Ca. is the man for that.

Elliot, Is this a left knee lever moving right? It looks to me like your friend gave it a good reef and bent the upper part of the lever, right where it goes into the bracket on the crank.
I believe you could take it off and gently tap it back straight with a hammer. Lay it on a hard flat surface like a concrete floor when doing so.
The metal might be fatigued a bit after that rough treatment so be careful when using it.

Stu, I see we posted at the same time. I doubt that it would be the crank turning on the shaft. If that were so, then the crank would be in line with the lever, which it isn't. Also, those shafts have a flat spot machined into them so that the set screw for the crank gets secured onto the flat spot.

I could be mistaken of course - wouldn't be the first time

Bent,My Dekley didn't have any flat spots on the shaft at all they were all round,Larry Allen had to tap into them,I'm not mechanically inclined just guessing!

Elliot, Where in California are you? If you're located anywhere in the southern part of the state, Jim Palenscar is the man. If you are near, or north of the bay area, talk to Tom Bradshaw.

Either man can help you, and fix your guitar if necessary.

Thanks to all of you!

That said, I realize now that I posted in the wrong forum. Sorry about that.

That said, both theories espoused by Stu and Bent seem equally plausible so I think I'm gonna have to give a ring to Jim Palenscar (I'm in LA, not that close to Oceanside, but not all that far either). Thanks to Stu and Mike for referring me to him.

For now I just tightened the lever on extra tight so it stays vertical (perpendicular to the floor).

I'm going to be taking lessons with Mark Switzer so maybe he can help me figure this out.

Again, big thanks to you all! I'm a total novice to PSG but I love it here.

Best,
El

Elliott Goldkind wrote:
I'm going to be taking lessons with Mark Switzer

Mark is a great player (and singer) who deserves more recognition than he has received. Please Tell him I said hello.

Mike Perlowin wrote:

Elliott Goldkind wrote:
I'm going to be taking lessons with Mark Switzer

Mark is a great player (and singer) who deserves more recognition than he has received. Please Tell him I said hello.

Will do Mike.

The Dekely cross shaft should have a key but many have been lost. There's a slot in the cross shaft and may be a slot in the KL's bell crank.

Get rid of the socket head set screws and install a socket head cap screw in the bell cranks where possible. There should be room to fit and you can tighten the SH capscrew a little more than a SH setscrew.

The knee lever itself is bent. The two tabs that the mounting screw goes through should be at 90 degrees to the main lever. It can be straightened easily with a vise and/or a hammer. Just take your time and pad the lever with a rag or old towel so you don't scratch it up.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of one to compare yours to, but basically you just need to bend it back so it is vertical in your picture.

As in "bend the dang tang..."

Elliott: Jim and Ray are right. Your knee lever is simply bent. If you can bend it back straight all is OK. I've seen this a lot of times. The knee lever is weak because of poor engineering of that part. If when you bend it back straight it snaps, you will have to have it welded. I recommend some strengthening at the point of the bend when welding. If all else fails, let me know. I have a few Dekley parts in stock, including another knee lever I believe. ...Tom

Again, thanks all. After all I've read and seen and some correspondence with others, I agree with the "bent" camp, if you will. I did my best to bend it back. And by "my best" I mean I hit it with a hammer and made it look terrible, but somehow got it to where it's more or less vertical/perpendicular to the floor, so all is well enough, at least for the time being.

It's just a student model with a single knee lever, but I'm loving my new obsession quite a bit so I think I'm going to look into adding additional knee levers, if possible. I believe that's possible on this guitar.

Tom, good to know you have parts. I'll keep that in mind for sure.

Best to all,
El