The Steel Guitar Forum

I forgot to put an underneath shot. Martin

Wow! Looks like a smooth operator. Where do you get your parts for the undercarriage?

Rick, I machine all my own parts. The only thing I dont build is the tuning keys (I use Grovers) the legs, and the pickup. Martin.

Holy moley! I'm impressed!

Surf green! Looks like this guitar has a water theme to it. Very attractive, creative and uncommon.

I like the way the pull rods connect to the bell cranks. Changing the copedant looks very easily done. Are are the cross shafts steel or aluminum?

Also in the other pix, the changer looks beefier than typical. Is that true? And is this changer sealed? In other words when someone buys your guitars do you recommend that they never oil the changer?

Lastly, do you sell parts such as your changer or bell cranks?

Thanks for sharing the pictures with everyone.

Joe

Joseph, all my parts are aluminum (6061) with the exception of the top part of the fingers which I machine from 7075 aluminum (harder and stronger). the bottom raise and lower parts of the fingers are stainless steel (304, and .060 thick). The only steel I use in my guitars is stainless and that only includes the fingers (as mentioned) and the screws. The changer does need to be oiled on ocasion like any other. I use a 1/2 inch precision ground hard anodized 7075 aluminum axle shaft in the changer. I am not selling parts right now, I am building a workshop behind my house, so maybe later. This is not a business to me, it is a hobby that I love to do. Thanks for the complements, Martin.

Martin are you using CNC machines or manual?I'm a retired machinist & out of curiosity is my point in asking.37 1/2 yrs. building everything from lawn mowers to spaceships.

Ransom--- I have a 9X49 Jet , Bridgeport type manual mill. I wish I had a CNC but I doubt I could learn to program it. Sure would save a lot of building time. Joseph--- The "surf green" flocking is actually called "pea green" When I was doing the inlay work on the front apron it seemed to go best with the abalone and turquoise stone,and obveosly the deck which I justed kind of "misted" over with green dye with my spray gun. I like light colors. Thanks, Martin.

Did you ever think of a retro-fit on that manual/w a cad/cam program hooked directly to the machine programming would be simple.I used to run CNC's,big monsters to the small Tree & Handyman,programming is as easy as making a sour note in "G#"

Which I do frequently!!!

Ransom, I have thought of that and when I get my shop built (2 weeks) I may look into that. If programing is as easy as making sour notes I should undoubtedly excell in the programming part. Martin.

I'd be the Paul Franklin/Buddy Emmons of programming!!!!

The changer does need to be oiled on ocasion like any other. I use a 1/2 inch precision ground hard anodized 7075 aluminum axle shaft in the changer.

The steel axle in the changer on my Excel is not precision ground. When I had everything apart I thought a precision ground axle would be a nice upgrade.

After I made a new cabinet and the guitar was in pieces I cleaned everything with naphtha and removed all oil and grease from everywhere like on the delrin bushings which don't need oil. Where I wanted some lubrication, such as on stops I used dry Dupont Teflon available from Lowes.

Having the changer apart was an enlightening experience. It consists of milled aluminum rollers with a milled trunnion that slides in a slot on a stainless steel finger. In each slot/trunnion pair Mitsuo put a light jelly-like clear grease. To my astonishment, the grease was absolutely clean! Only by the end roller that was not sandwiched in between fingers was the grease totally black.
Had there been a thin plate covering the last roller, it too would've been clean.

So, after reading so many threads on lubricating the changer: 3 in One oil, Triflow, ATF, motor oil, gun oil, sewing machine oil, etc. I used none of them! Instead, I used Finish Line teflon grease from a bicycle shop. (OK. I did put a drop of Triflow on the finger rivet, but that's all.) That trunnion really needs something with a little body that will stay put. And in fairness, the old master Mitsuo Fujii is quoted somewhere in the SGF as saying "No oil."

In summary I think a modern, well designed, guitar should never require the use of an oil can and that the changer should be sealed and not require further lubrication.

Joe

Wow, I'm impressed too, what a good looking rig and some really great machine work.---Henry

Martin beautiful work as always. What was your reason for making the pedal cross shafts as long as that?

I forgot to put a picture of the cover I had made by a very lovely lady by the name of Leann Sharp. She does flawless work and uses top of the line materials. ( she is on the forum ) Also I changed the armrest to black instead of the tan colored one. I think I like the black better on this guitar. Sorry for the lousey pictures, anything more complicated than a Brownie and I'm blown away. Martin.

It is easy to tell that you love building these gems.
The precision and clean lines speak of your pride and joy of building Pedal steels.

Martin the black pad nailed it down, it looks positively perfect now, awesome buddy.....Stormy

The view makes this engineer's heart go thumpa thumpa.

CNC programming isn't that difficult. Start out learning how to find the part(i.e. find zero) and go from there.

Then cut some air for a while to observe toolpath commands.

WATCH FOR MISPLACED DECIMAL POINTS, THEY WILL KILL YOU!
And there is a big difference between the lower case letter "L" and the number 1, even though they may look the same on paper.......

Storm is right. The black pad is the perfect finish.

I keep having to come back to this post to make sure I wasn't dreaming when I saw this gorgeous guitar.

Martin, do you ever plan to build for others? Ever plan to build a D10? Your work is as good or better than a lot of the"top" brands on the market now. I think you and Bent are creating some of the most awe inspiring guitars I have ever seen.

And as for covers, LeAnn is making the best covers I have ever seen. Unfortunately, when I bought my covers (D2F), I didn't know about her or she wasn't making them yet. She will get any future orders for covers from me.

Martin,
I've always been honored you've chosen me to make the covers for your beautiful steel guitars!
Thank you,
Leann

Nice looking cover Leann......thanks for the great work. Martin, that is a great looking Steel too.

Thanks Larry!!

Martin, that is just about the prettiest steel I have ever seen. Florida must be the best climate to make steels in, 'cause you may have just won the prize for "Best in Show"
From one Florida boy to another...Attaboy!.
Duncan