The Steel Guitar Forum

This has come up recently and I couldn't resist sharing today's experiences....

I did both necks of both my Emmons LeGrandes then did my new Zum Encore.

The Emmons? Nearly an hour on each one and some sore fingertips (the older one has stiff machines on C6th) as well as raised blood pressure from those cursed pins!!!

The Zum? All done, cleaned and in tune in just under thirteen minutes! ALL steels should have those swallow-tailed string-retainers at the changer-end - absolutely stress free and the guitar sounds just great...

Roger, As you may know or may not know, the screw on the top of the tuner knobs control the tightness of the turn-ability of the knob. It is fine to loosen those screws to your personal comfort level.

Depends on what You're used to. I like pins and hate the slots. And a few months ago, the Franklins chimed in saying that they'd found a tonality difference and their ears chose pins.
If I could change one thing about my MSA Classic. pins would come before triple/triple

"Depends on what You're used to."

No; I've had Emmons guitars for fifteen years and I'm certainly used to their pins - I still dislike them, though.

A difference in tonality? I'm unconvinced about that - I believe that there are too many variables in the whole equation for us to be able to isolate that one factor.

Fair enough. Bad semantics choice. I guess "different strokes fer different folks" would make a better fit.
I dislike slots. I've had both long enough to get used to each.

I say old chap. Thats my opinion also. Much faster than my Emmons, for me.
Mule

Ron Pruter wrote:Roger, As you may know or may not know, the screw on the top of the tuner knobs control the tightness of the turn-ability of the knob. It is fine to loosen those screws to your personal comfort level.

Ron, true enough. However, older Sperzel tuners, such as those found on Emmons guitars from the 1980's, have been known to have a sealed lubrication that can harden with age. This makes turning them stiffer than what might be expected from a new tuning machine.

That's how it feels to me, Herb. Loosening the screw doesn't help.

One day when I was changing strings my cell phone rang right after I had placed a string on the pin. Not wanting to loose what I had, I took the cigarette from my mouth and placed it in the changer as to hold the string onto the pin while I answered the phone.

To date, the best "tool" I have found for making string changes faster and easier. The cigarette hold the string on the pin while you are winding better than anything else I have tried and even better than my guitar player who always wants to help me change my strings.

Disclaimer- The butt of the cigarette will be ruined after 3 to 5 strings so be prepared to give up 2 or 3 of your coffin nails when using this technique. Maybe not the cheapest option, but nothing about this hobby is cheap.

I had a problem breaking the E9 string 3 (G#) and when I went to taking it up a half step at a time over an hour, no more breaks.

Here's what I use:




Seems like someone had suggested using a piano tuner's rubber muting wedge.

I have a small rubber like wedge that I use to hold the ball on the pin when restringing. Someone that saw what I have said it looked like a piano tuning mute, which it may be. I bought it in St Louis (ISGC) back in the 80's; there were a couple guys from Illinois that were selling that and several other items for steels.

It looks like this, except it also has a small metal eylet on the end.

I just borrow one of my wife's small foam-rubber wedge- shaped make up sponges. They cost about five cents and hold the string on the pin perfectly. Since They are made out of soft foam, there's no chance of them doing any damage to my guitar

A wedge shaped replacement pencil eraser does the job nicely for me and it fits in the same mint tin as my tuning wrench and other needed allen wrenches.

Looks like a rubber door wedge might do the trick

I have used this method for years just keep a wooden close pen in the pick pouch. Works great on my Emmnos guitars & my Derby
Larry

I like the clothes pin idea - cheap and cheerful!

Larry wins....most creative!

Like Larry, I use a wooden clothes peg, with a hole that fits over the pin:



This one has been on tour with me for the past 20 years!

It's the 3rd hand I need when stringing my Lashley LeGrande.

Lee

I always cut the string to length, put it thru the tuner and wind 1 turn, then put it on the pin or in the slot, hold tension w/ left hand , and turn the tuner string winder with my right---only takes a few minutes to change them all. Once they're near tension, I stretch them well several times, then bend each one over the nut and changer by pressing down on the string on the fretboard side of the nut, and changer w/ the rubber handle of my blue Klein side cutters. This takes the small arc out of the string and allows it to play true.

I use a Phillips head screwdriver to hold the ball end on the pin--a tool I want to keep handy anyway.

But I much prefer the "swallowtail" slots. All due respect to those with more professional cred than me, but I am very skeptical of claims of difference in tone response.

I can't imagine putting the string on the tuner peg first, before setting it into the changer. For me, this would mess up my meticulous arrangement of the windings on the tuner peg--different for each peg. YMMV.

If I were to locate the string in the machine-head first, then bring it down to the changer-end the odds are good that the string would be twisted slightly making hooking on to the pin even harder than it is now.

I hook on to the pin, pull the string to check the required length, make a right-angle bend (easier to find the hole that way) then cut the string with about 2" over (maybe less on the heavy C6 strings). Sometimes I'm lucky and the string will stay located on the pin while I fiddle but I'd like a third hand.

The clothes-peg seems clever.

The other nightmare? Putting the B string on a Tele that has Joe Glaser's B-bender! It's really frustrating thinking you've seated the ball-end correctly at the bridge only to find it pops out once you're coiled the string around the tuning post - once the string's been bent you may as well throw it out and get a new one!

GRRRR!

Swallowtails rule!

I never had a problem with pins, but now that I'm so old
and my eyesight is so bad I can't see them anymore, and
it would take me at least 10 minutes to chamge 1 string.
I recently got a Mullen and it has the slots, and I love it.
The other day I installed a complete set of strings on it
for the first time. It only took 1/2 hour to change them,
oil the changer and rollers and get it tuned up. I must say
this is a pleasure for a half blind old man like me. WOW!

I've always used a plastic peg winder after I've bent the end of the string to comply with the "rounded" tailpiece" and cut the string a little shorter with a pair a small cutters which I carry in a box with a bunch of bits and pieces in my seat.
The string just takes a few seconds to attach

Hope you find this helpful.

All Z.B.est.

Bob Mainwaring.

I've always used a plastic peg winder after I've bent the end of the string to comply with the "rounded" tailpiece" and cut the string a little shorter with a pair a small cutters which I carry in a box with a bunch of bits and pieces in my seat.
The string just takes a few seconds to attach

Hope you find this helpful.

All Z.B.est.

Bob Mainwaring.