The Steel Guitar Forum

I have a problem with my stop screws on the changers some of them are very looseand causes the guitar to go out of tune when activating the pedals, particularly the 5th string. Does anyone know what compound is used to tighten them up.
Cheers
Dave.

Blue Loctite, type 242 I believe, and use the smallest drop you can. Don't use the red stuff, it's too permanent and you won't be able to turn the screws.

Thanks Jim very much appreciated.
Cheers.
Dave.

One trick is to put a small drop of Blue Loctite on your fingers, remove any excess -- just a very thin film on your fingertips, then rub a little bit onto the threads. Be sure to get it on the threads within the adjustment range for that string.

Putting a GLOB of it directly on the threads can make it stiff for adjustment. This can also work to tighten up half-tone tuners, but you have to tighten them with your fingers, so decrease the amount of Loctite.

Just a thought.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Thanks Larry
I think I'll have to get on the Locktite web site and make sure I get the right one, after Jim told me about the Locktite Blue I went to my local stockist and it appears we have different numbers here in England so I imagine the Locktite site will give me the equivelent. Thank you both.
Cheers
Dave

The one you want is semi-permanent. From looking at their European site, it appears that 242 is not available in England. Based on the specs, you'll probably want either 222 or 243.

jb<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by johnnyb on 04 June 2005 at 06:46 AM.]</p></FONT>

The tuning screws on my Emmons appear to have red Loctite on them. When I got this guitar, it looked like most of the screws had never been turned from their original positions. Each screw has one side of it covered with a stripe of red. It looks like it was applied to the screw, then allowed to dry before installing them.

This is contrary to the instructions for Loctite. They are designed to harden up in the absence of air, in other words, after they are installed. So, does the blue Loctite work OK if it's applied according to instructions, or would it be better to use the red, and let it harden up on the screws before installing them?

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<font size=1>Bill Moore...
my steel guitar web page</font>

Bill Moore, that red stuff on Emmons changer screws is NOT red Loctite, but some other substance, the name of which I forgot. But you can call Emmons and Ron Jr. will tell you the name of the product.

Again, use only BLUE Loctite on steel guitar. It's available at Ace Hardware or just about any decent hardware store.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

I came up with a different way to do this after my third "lok-tight" redo.
Take the screw completly out of the finger,
put a spring like the one's used between the raise coller and the bellcrank over the threads and put the screw back into the finger. The tension of the spring will hold the screw tight against the threads and you can tune all you want and not wear out whats holding it tightly in place. You may need to cut some shorter that they come new, but then you have 2 springs and can most likley do two fingers with one spring.
A good source of springs for this job are cheap ball point pens that retract. Just open them up, grab the spring and trash the rest.
JE:-)>