The Steel Guitar Forum

Can anyone describe how and why they set up the "underside" of the PSG. Which holes do you put the rods through on the changers for what pedals/levers etc., and what position on the bell crank do you use? What is the advantage/dis-advantage of the various combinations. You "OLD PROS" out there ought to be able to help the younger/newer steel wanta-be's learn how to do this without all of the trial and errors. Thanks for your responses.

I'm with you Roy, I'm not a newby but I'll buy a guitar and after I make a few changes underneath, it becomes a mess. I think some of those guys have a talent for setting one up. Hope one of them will answer your post.
Jim

Uh, maybe start here? http://www.steelguitarinfo.com/infoindex.html

Rex, thanks for your thread to Carter.

My first steel was a rack anmd barrel sho-bud. No problem figuring out which holes.
Then I built my own. I copied it after one George Sell built. When I got to rodding it up, I called George for advice. I got none. "Sometimes I put it in the first hole, and sometimes in the second. It depends."
It would all be hit and miss and experimentation until you find a combination of bell-crank and changer hole that felt right to you.
Sometimes the easiest way is to take it ALL out and start from scratch.

JW

I have seen way to many nice steels that a would be expert has messed up.We often see these for sale,because they can not get them to play right.Even when pictures of the underside are posted and they look ok it still does not mean its going to
work.I do not want a guitar that a shade tree expert has messed with.If you buy, buy from someone who has a good rep.If it needs to be serviced take it to a builder who knows what he is doing.I would rather pay then suffer.If anyone will not post the underside of the steel he should.Remember its whats under the hood that counts.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Andy Alford on 15 November 2002 at 06:19 AM.]</p></FONT>

Most of the modern all-pull guitars are fairly easy to set up. I regard myself as a mechanical cretin, but living in the boonies up here in Canada I've had to learn for survival sake, or spend hundreds shipping it away. Then the border guys would suspect it as being Middle Eastern then shoot it Learn about leverages and do some simple experimentation on one pull and you'll start to get the drift on the rest of them. With the forum and the internet now there's no reason to feel helpless.

Hey Guys, I was wondering I have a U12 msa
that I am trying too re-rod the knee levers
do you start with the rkr or the knee leverson the left? cause the rkl I can not
get the 3 pull bars too be rodded, I can do
the first two pull bars which covers string
4 and 8, but not string 11 any advise, this is a double raise double lower, the chart that Bud carter has shows the 3 strings being
pulled they raise to F`s.steveb

Winnie, hope you get a kick out of this!

When I got my first steel about 3 years ago, I bought it used from a guy who'd had it for several years and couldn't make heads or tails of it. I had purchased a copy of Winnie's book, and he commented that I had wasted my money... "nothing in there sounds right".

He was right. NONE of the pedals or knee levers did the right thing. The guy who "set it up" for him should have read the directions in Winnie's book.

Having the mechanical aptitude of rhubarb, I grabbed the best resource available, my 10 year old son, who can figure out anything.

We took all the rods off and set it up according to the copedant about 20 pages or so into the book, and off I went playing Red River Valley or whatever the first song was.

The moral of the story: When all else fails, read the directions, then go get a 10 year old.

My biggest problem is when I set a pedal to just raise or lower one string ( either a full or half tone ).
The action is short and loose. How do you address that? I don't think the Carter site
covers that particular situation.

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Roy,
You would have to add resistance to increase pedal pressure.Hook a tension spring on the bell crank and find a convenient position to hook the other end of the spring to.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by richard burton on 17 November 2002 at 02:55 PM.]</p></FONT>