The Steel Guitar Forum

The D# to D/C# change is on RKL on my Mullen SD10. I've just had this guitar for a week and a half - I'm running across a little difficulty consistently hitting the half step lower only. Before I actually sat down at a guitar with this change, I imagined the half step would be slightly "notched" where your knee could actually "feel" the midway point and thus accurately hit the half step... Was I dreaming? Prob'ly so...

I should add that I have not really done any comfort/alignment adjustments on the levers - this could be the heart of the problem. Can anyone give any basic guidelines on how snug the levers should be against the legs? I'm pretty thin and it's very likely that the previous owner had bigger leg than I. It feels like I'm dancing a jig under the guitar sometimes.

Nathan, knee lever placement is personal preference. I am pretty thin too and I like my knee levers pretty close. I have 2 Mullen guitars with that particular change on them. The 1/2 stop is very positive feeling. The way they are set up by Del, that lever should also be loweringyour 9th string 1/2 step.

The way Del sets them up, you engage the lever, the 2nd starts dropping right away. When the 9th string pull rod hits the changer, that is your 1/2 stop on the 2nd string. Pushing the knee lever all the way, both strings should drop to a C# note. At least this is the wayboth of my guitars work. I have never had to do anything to them except change the angle of the knee lever.

I am sure if you email Del Mullen, he will give you a much more detailed description of how to get it to work properly.

Hope some of this helps!!!

Greg

Thanks, Greg - that info does help. My RKL does lower string 9 as well - the standard half step as you brought up. I can't imagine that I'm just missing that feel of the half stop on string 2, but anything's possible. It's pretty clear that the previous owner of this guitar did some pretty extensive set-up changes - maybe that affected the action of the chage on strings 2 & 9? I'll adjust the angle of the knee lever and see if that helps me "feel" the half stop better. I will also email Del as you suggest if it comes down to that. Thanks again.

I'm not familiar with your guitar but on my LeGrande, there is a spring that you can tighten the pressure on to give you a more definite stop for the 1/2 step.
Erv

I'm pretty sure that the approach to using the 9th string lower to set the "feel" of the 2nd string 1/2 tone lower to a D note requires that you tighten the return spring of the 9th string. That way, you will "feel" the 1/2 stop more positively.

It could need re-rodding. The ninth string drop should engage only when the second string has dropped a half tone. The previous owner may have altered the positions of the pull rods.

The first thing to try would be to lossen the tuning nuts for both string 2 and 9. Then, tune string 9 to pitch. Now tune string 2. That may take care of the problem. If not, with the guitar upside down, check the position of the rods as the lever is activated. You should be able to see when string 9 is lowered, in relation to string 2. Make whatever adjustments needed to get them working properly. String 9 should begin to lower when string 2 gets to D.

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<small>Bill Moore...
my steel guitar web page</font>

Most fixes I do for this problem stem from the guitar just using the 9th string as an adjustment for the half-stop. The feel just isn't positive enough. You can always add a half-stop adjustment to any guitar if it doesn't have it already. You really need it to have complete control, feel and adjustability(tuneability) for the half-stop. Steel Guitar Nashville carries the parts. Call Bobbe Seymour 615-822-5555.

Thanks, everyone. This is all very helpful as I scramble up the learning curve. I tried working just with the tuning nuts, and that didn't seem to help. Bringing the lever in a little snugger felt better and improved my control, but didn't really help me feel the half-stop.

...But I noticed that there is just a hair of travel (less than a quarter-tone) on string 2 before string 9 engages....So at least a little of the intended effect is there.

Richard, I think you hit the nail on the head. The previous owner moved the levers' pull assignments around and most likely altered the original rodding. I'm going to consult some rodding charts and see if the problem is where the pull rod on string 2 is attached to the changer finger - the rod is currently in the bottom hole of the bell crank and in the bottom hole of the changer finger...

Problem solved. I re-rodded string 9 one hole up (closer to the pickup) on the changer finger - following instructions from the rodding charts on www.steelguitarinfo.com - which allowed string 2 to travel the half step before string 9 engaged. Thanks for all the input, fellas. It is cool to be learning this stuff.

I was wondering if there is a half stop made that is independent of the guitar mechanism. I mean like an independently mounting, maybe spring operated unit, that the knee lever phyically hits for the half stop, then compresses for the whole tone change. If you didn't like for whatever reason you could move it to another lever. Of course the contact point with the lever and the spring tension would need to be adjustable. All that I have ever seen, which is very few, the half stop is mixed in with all the rods, bellcranks, collars and such. Is there such a device or is this just some more of my craziness?

Ken<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ken Williams on 20 November 2002 at 08:36 AM.]</p></FONT>