The Steel Guitar Forum

This is not a major deal on my guitar (a 2-year old Mullen SD10) - just a few hushed creaks and rattles - but it occurred to me that this is the only serious guitar I've ever played, so I have no experience or expectations about how much undercarriage noise is natural/acceptable...and now that I'm tinkering and doing some adjustments myself I want to make sure I'm not causing any undue problems. Wanted to get some general comments.

A certain amount of noise is inevitable, no matter what guitar you play. When you are playing relatively quietly to yourself in a room in your house, you will get some undercarriage noise. Neither you or anyone else will hear a thing on stage. Don't be too quick to conclude that there is a problem. You are in a town where you can find other steel players, and maybe sit down at their steels and compare. Some guitars are quieter than others, but a certain amount of noise is just a fact of life.

That was certainly what I thought - it's pretty inevitable...and you're right - I need to get a point of comparison.

Thanks, Bob - and I hope you're staying warm up there in Alberta - I was just up there in late Oct. visiting some of my wife's relatives in Camrose. A little chilly for us Texans!

I would like to hear the difference in undercarriage noise on the new MSA. From the photos on their website, it appears that the pedal rods have the "ball & socket" type connectors on both ends with a slick adjuster built into the rod its self.
Try this on your own guitar, push any pedal and listen to the "noise", then push a knee lever and listen. On both my 75PP and my Fessy, the KL's do not make anywhere near the noise as the pedals do and the basic difference is no pedal rod connection on the KL. IMHO.
JE:-)>

Nathan,
Rattles is one thing -- anything with that many pieces of metal jangling together are inevitable -- but SQUEAKING can be cured in most cases. Go to the Carter website and see what they say about lubrication (if you haven't already). Not too much . . . not too often, but SOME lubrication is necessary on all steels, even those with prelubed or lube-free bushings.

Judicious application of foam rubber around the rods (don't impede the motion, just reduce the flopping a bit) can make a big difference. I use my push-pull in the studio all the time and never have a problem, even with the amp and mikes near my guitar. The pedal rods may make some noise as well, but there's not much for them to knock into.

BTW, Jim Eaton, you have great taste in your choice of guitars.

Hope this helps.

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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, back at ya!
PS - I think my Dobro is older than yours!
JE:-)>

Yeah, but my push-pull's older.


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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

I used to play a Sho-Bud and my wife always said she could hear the mechanical noise from 3 or 4 rows back in the audience.

I got a look at the underside of a Derby once. I was pleasantly surprised at the effort by the builder to cusion a lot of the stops with nylon in order to reduce some of the "clanks" and "thuds". Anyway, with enough patience, most noise can be reduced so as to become tolerable, as noted above with the use of sound absorbant materal wherever practible. Anyway, the topic just brought to mind how thorough some manufacturers can be to build a quality guitar.

Nathan, it's not much colder here now than it was at the end of October when you were in Camrose. No snow to speak of either, which bodes not well for our ski holiday after xams. Larry is right - squeaking is another thing entirely, and judicious lubricating is important.