The Steel Guitar Forum

Eric is new to steel and just drove down to swap some music gear for a very nice D10 Remington 8X7. I just got an email from him and he is having a problem. I don't quite understand what happened but this is what he tells me:
"The piece of metal that the A pedal rod hooks into failed and came out of the guitar."

I can't for the life of me understand what has happened as this guitar is built like a tank. Regardless, he has a problem.

If memory serves, this is a flat piece of metal with a hole in it to slide the hook into. I don't remember what the other end looks like because I never had any reason to check it out. I would guess it must have a similar hole to attach to the guitar. Offhand, I don't think this is big deal to fix, but I'm not there.

Eric is pretty down about this and could use a helping hand. I'm just too far away to be of much help. Is anyone in the Ft. Leonardwood area that might be able to help him?

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God Bless,
Steve Stallings

www.thenightshiftband.net


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve Stallings on 24 February 2003 at 11:50 AM.]</p></FONT>

oops... his email is:
elric@homerocker.com

Ok heres whats up - what I REALLY need is someone to go to for a quick few lessons on setup! =)
The first time I set it up I placed the rods in the right pedals. After I got to messing around, figuring out which pedals affected what strings, it felt like pedal A wasnt pulling anything down at all, in fact the pedal seemed "stuck" and wouldnt travel the distance like the other ones. So I applied a little more pressure - Steve had said to not worry about breaking anything, because I asked because I tend to be pretty heavy handed with intruments - anyway the pedal went SNAP and the rod plopped out - the little metal piece that connects the rod to the guitar seems damaged - see pics

Here is where it connects to the guitar:

Is there a home remedy to fix this? It looks pretty involved where it attaches to the guitar. I'm so new to this PSG I'm scared to touch it now! heheh anyway I live in Waynesville MO between Rolla and Lebanon so if anyone can point me to any places in the region to help me out I'd appreciate it. I'm not even above driving down to Branson!

Thanks folks
Eric the Leadfoot
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Eric Myers on 24 February 2003 at 06:58 PM.]</p></FONT>

Steve , sounds like arm has come off cross over rod . whether it,s broken or seperated would take on hand inspection. i,ll give him holler see if i can help him out. James

Eric--Try giving my friend, Keith Hilton a call. He lives in Ozark, Mo. just south of Springfield and has a shop and builds electronics for steel players. He is an excellant player also. (417)581-1265
klhilton@aol.com www.hiltonelectronics.net
tell him I said hi and I'm getting tired of beating the old dollies off with a stick --he'll fill you in - Bill Myrick

The pictures are pretty small, but it looks like the hole in that flat metal piece has pulled through. I'd say you have two choices.

1) Make another piece, then remove the cross shaft, or just the clamp if you can. Drive out the roll pin and replace the piece.

2) Contact Herb Remington or Bobby Bowman to obtain a replacement assembly.

Either way shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Eric pics really help show your problem. i,m sure your really down not being able to play it. first one has to ask why it happened. was their knee lever folded up that could have caused problem. problem could be worse. if you,re handy with hacksaw drill grinder or file more work. you could make the arm and pin it again to crossrod arm. I,d be more than happy to help you if i can . James

Thanks for the input-I'll contact the people near springfield - it'll give me an excuse to take the wife "out to the big city" haha - I'm sure it happened because I didn't set it up right - I'm so new at this I had never set a PSG up before, and the "knee lever" comment above made me remember how dumbfounded I was when I saw that the knee levers didnt just drop, and I wasnt sure the correct procedure for making sure they were dropped right, in fact one didnt drop at all, but no amount of tugging would make it drop and in fact it kind of looks like its meant to be a "thigh" lever not a knee one -man you should have a licence before getting behind the wheels of these things =) -the instructional stuff I have seen didnt show "how to set up" - yeah I'm not worthy..........................a little different than just pulling a guitar out of a case!

Eric,
The knee levers that don't come down are up levers. Don't try to force them. I am truly sorry we didn't have more time to spend on the guitar.


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God Bless,
Steve Stallings

www.thenightshiftband.net

Eric,
That piece is called a pedal pull rod connector strap. This is a very unusual thing to have happen. That strap as well as the pin that holds it is high quality stainless. It took a super amount of pressure to cause this to happen unless somehow the integrity to the strap or pin or both had been intruded somewhere back down the line. Nevertheless, it has happened and will need to be fixed. If you are not mechanically inclined then I suggest that you have someone who is take a look at it. In all probability the pedal pull crank along with that strap and pin (which comes a a total assymbled unit) will need to be reinstalled on the cross shaft. That whole pull crank assymbly is set on the cross shaft by way of a single screw. If you have the proper allen wrench (which I think is a 9/64 or maybe a 11/64), or sometimes I put it together with a 8-32 flathead, phillips head screw, (I can't tell by the pictures), you can disassymble it while it is on the guitar with just a little imagination and patience. Otherwise, you have to take out the screws on the cover strip plate on the tummy rail (which is no problem to do), slide the cross shaft out through the hole just enough to get to the pull crank and then take it off. I know Herby does not have any of those kind of parts at his store. I don't think I have any in my shop (If I do, I'll mail it to you or you can mail me the parts [cross shaft and your broken parts] and I'll put it together for you). If I don't have the part on hand, I'll have to have the machinest make one up. I don't see any need to ship the whole guitar unless that's what you want to do. It would be pretty expensive to ship the whole guitar. I think that is a 1/8'th roll pin in there. When I get the part it is already put together. That's why I'm not real sure about all the sizes of things. If you do ship the crossshaft to me, you'll also need to take the belly pull rods out of the bell cranks. Simply back off the nylon tuner nut at the changer enough to slide the rod out of the bellcrank. Take note of which slot they are in so you can put it bact together with the very same action that is on there now.
I'm sorry this has happened. I don't understand how it did, but I'll do everything I can to help you correct it.
Shoot me an Email about it so we don't take up too much space here on the Forum.
BB

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If you play 'em, play 'em good!
If you build 'em, build 'em good!