The Steel Guitar Forum

Do any Sierra players have the problem of keeping their knee levers in position? Seems no matter how tight I set the knee lever screw, it loosens after a few engagements of the lever and moves out of position.
I think this is a problem caused by having the levers aganist the back rail instead of in the center of the undercarriage.
Any solutions?

You are correct.

I have no solution for the problem. Frankly IMO it is poor design.

carl

Huh? What "knee lever screw"?

Yeah...What exactly are you talking about? I have a Sierra and they have a few issues like any guitar does but I never had knee levers lose their position. It sounds like a maintenance problem or a misunderstanding of the mechanics of that particular guitar.I have 8 levers on my guitar and I haven't had to adjust their physical placement whatsoever in the 7 years I've owned it. Are you talking about the reversing levers that move to the right and mount in the slots on the back of the guitar? Verticals? What? And what knee lever screw? If you could be more clear I'm sure I could help. -MJ-

I think he must be talking about the knee levers staying down when he is playing. On my Sierra, the knee lever fold from back to front for storage in the case. When I play and pull the levers down, they don't always stay there. Sometimes they tend to move to the back or to the front. The screws he is talking about has to be the mounting screws that hold the levers to the cross rods (and that is where they pivot and don't stay in place). If you tighten it to stay in place have to loosen it to put the guitar away. I still prefer the Sierra Steel's

I keep the pivot screws tight on my Sierra and only had that problem on my RKR lever...I moved the lever to the left, making it closer to my knee, and that eliminated the lever trying to fold toward the front when engaging the lever...A different seating position will also help...If it's a right lever that is the culprit, sit closer to the right...IF it's a left lever sit closer to the left...If it's both left and right levers, get another steel
No No seriously, for some players there is too large a distance between the levers, and the angle at which your leg is in when you engage the lever causes the lever to move back and forth...There is also more of a chance for the lever to move back and forth if you have your bell cranks set to the point where you need too much travel to accomplish your string pull..That was the situation I was in on my RKR lever moving toward the front of the steel when I engaged the lever..I moved the lever closer to my leg, and also changed the changer/bell crank set up for a shorter pull, and that cured the problem....Jim

The normal Sierra design is a finger that sticks down, the lever mounting screw is parallel to the strings, and then the flat bar lever move can toward you or away from you, if the screw is not tight or your knee hits it at an angle.

There is a simple solution.

Sierra makes a adapter/different lever kit that bolts to the existing finger, and it changes the arrangement so the lever folds parallel to the strings, instead of perpendicular to the strings (standard). All toward you or away from you movement is eliminated with this. I have it on both my LKR and RKR, its especially important on the RKR where I was having a big problem with the lever moving toward me as I would push it right.

I know it fits both Crown and Session series as I have it installed it on both.

Roy and Scott are correct as to what I am talking about. I don't have a bell crank or reverse mechanism problem...just the knee levers loosening and moving forward and back when my knee engages them. Possibly a small lock washer will work...I'll give that a try. Other than this (little) annoyance, I think Sierra is a great guitar. I have looked at others and still come back to Sierra.
Thank you for all the suggestions!!

Now I get it.Here's what I do to keep those things tight.Remove the bolt and replace it with one just like it but around 1/4" longer. Then put a small washer and a teflon lined lock nut on the extra protruding length of the bolt.Tighten it down to suit and then lock the lock nut (pretty tight - but not too tight)down to keep it there.A regular nut smeared w/Loctite will also work or even Loctite by itself on the bolt you already have may do the trick.While you've got the whole thing taken apart,make sure all the interfacing surfaces are smooth and free from galling that happens when two soft aluminum parts grind against each other under pressure - especially the lever itself.If the surfaces ARE roughed up,clean them up with jewelers files and then buff them out w/compound till nice and shiny.Replacing the front-to-back gadgets with sideways ones will work IF the levers don't block each other from folding up that way. My 8-lever Sierra S-12 has a mixture of both types laid out cleverly so as to fold up in between each other. -MJ-

Thanks for the suggestion Mike. I'll add it to may remedy "bag"!