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Topic: Single or double blade bell cranks? |
Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2015 5:08 pm |
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I agree totally Damir, some folks are coming up with some innovative design concepts and implementing them at a pro level...really cool imo  |
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Bo Borland
From:
South Jersey -
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Posted 29 Mar 2015 5:17 pm
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| That is some serious design work. |
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Henry Matthews
From:
Texarkana, Ark USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2015 7:05 am
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Nice guitar Storm. That's a bell crank that you can tweak to perfection.
Mike, I like the single bell cranks better if they are the heavier material, just because that seem easier to change pulls etc. But usually, single bell cranks have the bent rod into a hole with some sort of clip and I don't like that. However, I do like the design of the double bell cranks that are on Excel guitars with the nylon barrel that the rod screws into and the tuners on the end are permanently attached to rod, the whole rod turns when tuning.
I also like the design of any guitar that length of rod can be changed or adjusted at the bell crank, not the rods that are bent and stuck into holes on bell crank. Just easier to work on.
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Henry Matthews
D-10 Magnum, 8 &5, dark rose color
D-10 1974 Emmons cut tail, fat back,rosewood, 8&5
Nashville 112 amp, Fishman Loudbox Performer amp, Hilton pedal, Goodrich pedal,BJS bar, Kyser picks, Live steel Strings. No effects, doodads or stomp boxes. |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 30 Mar 2015 9:42 am
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mid eighties zum bellcranks had the double sided comb thing pulling the rod with a pin through it. easiest to reposition and a solid straight pull.
of course anything that pulls straight and true should work, but the zum required no tool and fewer parts to move the position or to assemble/dismantle. |
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Dan Robinson
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2015 6:02 pm
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| chris ivey wrote: |
| mid eighties zum bellcranks had the double sided comb thing pulling the rod with a pin through it... solid straight pull. |
Yep, the "comb" style bell-crank shouldn't torque when pulled. Didn't Bud Carter do the same?
Bruce abandonded that design for a single blade. But I wonder if a single-blade works best when the crank is narrow, and holds the rod close to the blade axis.
Ross Shafer's cranks are gorgeous, but the rod is some distance to the side of the crank blade. Just curious, not critical. Is some of the pull force spent in the torque of the crank blade? Enough to feel it? |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 30 Mar 2015 7:17 pm
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When I was building my homemade guitar I tried twin and single bladed cranks and came down on twin, as however close you can get the rod to the axis of a simplex crank, there will always be some torque causing friction and bending, however slight. Clearly there are plenty of good guitars around that use single cranks, but I'm not clever enough to get a result I was happy with so I stuck to double. That way I'm assured of a solid straight pull.
I like the idea of an infinitely variable crank like Ross Shafer's, but I'm still trying to figure out a symmetrical design that I can actually make! 
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Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Bo Borland
From:
South Jersey -
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Posted 31 Mar 2015 6:21 am
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| While many of the best steels have straight pulls, is the minimal amount of torque really a factor in single blade fingers? |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 31 Mar 2015 9:37 am
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| of course not! look at the history of pedal steels and you'll find lots of crude machinery that wonderful music was made on. |
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Billy Carr
From:
Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)
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Posted 31 Mar 2015 11:52 pm bellcranks
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| I like the Excel and GFI bellcranks best. Either one is easy to work with and I find that balancing a pull to raise/lower any string is simple as keeping a little space between pullrods to avoid any rubbing/binding. Once either bellcrank is in position and is secured, that's it. This plus a few drops of oil in the changer and rollernuts at each string change and most guitars will play like a dream. |
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