The Steel Guitar Forum

Played my steel alittle in church yesterday seemed to be fine but now back at the studio when I press my A&B pedal my E string goes alittle flat driving me crazy, can't seem to see the problem, any ideas

It's referred to as "cabinet drop"

whats the cure? first time this has happened since I got the guitar

Forget about cabinet drop, if you never noticed it before, it has to be something else.

I would have to agree with Erv if were talking just a couple cents or less, or a 1/4 tone or more flat I would say the guitars changer/under carriage would be the place to start.

Tune your e's with a and b down. ...Much more tolerable.

will try that, could be something came loose just alittle but really frustrating for a newbie,

Steven Albrecht wrote:Played my steel alittle in church yesterday seemed to be fine but now back at the studio when I press my A&B pedal my E string goes alittle flat driving me crazy, can't seem to see the problem, any ideas

Did the church have a real piano, or a digital keyboard? A piano is tuned and "sweetened." Keyboards? Not so much. I've heard it a lot, playing in church.

Have you checked that it only happens with A and B - what about with A only or B only?

I wonder if something in the changer is sticking and pulling the E's changer a bit when you pull the string next to it?

A bit of lubrication could help that

My first thought was the same as Jeff's. Something may have got dislocated in transit from the gig so that it interferes - it's happened to me. Observe carefully whether anything other than the correct lever is lowering the Es very slightly.

(Cabinet drop is chronic, not acute.)

If you make a habit of transporting it set up, try tightening up all the screws that hold it together.

Thanks again guys, I never transport the steel except in the case, got that info from the forum to, but I cleaned and lubricated the changer points lightly as per recommendation on here, seems to have worked for now, nice tone for an old guitar etc, but hard enough learning to play , sure thinking about buying a new stage one, would cost less than I paid for this,just wouldn't have the history, each day its a new learning experience, and if I wasn't starting so late in life some of the frustration wouldn't be so bad, thanks again