The Steel Guitar Forum

Do the majority of the guitars from say 1985 or newer have a triple raise/ doubble lower
changer system?

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84 SKH Emmons Legrand D10
session 400'rd Steelin for my Lord.

yes

Actually, triple lower is very common. Most people don't need 3 lower slots, though.

Thanks guys.

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84 SKH Emmons Legrand D10
session 400'rd Steelin for my Lord.

HI Terry, the new universal EXCEL changer has a five raise and five lower mechanism. this is truly required for the universal tunings. All the new leverage positions really allows you to have a very easy playing steel guitar.

Bill Stafford

5 raise and 5 lower? I didn't know there was such a contraption!LOL!
thanks for the info.

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84 SKH Emmons Legrand D10
session 400'rd Steelin for my Lord.

Not a contraption at all. Works great, very smooth, accurate, quick and very responsive. Try it, you'll like it. lol (It would be a very pleasant and welcome surprise too)) Guranteed!!

Bill Staffrod

NOT to upstage Bill Stafford, but to be precise it is actually a 7 raise, 5 lower changer. However, one of those raise holes is used for the helper spring adjuster screws*. And one is difficult to use (it CAN be), so it is safe to say 5 raise and 5 lower.

It is interesting to note "how" this changer is able to permit that almost impossibly high number of holes in the raise and lower fingers.

The secret is in two distinctly different entities. The first one is, the Excel changer has ONLY two parts per string. Yes that is correct only two; whereas most other all pull changers have 3 or even 4 parts per string. Because of this, both fingers extend from the changer axles all the way to the bottom, which permits more holes.

But the second reason is even more genious on the part of Excel and its very inovative president; Mistuo Fujii.

He solved a problem and it ended up permitting him to further increase the amount of holes with OUT lenghthening the fingers! So what was this problem and what did he do to correct it?

Ok, on most every all pull guitar out there, the hexagon tuning wrench goes over the OUTSIDE of the nylon tuner. This creates a NEED to allow enough room between holes in the changer to account for the body of the tuning wrench.

Mitsuo reversed this. IE, the outside of the Excel nylon tuners are perfectly round instead of being hexagon shaped. The hexagon part is on the INSIDE of the tuner. This means that the tuners can be right next to each other. Thus the holes in the changer can be much closer together.

The end result is a 5 raise/5 lower changer. IMO, the second greatest improvement to the PSG since its inception.

Incidently, Mitsuo supplies an allen tuning wrench with a nice fat knob on it; and interestingly and happily, it simply does NOT fall out of the nylon tuner, NO matter how hard you stomp on the pedals or how many times. Another pet peave of mine on PSG's

May Jesus richly bless Mistsuo for his genious, and may he bring all of you joy, always,

carl

*Note: The Excel is the only PSG that I know of that allows for the adjustment of the raise helper springs from the right end plate. Of course it also has the common return spring adjusting screws on the right end plate; as a number of other PSG's have. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by C Dixon on 29 June 2004 at 05:44 PM.]</p></FONT>

Carl-It sounds like that Excel Changer is a great job of engineering.

Lots of nice features. Do you know if they are patented?

It would be nice if some of these other builders would incorporate some of these ideas in their changers.

Bobby-True ,most players don't need triple lowers, but I do on my Real Universal E6 tuning.

On some guitars , it is hard to get your tuning wrench in between and on the outside of nylon tuners, but with Excel tuner on the inside, it is a very easy simple process.

I used to have an Excel and I liked that feature.

Bill-Glad to see you are posting.

Your new Excel must be a real engineering Marvel from what I heard, and you play it so smooth and well.......al

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 29 June 2004 at 08:54 PM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks Al and Carl. Al, I am glad to be here these days.
Carl, you do an amazing job in your precise and correct explanations. I have built many PSGs when at Sierra and that included assembling their changer mechanism. The Sierra was a great design and worked very well.
The EXCEL has many improvements and innovative design changes that you will find on no other PSG at this time. Also, the construction, fabrication, machine work leaves nothing to be desired in any area.
I have had to purchase a thinner sole shoe to be able to feel the ease with which the pedals work.
Carl , thanks for your professional description of Mitsuo's design. (Eddie Long played and closely inspected my new model when he was at our DSSGA show last month. He now has a new S-12 on order from Mitsuo).
Thanks again,

Bill Stafford

For whatever it's worth, I lower my 11th string (E) 3 times. Once, to D# on the "Boo Wah" pedal, and twice to C#. Once on the E-F knee lever, so I have a bass note for the C# chord position, and once on another knee lever so I have that same bass note for the C# minor position.

I think one of the advantages of the U-12 is the extra octave + of bass notes. It's great for playing chords when another instrument is soloing, and occasionally I'll play a solo down in that register.

I've got triple raise and lower on my 66' Zb and I love it .The more you have the more you can do.Good luck Phillip

The new changer design by Mitsuo Fujii allows me to "manuever" any string I desire to just about any note the string is physically able to handle.
Example: The notes "found" on my 038w B string are: Bb,B,C,C# & D. All perfect half step movements and I have no half stops on my guitar. Really neat and works in both tunings too-E9 & B6.

Bill Stafford