The Steel Guitar Forum

Looking for information on a D-10 Marlen . I just bought one off e-bay , the seller's description, it was made in the sixty's with ss being six digits 555xxx anything at all you can tell me ! Thanks .

Without pics, not much more can be said.
In general, the ones from the 60s had pretty, even gorgeous, cabinets, but the undercarriage ranged from good to "wow, I didn't know beavers gnawed aluminum!"
Condition is everything. Well, condition is half. Configuration is the other half.
With 8 and 4, it might be kissing 2K (but come a bit short), but you can subtract a good $300 for each change short of that.

what is the serial number??
Also where's the pictures online?? e-bay???
Ricky

I'm guessing 555791, as it recently closed.
www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Marlen-D10-Ped ... nav=SEARCH
Nice guitar. Considering it says it's not all working, I'd say it's a fair price.

Thanks Lane for searching around.
That Marlen was built in MAY 1975.
Ricky

I noticed it has the window, for tuning the open note of strings that raise and lower at the endplate.
That WASN'T in the 60s.
Once you get the mechanism fully sorted, that will be a great guitar and a serious tone monster.

Same mechanism as mine... Bulletproof is all I can say... Mine never goes out of tune, and I think I broke a low B string once about 2 years ago.. I think... Other than that it has all the same strings on it for close to 3 years, and never broke even one. Other that that B that I THINK broke. Might have been another steel..

It sounds great, pedal action is softer than any of the dozens of other pedal steels I have owned over 4 decades, and it does everything I have ever asked it to.. Pretty light as well.. Mine has been a revelation... oh yeah.. I have all of about $725 shipped in it, and part of that price was NOS pedal, some NOS bellcranks and shafts, and a NOS plastic Marlen logo!... I love my Marlen.. You will love yours as well!.. bob

Not to hijack the thread but I have a marlen from the same year which has what I consider very stiff pedal action and having heard the opposite a few times on this and other marlen threads I wonder if it's weird. It stays perfectly in tune and sounds great but feels stiff compared to my bud and MSA. Is there anything I can do?

Ben.. If it has springs on the screw thats used as the adjustable pedal stop, take them off!.. they are totally useless, and stiffen the pedal action 100%. Ditch them, they are way too heavy. If you really need that extra free play in the pedals, I would use a light rubber band or something.. To me, all they do is lift the pedal higher up and increase the travel distance for no good reason. Your Marlen should play easier than your Bud or MSA. I have a had a couple of Buds and MSA's through here past few years.. They are gone, the Marlen remains. bob

Do the fingers move easily?
Do the shafts rotate easily in their bushings?
My Marlen was crazy stiff because it had been set up for shortest/tightest pulls, but a couple hours of moving to easier slots on the bellcranks and (IIRC) to pedal rod attachments closer to the pedal bar made it pretty easy.
Start troubleshooting by seeing how stiff the fingers are to move. On your next string change, remove all the strings, flick the fingers back and forth.
If they offer any serious resistance, the fingers are stiff on the axle.
If they are nice and floppy, see if the rods move easily back and forth. If they're stiff going through the swivels, make sure that the rods are straight as they pass through all swivels on that rod.
See that cross-shafts rotate smoothly in their bushings. Nylon bushings can swell if someone oiled them, and oilite bushings can eventually go gummy, and plain metal ones can get sticky if unlubed or if lube dries out.
Do the pedals rotate on the axle?
This guitar should play as easy as a modern guitar, and if it doesn't, increased effort comes from either leverage or friction.

Thank you both! I will take a look tonight

To go along with what Lane has said, and he gave very good advice.. The rods from the bellcranks to the changer are very thick on Marlens. I had a couple that would bind a little because of the slight angle on a few of them, because of what I wanted where- on my 4+4 copedent which is about all you can squeeze out of narrow marlen S10.
Not much room.
I went a size smaller on some the pull rods. What a huge difference. No more deflection, more precise tuning and stops when using pedal and knee levers... I discussed this with forumite Clyde Mattocks who knows the PR mechanism very well, and he said that was a common problem on some PR steels. All I know is that you need to take a look at where the rods pull against the changer fingers, and make 100% sure there is plenty of room with no binding between the end of the pull rod where it goes though the hole in the changer finger.. It made the pedals/levers stiff as all hell trying to overcome that lack of clearance. Once I got a tad more play between the pull rod and changer finger hole, that steel worked SO much smoother on a few problem pulls that I had...bob