The Steel Guitar Forum

How do I dissemble an Emmons P/P changer? I have taken the changers out of the guitar in one piece and I want to clean the individual fingers. I can't see how the axle is attached to the pillow blocks. I'm a little scared to use brute force to separate the axle from the blocks. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Rainer


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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#0000FF">Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700</FONT>

Hello Rainer...
you just hold one of the Pillar Blocks in each hand and twist in oposite directions..
Baz

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<SMALL>Steel players do it without fretting</SMALL>

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

Basil,
you must be a stronger man than I am. I tried twisting the pillow blocks, but no dice. Soaked the changer in a liter of lighter fluid to de-gum it, but it still won't budge.

I'll get a can of spinach, first thing Monday morning ...

Rainer.. this is the mechanism out of the guitar...just twist the left and right end blocks in opposite directions



Basil

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<SMALL>Steel players do it without fretting</SMALL>

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

Basil, I clamped one leg of the pillow blocks in a padded vise, grabbed the other one with a pair of grip pliers and tried to wiggle the axle loose. Nothin' doin'. It couldn't be tighter if it was welded. It's okay, though. I thoroughly de-gummed the changer with lighter luid, wiped all the grime off in the places I could reach and blew it the whole thing out with compressed air. All the fingers move easily and look and feel clean. I also sanded the tops of the fingers with 600 grit wet and polished them on a buffing wheel. I doubt that they were as shiny when they were first installed at the factory.

Thanks for your help!
Rainer

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#0000FF">Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700</FONT>

Rainer, When I took my 69 Emmons pp apart I was amazed at how much black crud was between the axle and fingers. It was hard to believe it could work at all. Plays pretty nice now.

PBBlaster, available at AutoZone, etc.
A form of Penetrating oil.
That stuff is amazing. Had a shower handle that would not come off. Years of lime buildup. Sprayed some PBBlaster on it and in 5 minutes could wiggle the handle off.

Baz,
you are a gent, as usual and a great asset to the SGF, hope to meet up with you soon,
please keep up the input,
Allan.

After soaking for a while in some kind of penetrating agent, the stuff Ray mentioned or Liquid Wrench, etc., you could also try whacking (more like strong tapping, actually) the pillow blocks with a hard plastic mallet to try to loosen the crud that's got the axle frozen in there.

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Those pillar blocks are put on the axle with a hydralic press, like ball joints on a car are put on. If I were you I would just soak the whole assembly in thinner or get it ultrasonically cleaned in one piece.

Thanks, everybody, for your help. I was finally able to remove the axle using a vise and a wrench. Everything is clean now and back together. Now I only have to reassemble the rest of the guitar. A piece of cake after this adventure!

Without the advice from you all and half a dozen emails I wouldn't have tried it.

Thanks again,
Rainer

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#0000FF">Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700</FONT>