The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello everyone,
I have begun replacing my sho-bud baskets with new two hole pullers from the wonderful John Coop. From what I have been told, replacing the old baskets with the new bell cranks is as simple as putting them exactly where the old ones were.
It seems to me though, that if i do that the pedal rod will have to go in the closest of the three holes to the bell cranks. From what I have seen of original Pro II's and such, is that the pedal rod attaches to the center of the three holes.

First off, am I seeing these pictures correctly, and second, should I reposition all of the floor pedal bellcranks so that the pedal rod attaches to the center hole. I am very interested to know peoples opinions on this.
Thanks

Well the hole closest to the axle of that crossbar; will be the quickest of travel, as opposed to the furthest which will be the longest travel. So it's really a preference on your part; as there is not really a standard on it.
The quickest travel will be the stiffer of the three; but on those round cross shafts with barrel tuners; it is still smoother than any modern nylon tuning system; so I think your in good shape pal.
Ricky

If you're setting up a change that affects more than one string you will want to use the combination of holes that keeps the strings in tune with each other as much as possible as you apply the pedal or lever.

Dave; Jon is speaking of the pedal rod pullers on a old Sho-bud; which actually have three holes you can pull from, and not the bell crank pullers that are on the crossbar. And on these older sho-bud's you only have two hole pullers(bell cranks)anyway; and so you either use one or the other hole to pull from for the pull rods(to time pulls on the same lever or pedal; see my postings about string gauges and springs; that you can search for) .

You can see from this picture which is the pedal rod puller and which is the two hole puller. I put tape on the end of mine where the last hole is; to cut down on noise when the puller hits the stop. So I'm using the middle hole; but like I said on these two hole pullers on round crossbars with barrel tuners; you'll find; any one of the pedal rod puller holes will be super smooth; but if you want a faster action(less throw); use the hole closest to the crossbar and longer throw, use the hole furthest from the crossbar.
Ricky

Thanks for posting some shots Ricky and your comments. That makes sense to me.