The Steel Guitar Forum

Why are there two tuner pegs for the left E lever(lower to D#) My 8th string is stuck sharp when I hit this lever and I can't seem to get it back in tune. Any advice?

I should clarify. On my steel there are two rods attached to the 8th string and only one on the 4th. Neither of the rods on the 8th string seems to affecting the tuning when the lever is depressed

If there is two rods on the 8 string changer, then those rods should be connected to two different knee levers.
One lever that raise the 8 string a halftone and another lever that lowers same string a half tone.
You might have to look under the guitar to see which rod is connected to what lever.
If string is struck sharp and wont go back to normal when releasing the lever, it might be because the raise has been overtuned. You need to back up the nylon tuner on that rod so the changer is not engaged when your knee lever is at rest. Then retune the raise while knee lever is engaged and making sure string comes back to correct pitch when knee lever is released.

Hope this helps.

B.Erlandsen

Something does not seem right on this guitar.
Is it new or are you its 2nd owner???
DOES THIS GUITAR HAVE SPLIT TUNING SCREWS IN THE BACK OF THE CHANGER. If it does, it may be adjusted till the 8th string can not be lowered until it is backed off.
Do you have a copendent and tuning that came with the guitar?
On most E9th tunings, String 8 should have 2 pull rods 1 One attached to the D knee lever Cross Rod, (Which lowers E to D#) And the other attached to the F knee lever, Cross rod, (Which raises E to F).
The 4 E string should have 3 pull rods,1 (Lower E to D#) on D knee lever. One (Raise E to F) on F knee lever Cross Rod. THE SAME AS THE 8TH STRING.
And a 3rd pull (Raise E to F#) on the C pedal Cross Rod.

Pictures of the nylon tuners in the end plate cutout, And pictures of the knee levers would help show exactly what you have.
Good Luck in finding the problem and a solution.
Happy Steelin.

Thanks for the reply. I included some pictures to help clarify the problem. I bought this guitar 2nd hand. I couldn't even find any new pedal steels available anywhere



The two pegs circled are attached to the ERL and the 8th string. The 4th string is working fine. The problem is not that the string is getting stuck when the lever is engaged but that the tuning when the lever is engaged is always sharp on the 8th string. Adjusting either of those pegs doesn't do anything




That is a pic with the lever engaged




This is the lever mechanism. The bottom bracket is the 8th string. The top rod is attached to the tuning peg on the left in the previous picture and the bottom rod is attached to the peg on the right




Here's the mechanism with the lever engaged


A pic of the guitar for reference

Aside from this problem everything else on the guitar works fine

It looks like one of them is pulling the 8th string E to D#, and the other is pulling the 9th string D to C#. Except that there's no changer spring for lowering the 9th string. This looks wrong to me. I don't think that 9th string rod is factory installed.

I would remove the 9th string rod and back out the 8th string tuner to get a bit of slack. Then retune the string and see if that fixed it.

Carter is no longer in business, but here's a link to the manual: http://steelguitar.com/manuals/CSOWNERSMANUAL.pdf

Thanks for the pictures, B0B found the problem real quick. Hope this will allow for proper tuning of the pull. Happy Steelin.

Strings 9 and 10 cannot be lowered normally on this guitar. The plate underneath the changer locks those fingers to prevent it. See the pix viewtopic.php?t=203183&highlight=
Note the free fingers have springs attached.

I bought this guitar 2nd hand. I couldn't even find any new pedal steels available anywhere

Note to the OP:

You started the thread mentioning your pedal steel, but seemingly under the impression that they are made in some kind of standardized way.

FWIW they're not. Until you posted pictures I had no idea what guitar you were talking about. I'm sure many others were also wondering. Not all guitars have the same lever functions (or the same ones in the same positions) - so it helps to be specific about brand/model number and whether it was purchased new or used, right from the start.

The fact you couldn't find new steels locally is not unusual. There are many brands, configurations and options and few new ones are "off the shelf" items. Most nowadays are built to order.

The Carter Starter was an attempt to create a standardized, lightweight, inexpensive entry-level guitar for beginners. As such, anything that differs from the manual if almost assuredly a modification - either performed by a former owner or steel tech.

Things like that may work well - or foul up normal operation. If you find anything beyond this particular mod to deal with (or if you can't figure out how to fix it easily) it might be best to get it to a qualified steel tech, even if you have to ship it. Self-performed repairs can cause all sorts of other problems if you don't know what you're doing, so be careful.

Hope that helps fill in the blanks a bit.

Jim Sliff wrote:

I bought this guitar 2nd hand. I couldn't even find any new pedal steels available anywhere

Note to the OP:

You started the thread mentioning your pedal steel, but seemingly under the impression that they are made in some kind of standardized way.

FWIW they're not. Until you posted pictures I had no idea what guitar you were talking about. I'm sure many others were also wondering. Not all guitars have the same lever functions (or the same ones in the same positions) - so it helps to be specific about brand/model number and whether it was purchased new or used, right from the start.

The fact you couldn't find new steels locally is not unusual. There are many brands, configurations and options and few new ones are "off the shelf" items. Most nowadays are built to order.

The Carter Starter was an attempt to create a standardized, lightweight, inexpensive entry-level guitar for beginners. As such, anything that differs from the manual if almost assuredly a modification - either performed by a former owner or steel tech.

Things like that may work well - or foul up normal operation. If you find anything beyond this particular mod to deal with (or if you can't figure out how to fix it easily) it might be best to get it to a qualified steel tech, even if you have to ship it. Self-performed repairs can cause all sorts of other problems if you don't know what you're doing, so be careful.

Hope that helps fill in the blanks a bit.

What Jim said, I was in a "blank puzzled state " until I saw the photo's.

PHOTO'S are the Cats Meow !

Not to worry though, it's a learning thing, many have been on this road and many still are !

have fun!

t

Is the steel a Carter Starter? My Carter doesn't look like that under neath. Bob M

Bob Moore wrote:Is the steel a Carter Starter? My Carter doesn't look like that under neath. Bob M

Yup.

Anthony, If the 9th string changer finger is locked by the plate described above, your guitar may have a mod that uses an extra rod connected to a locked finger as an improved knee lever stop. In this case, the rod would not cause the string to change pitch. See the second post here....

viewtopic.php?t=187596

Best bet is follow b0b's advice and remove, or at least loosen this extra rod if you dont know what it is for.