The Steel Guitar Forum

Alright. Here's the facts as I know them.

GFI Expo. Had a plain sixth on it for a while in hopes of attempting to tune a sixth string lower, couldn't hack it so I went back to a wound string. I put a .12 in the third string spot, and I put a 22w in for my sixth. Both strings are on and seated in the fingers, but only the third string is responding to the b pedal. The sixth string finger doesn't move at all. I've backed out both nuts as far as they can go, and only tightened my sixth string nut. My B pedal comes back to tension, but that sixth finger doesn't move, as if it's totally disconnected. Its had a heavy wound sixth on it before with no problems. Where should I start?

Neal, I would flip the guitar over in the case and work the B-pedal by hand. Watch the pull rods move. You might spot the problem -- possibly, during the string change when the linkage was not under tension, the 6th string's pull rod disconnected from its bellcrank. There's only a small chance this is the problem, but it fits the description and only takes 30 seconds to check...

Move the 6th string rod to the outermost slot/hole on its bellcrank. You may need to readjust the pedal travel stop.