The Steel Guitar Forum

I picked up a flynn d-10 recently made by Harold Flynn in Knoxville Tennessee.its a pro level quality built guitar but was made for someone a lot taller than me.the legs adjusted down to where I needed them to be but the pedal rods are now to long.they are 3/16 with standard ball connector.my question is should I cut the hook off and try to rebend it or cut the threaded part off and try to re thread it?they appear to be aluminum.they are around a inch to long.can someone please guide me in the right direction and give me some pointers maybe on either re bending the hook or rethreading the end?or would I be better off to post a ad in the classifieds and try to buy a set of standard length pedal rods?thanks in advance Chris

Its MUCH easier and more practical to cut at the threads and recut them with a die... Do one at a time, a little at a time, so you don't ruin a rod.. Once you have the first one perfect, with some room for adjustment BOTH ways,cut all the others around the same amount.. Its really a piece of cake... bob

I just cut down 2 rods on my Carter. They are stainless, but my dremel did the job just fine. Bending a hook can be a real pain in the butt.

a dremel with thin cut off disc is best, but a hacksaw will work as well.. here's a useful tip,,, Put the proper size nut on the threads and thread it up the rod before you cut,, No matter what you use to cut, the bottom few threads get buggered up by the blade or cutting disc.. When you have made the cut, run the nut down and off the thread, and it will clean up the threads so it is easier to thread the quick connect on... bob

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.does anyone know what the standard thread pitch is on these and is there any tricks or tips for a threading these since they are aluminum?thanks

The size is almost certainly #10-32 and aluminium is easy to thread. WD40 is good lube if you have nothing fancy, although you don't have to use anything.

Note before you cut the rods off. Get the threading die and thread up on the rod as far as you need so once you have cut them off the threads will be already on the rod.
Then all you will need to do is cut the rod the length you need and tilt on a 45degree angle and sand the rough thread just a little and the quick connect will start on the thread easy then.
Hope this helps.

A cheap-o set of dies will work well enough to get the job done.

https://m.harborfreight.com/40-pc-carbo ... 20provided

If you have a micrometer or dial caliper check the rod diameter and thread diameter before you begin. If they are standard, The rod should measure 3/16"/ .1875 inch diameter. Then measure the diameter of the threads. If it measures .1875 or a little less you can use a die to make the threads longer and cut rod to length.
If the threads are larger diameter than the rod diameter of .1875, They are rolled threads and check very close, When you start the dye if it starts grabbing and cutting the threads smaller, Stop.

If they are rolled threads on an aluminum rod it would be a better looking and service job to leave the thread end untouched. Go to the hook end to shorten them. Good Luck in this project.

Bobby Jones reply is absolutely the correct procedure, thank you for posting that Bobby.

I'm surprised that the rods are aluminum. Did many other manufacturers use aluminum pedal rods? Sorry, I guess that should be a different thread.

+1 on the rolled threads - I've been caught out with those.

When I built my own PSG I used a mixture of steel and Al for the pedal rods to see if I could tell any difference and I couldn't. But my design didn't use hooks - I wouldn't be comfortable bending Al like that.

Well it took awhile for me to get time to do it but I finally got the rods cut and rethreaded thanks so much to everybody on here for all the tips and suggestions.guitar sounds great and has George L’s e-66 pickups.i only have the e9th neck set up to play so far as I really don’t know anything about c6th.here is a pic of the guitar.once again thanks everyone

Well it took awhile for me to get time to do it but I finally got the rods cut and rethreaded thanks so much to everybody on here for all the tips and suggestions.guitar sounds great and has George L’s e-66 pickups.i only have the e9th neck set up to play so far as I really don’t know anything about c6th.here is a pic of the guitar.once again thanks everyone

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Doug Earnest wrote:Bobby Jones reply is absolutely the correct procedure, thank you for posting that Bobby.

I'm surprised that the rods are aluminum. Did many other manufacturers use aluminum pedal rods? Sorry, I guess that should be a different thread.

Williams tried the aluminum pedal rods about 30 years ago.
Bill Rudolph had a lot of broken rods he had to replace as they would break or the threads would strip. Today the aluminum alloys may be stronger, but Bill went back to stainless rods and never looked back.