Question for SB players using Rack & Barrel pulls

[Mark McCornack]

Greetings.... on Sho-Bud guitars fitted with Rack & Barrel rod pull configurations, the orientation of the rack can be one of two ways, and I’ve seen pictures here on the forum illustrating both methods. Some where the barrel engages with the rack on the “closed” side; the “face” of the rack where the holes are drilled. Others orient the rack so the “open” edge interfaces the barrels. Contact with the barrel in this case (when engaged), is against the two rails comprising the side walls of the rack.

Both orientations seem to function, and I don’t know if there is a specific convention, or an advantage of one over the other. Anybody have any input to share on this?

[Dan Beller-McKenna]

If I recall an old extensive thread correctly:

• The racks were originally designed for the open side to face the barrel.
  
  Sometime early in their history someone at Shobud accidentally reversed them.
  
  People became accustomed to having the closed side facing the barrel.
  
  Patent drawings were inconclusive.
  
  People discussed on the Forum.
  
  Feathers flew.
  
  Either way works roughly as well as the other.

On my last R+B Bud I ended up with open side facing the barrel, but I'm not sure I noticed a real difference.

[Mark McCornack]

Thanks. I didn’t mean to re-open an old can of worms, but this helps. I’ll see if I can find the old thread on this. Might be interesting. It sounds like it is a controversial subject with some.

Good thing I didn’t ask “Hey, how and with what do you lubricate your guitar?”

[Dan Beller-McKenna]

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... +open+side

[Mark McCornack]

VERY informative thread! Thanks a million Dan!

[Benton Allen]

Dan is correct.
I asked David Jackson this very question in St. Louis a few years back. David said his design originally intended for the Rack edges to face the barrel in order to give the spring "Tit" an edge to catch on.
At some point someone at the factory rodded a guitar backwards by mistake. David said that it seemed to work just fine either way, but that the "correct way" was for the Rack edges to face the barrel.
Cheers!

[Brad Malone]

Where was the quality control department?..they should have caught a big error like that. No wonder why they went down the drain.

[Ron Pruter]

Problem with them is they are not idiot proof. Those "tits" can bend when you've run out of thread and then any hope of tuning the pull is gone. If you're not pretty mechanically savvy, I would avoid rack and barrel guitars. RP