The Steel Guitar Forum

Is there a standard size wrench for the hex nut to tune pedals and knee levers?
Is it 3/16th or 5mm?
I'm guessing turn clockwise to raise pitch?
Is there a method / map for which nut goes to which pedal or is get under and look?

I see that when you push the pedal, you can see which nut moves.
Hey, I'm new. LOL

There's one column for each string.

The top section is for raises, the bottom section is for lowers. When there are 2 raises, feel the tuning nuts to see which one is actually doing the work.

Clockwise increases the amount of the change, counter-clockwise decreases it.

Most guitars use 3/16" tuning nuts. You can buy a wrench here.

Thank you, Bob. I have a 3/16th. I just did want to use the wrong one and strip something. With your help, I was able to tune my pedals and the guitar sounds great. I am going to attempt to tune the knee levers now.
Thank you for your help, Ken.

3/16 or 5mm, They are so close in size, They will interchange and work fine.
Each string has its own set of tuner nuts up and down, In the window below the changer.
The upper 2 or 3 raise nuts, Will raise to the proper note when turned clockwise. Lower if turned counter clock wise.The lowering section, Bottom 2 nuts, Will take the string down to the note, When turned clockwise. Turned counter clockwise will raise the string back toward the open note.

Welcome to the world of the steel guitar.

Thank you Bobby. Yes, the nuts were driving me nuts, Ken.

For reference, 3/16" approximates to 4.8mm

It is my experience that the 5mm wrench will work on both sizes unless a 3/16" nut is very very stiff on the rod in which case the wrench might slip.
OTOH a 3/16" wrench can be such a hassle to try to fit onto a 5mm nut (or impossible) that I'm comfortable calling it simply the wrong size.

I have yet to figure out why some makers chose a different size from the others. And I have no idea which of the two can be considered the 'norm' and which the deviants.

Jon Light wrote: I have yet to figure out why some makers chose a different size from the others. And I have no idea which of the two can be considered the 'norm' and which the deviants.

In my decades of doing this silly thing, I'd say the 3/16 nut is the FAR more common one until recently. The first 5mm guitar I owned was a mid-2000s Fessenden. Could be his supplier only had one size but not the other, and he had guitars that had to go out. Or not. I didn't ask. He took a standard 3/16 GeorgeL tuning wrench, stuck a 5mm Allen wrench into the hole, and whacked it with a hammer. Bingo! 5mm wrench in the first 3/8th inch, and 3/16 on the bottom.

I did ask a builder friend of mine why his guitar had solid white tuning nuts instead of the more common opaque variety, and he said "the tone, man... the TONE!"

Yep -- same first encounter with 5mm.

*sigh* Now I've got to go over to white nylons. If it's not one tone thing, it's another.

where can you buy 3/16 hex nuts?