The Steel Guitar Forum

I could not get my A pedal to change my 5th ( B) string to C# and so I backed off the nylon tuner all the way out and noticed pressure from the nylon tuners on the (c) pedal and my LKR would not allow the finger to be at rest so I backed them also....my question is what is the procedure for making these adjustments,..is there an order as to which I adjust first? It seems that I had read somewhere here that without a foot pedal or knee lever engaged,..there shouldn't be any tension at the adjusters....this is my first pedal steel,..I bought an LDG about 5 weeks ago and spent most of my time since trying to get everything in tune...not a lot of help from other players where I live,...any help is appreciated ...

What is your LKR doing? Lowering the Bs? It sounds like it’s what is called “overtuned” so backing those off is a good start. We may need a picture but trust that someone here with good knowledge will help you.

What kind of guitar is it?

1. Back off tuning nuts until there's maybe a 1/16th free play between the finger and the nut.

2. Retune strings open.

3. Tune raises and lowers by pressing that strings pedal or knee lever and turning the nut to bring that particular string to pitch.

4. If the nuts have to be tightened to the point there's no adjustment left to get the string to pitch, you may need more pedal travel. If your 6th string is wound it will require more travel than if it's an unwound so you'll have to check that string to verify which it is. If you need to lengthen the pedal travel then you'll have to back off the tuning nut and start over once you increase a particular pedals travel.

5. If your guitar has splits then that can cause you tuning issues if you don't understand how splits are tuned.

The above are some basic things to check.If someone has mistimed the pulls then that would have to be addressed first or you'll chase your tail all over trying to balance the pulls by over tightening the nuts.

The very first thing I would do is flip it upside down on something soft. With all the pedals & knee levers at rest you should have a little free play on every bell crank. They should each wiggle back & forth maybe an eight of an inch or so & not loose from it’s clamping on the cross shaft. If they won’t, you are over tuned. Loosen off the nylon nuts & start over. I guess I would try tuning the raises first. If you have any that won’t pull up to pitch & still have the slack at the bell crank, then you don’t have enough travel & will have to find the way to get more, adjust a stop, so on. Then go to the lowers. More to it than that but that’s a good start.

Be sure to read this post about overtuning:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=326460

thanks to all who responded here,..you have me headed in the right direction,..I am beginning to understand the concept here...I will try to readjust this LDG with the info here and keep posting my progress......
......I been tuning when I shoulda been steelin! .I feel confident that with the advice here I will be back to practicing soon...thanx again all.....