The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anybody have a link to an electronic copy of the owner's manual for the Fender 2000 or 800? I recently purchased a 2000 and am having trouble getting it set up right. A few of the pedals have to be pressed nearly to the floor (with a fair amount of force) to fully shift the pitch just a half step as I set them to, and the under-the-hood rods the cables are attached to move considerably further out than the other rods when these pedals are engaged. I found Fender 1000 and 400 manuals online, but the design differences are too considerable to be of use here. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Being a new PSG guy I’m not generally of much use but in minor reciprocation for all I’ve learned here I’ll pass on that Dave Zirbel posted this Fender 2000 manual in the Facebook Fender group:

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Fender ... sl7D1j-LrA

I’ve got a 2000 too and for damn sure it’s not the easiest rig to make sense of.

Thanks Jim! I wasn't aware of the Facebook group or that there's as much affinity for and information about these instruments as evidenced by the group page.

T.J. Pluhacek wrote:Does anybody have a link to an electronic copy of the owner's manual for the Fender 2000 or 800? I recently purchased a 2000 and am having trouble getting it set up right. A few of the pedals have to be pressed nearly to the floor (with a fair amount of force) to fully shift the pitch just a half step as I set them to, and the under-the-hood rods the cables are attached to move considerably further out than the other rods when these pedals are engaged. I found Fender 1000 and 400 manuals online, but the design differences are too considerable to be of use here. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

If your 2000 is having that kind of problems, its been attacked by a ham fisted owner or 2 over the years with NO idea what he was doing.. Personally I can't think of an easier steel guitar to set up, and when set correctly, they play VERY softly and smoothly- As well as any built during that time... However, you must know how to do it, and some just don't have the knack.
The main problem I have seen regarding hard action on those guitars is

1-lack of lube
2- pedal height too high
3- raise/lower screws all out of whack
4- There is a larger lower spring adjustment under the smaller raise lower adjustments-
Guys start leaning on that and throw these guitars totally out of whack...

I have owned 3 800's and a 400, and every single one was an absolute unplayable mess and most of it was due to being poorly lubed, and the lower spring adjustment was always the main culprit.. Never had one that didn't play beautifully after a good proper set up and lube..

If you are not mechanically inclined, it might be wise to seek out someone not too far away, that really knows these old Fenders. I have seen the 800/2000 manual online, so I am sure its out there,, I'll look...

That guitar should play VERY well.. If not, its been set upon by a person/persons that tried to "fix" it by turning screws they had no idea of what they were supposed to do. bob

I’m not even sure an owner’s manual would address those problems or even give a clue how to remedy them. On this forum and, even more, on the FB page you will find people with knowledge and experience with Fenders to guide you through getting it properly adjusted. Jim Sliff and Basil Henriques are two very helpful people. Basil in particular favors those short scale guitars like the 2000.