What Is it? BETTER PIC

Keith Bolog · Post by **Keith Bolog** » 27 Dec 2022 6:16 pm

Thank you for the replies. Might just be a giant home made knee flag?

Dimmensions are 3x3

Not sure where to post this. Came in a box with a steel purchase. Yea yea - Pasta portioner, etc

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 28 Dec 2022 8:07 pm

With the hex screw in the middle and another hole at the edge. May be a knee lever flag. 5 holes just to lighten it.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 29 Dec 2022 8:18 am

Way to thick for a knee flag.

Erv

John Hyland · Post by **John Hyland** » 29 Dec 2022 12:42 pm

The piece doesn’t look very big but of course it is relative and has no reference.
I suspect it isn’t related to a pedal steel at all.

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 29 Dec 2022 12:44 pm

What's the dimensions? Size of holes? Could be a bill for a metal baseball cap? Or, a steel players front tooth?

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 29 Dec 2022 3:06 pm

Also, is the underside flat or is it convex as the visible side appears to be?

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 29 Dec 2022 4:37 pm

My guess, it mounts on the side of a puller to add another pull rod to the next string on a 1+1 or 2+2 changer? However, the rod would have to be anchored to it or a ShoBud barrel tuner incorporated? Hence, multiple holes to line up the rod? The extra hole at its edge is for a roll pin. Wild guess. Otherwise, I stick to my other guess, a steel players front tooth.

Charlie Hansen · Post by **Charlie Hansen** » 30 Dec 2022 10:03 am

If you save the picture to your computer and go to google and ask What's this , click the camera button and upload the picture it shows a number of things that it could be.

https://tinyurl.com/bdz76hbn

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 1 Jan 2023 10:47 am

I like Dennis' speculation about it being to expand the reach of a bellcrank, except that the through holes seem more suited for cross shafts than for pull rods, or pedal rods for that matter.

Thinking about knee levers again, could it be added to the lower portion of a knee lever to facilitate moving the knee a couple inches without moving its cross shaft? Could it be a part to make a vertical knee lever mount?

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 1 Jan 2023 11:01 am

If I'm seeing this properly, those holes are around 3/4".
For reference, round Sho-Bud cross shafts are around 5/16" -- less than half the size of these holes. This makes me recalibrate my imagination a lot as I work on this puzzle.

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 1 Jan 2023 3:05 pm

Jon, you are right about the hole sizes.

Maybe a guide for cables -- electric cables -- but why?

The piece is looking more like a knee lever flag as mentioned earlier.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 3 Jan 2023 7:03 pm

What size is the diameter of the Allen screw? The shadow on the picture makes it hard to see and measure.

Keith Bolog · Post by **Keith Bolog** » 4 Jan 2023 7:44 am

FIRST OFF thanks for all the replies.

The allen takes a 3/16 wrench and has coarse threads not sure what pitch.

Large holes are indeed .75" Ever so slightly imperfectly spaced = hand made

The other side is flat not beveled and there is a chamfer barely visible in the first picture.

The second 'allen' hole is a pilot hole, unthreaded, and is not centered. Someone spent a lot of time finishing it, the beveled top, rounded edges, chamfer, and polishing. That hole could be an exasperating mistake at the end of the project, then again the maker wouldnt wait until the very end to drill and tap. Right?

As a flag it is a bit massive @ 5 oz tho it would be very comfortable. Think about this: what knee lever is oriented to mount this on? The fat allen would have to go through the narrow cross section of most KLs. I could see it working as a vertical KL somehow.

Maybe its aluminum scrap unrelated to anything guitar-ish, and ended up in the box of misc. The owner is long gone.

AND another thing - Google lens finds nothing similar.

Thanks again everyone.
Cheers

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 4 Jan 2023 8:16 am

Now that it's size is revealed, it sounds unrelated to steel guitar.

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 4 Jan 2023 8:17 am

Cap screw is a 1/4-20.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 4 Jan 2023 8:50 am

A rare prototype of a part Paul Bigsby was working on.

(Were cap screws even around back in those days?)

~Lee

Dan Otranto · Post by **Dan Otranto** » 4 Jan 2023 1:15 pm

Yes!
The pickups Bigsby put on a lot of the guitars he made had black oxide cap screws as the pole pieces.

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 5 Jan 2023 1:57 am

I wonder if maybe it was used to neatly route mike cables to a PA. Like a snake, but primitive...

Dave

Tom Sosbe · Post by **Tom Sosbe** » 5 Jan 2023 6:49 am

I don't know what it is and I don't believe it has anything to do with steel guitar.

Greg Forsyth · Post by **Greg Forsyth** » 5 Jan 2023 9:37 am

My imagination tells me its a clutch foot rest pedal that was bolted to the sidewall in the old time cars. Rest your foot on it will not clutching. Some imagination , eh?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 5 Jan 2023 10:21 am

It's a thing-a-ma-jig.

Erv

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 5 Jan 2023 11:33 am

Maybe the maker didn't really understand how brass knuckles work?

Charlie Hansen · Post by **Charlie Hansen** » 6 Jan 2023 10:00 am

It's a Noodin-Naddin for a goose's bridle.

Steven Pearce · Post by **Steven Pearce** » 8 Jan 2023 7:50 pm

Hot Rod or custom motorcycle part…maybe

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 9 Jan 2023 6:12 am

Was the "thing-a-ma-jig" invented before the "do-dad"??

The Steel Guitar Forum

What Is it? BETTER PIC

What Is it? BETTER PIC

Allen screw and other Q answered