The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi Friends, I'm hoping someone here can discover where I have gone wrong here. I have read all of the wealth of threads I can find on similar topics, including Ricky Davis's many excellent comments on similar threads. And yet I can't seem to find anyone with a similar issue. I'm hoping that is because I'm just really dumb and someone smarter than me can spot where I have gone wrong. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. Please note the steps I have taken already - listed below.

I bought this old frankensteined Sho Bud in the winter and managed to set it up adequately and have played maybe thirty gigs on it, plus hundreds of hours at home and at practice - all without any real issues. It has a few original parts and a lot of parts that seem kind of homemade.

Then a few weeks ago, my A pedal change started slipping slightly as I would play. I would tune the B>C# raise, and then five or ten minutes later, the change would be flat of the C#. The open string would still be in tune. Only the change was off.

I read a lot of threads on the forum, and decided that since I have a lull in my music life, now would be a good time to clean the changer, check the barrels, racks and rods, and so on.

I took the guitar apart, noting carefully which part was where and documenting with photos as well. Cleaned everything and used triflo. Everything looks cleaner and feels better.

HOWEVER, once I got everything back together and the strings on, by A pedal change was now nowhere close to its full raise, and tuning the change maxed out the barrel quickly.

Here are the steps I have followed before for setting up the barrels, and they are what I used this time:

1) I tuned the B string and then set each barrel so it just cleared the rack and so each could spin freely when the pedal was not engaged, with a nice amount of wiggle room or "Gap" as I have seen it referred to on here elsewhere.
2) When I observed the change coming shy of the full whole step, I backed off the stop screws.

This is where the trouble began: Even when the stop screws were backed off ENTIRELY, the change still came shy of the C#. Barely a sharp C, sometimes a flat C#, depending how perilously close I got the barrel to the rack.

Here are the diagnostic steps I have taken so far:
1) I have tried two different string gauges (.18 and .17) with minimal difference.
2) I took the changer apart again and confirmed there was nothing jamming things up or blocking the return.
3) I have adjusted the return springs willy nilly with no effect that I can observe.

The closest I can get to a C# is STILL an uncomfortable amount of pedal travel - so even if I could extend the pedal travel by moving the stop bracket or something similar, I'd hate the feeling of playing the guitar. It would be a massive pull. On top of that, this wasn't an issue before, and the guitar - though ugly - was very comfortable to play and had a nice comfortable amount of pedal travel.

TLDR: I took the guitar apart, trying to fix a minor issue, cleaned everything, put it back together, and now my rack and barrel changes come shy of the change, even with the stops backed off all the way.

Has anyone encountered an issue like this?

It is possible that the changer fingers are designed for specific strings? That was the one thing I didn't meticulously record, so they may be changing different strings than they had previously. Could that be the issue?

I'll include some pictures below. And I will link to a video (once it uploads via my terrible rural internet)in which I struggle to demonstrate the issue with my mere two hands holding the phone and trying to demonstrate the change issue.

I'll try anything. Any suggestions or insights you might have are deeply appreciated!

Also, as a note, this happens on BOTH the b>c# changes on the fifth string. the A pedal and the C pedal.

Try taking your barrel off and turning it tight by hand and then turn it out about five turns and put it back on. Then tune your open and then your raise and see if that does it. I had something like that once and it fixed it.

Thanks Craig, and thanks to the person who messaged me. I brought it to a buddy's house yesterday and he happens to be a minor sho bud guru. Posting the solution here for anyone who might stumble on this thread in The future.

When I reinstalled the bracket for the helper springs, I installed it backwards! You can sort of see it in the picture above. So there was some real slack in those springs- particularly on the pulls, and I think the springs were actually jamming it up creating a combination raise/lower where both the raise and the lower were working against one another. Which explains why I could get it most of the way there and then the raise would sort of plateau at a sharp c or flat c#. It was not only raising, but also lowering slightly every time I raised.

Anyway, I turned that bracket around and now this ugly guitar can play pretty again!

As a side note, as cumbersome as the process was, I can't recommend enough that folks clean their changers once in a while. There was a lot of gunk and dirt in there and now that the thing is set up again, it feels better than it ever has before!

Also, never oil the barrels. They are meant to be dry. They should have resistance when turning.