help with tuneable split on new Carter

Phil Halton · From: Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

I'm not real clear on how to tune the B pedal / G lever split on my new Carter S10. I can't see the nylon nuts to determine the color coding (working by feel alone).

On the 6th string raise there's 2 nuts, and the lower one moves with the B pedal, while the upper one moves along with the nut in the lower section. So, I assume the upper nut tunes the split, right?

The manual says, after tuning the open string and the pedal raise, then with B and G lever engaged, I am to tune the note with the nut that lowers the string ( I assume they mean the nut in the row of lowers). Then, tune the full tone lower with the Black nut in the raise section (above the nut for the B pedal raise),

Intuitively, This seems backwards to me. Can someone verify this procedure? I plead ignorance never having had ,or seen this kind of tuneable split before.

I've already tuned the full tone lower with the lower nut not realizing what I was doing. It went down a good half step and now it sounds like I shouldn't have done that. Do I need to bring it back up (a half step) and tune it that other way? Have I screwed things up a bit?

thanks
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Disclaimer! I make no warranty on the manure I've been spreadin' around here.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Phil---your recitation of the Carter instructions and your interpretation of them is correct. Nevermind counterintuitive. The stated procedure is right and it works. I'm not sure what to tell you about resetting the lower nut. But there's nothing there that some experimenting won't fix up. If you can't get it right from where you are at, then back off that nut a bit and start again. But keep the adjustments in the sequence of those instructions or else you'll be chasing your tail.

John Fabian · From: Mesquite, Texas USA * R.I.P.

These videos demonstrate "How to Tune a Split"

http://www.steelguitar.com/support/videos/index.html

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I now just keep a little nut diagram on the shelf in front of the guitar; had to give up on why the split works.
(How can a raise accomplish the final lower? A mind that can delve into the mysteries of the pedal steel figured it out; I'll take advantage of that, and take solace that I remain intuitive, even when counter-intuition is the solution.)
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

My thinking on why this is the right approach - either for the raising pullrod method or the split tuning screw method. The procedure, with my interpretation of what's going on:

1. Tune the open string.
2. Tune the full raise. This sets the upper tuning limit on the string.
3. Tune the split with the lower. This unfortunately may cause the full lower to be too low, but sets the lower limit on the string.
4. So now correct the full lower with the pullrod raise or split tuning screw. The raise pullrod works in opposition to the full-lower and the tuning screw just limits the full lower mechanically.

In my fiddling around, I found that without any split mechanics at all, I typically get one of two things:

a. The split is in tune and the full-lower is flat. Solution: Compensate by raising the full-lower as in the above procedure. This is fine since the full-lower and the compensating raise operate in opposition on that lever by itself.

b. The full-lower is in-tune and the split is sharp. But you can't fix this with another lowering rod. The lever is already lowering, so any other lower would have to be on the main raise - in this case B-pedal, which would mess up the upper-limit on the G-to-G#.

So I conclude that reversing steps 3 and 4 won't work, at least with the pullrod method. Comments, anyone?

On this thread - http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=112516 - Jack Stoner argues that using the split tuning screw method, one can reverse these steps and get a good result. That actually makes sense to me.

I suppose one could consider this alternate procedure, which would make use of a lowering pullrod for the correction:

1. Tune the open string.
2. Tune the full-lower, setting the lower-limit on the string.
3. Tune the split and hope that the resulting B-pedal full-raise is now sharp, not flat. If it's flat, you're stuck - no matter how you do it, raising it messes up the split.
4. Finally - assuming that the full-raise is in fact now sharp, then correct it with a lowering pullrod working in opposition to the B-pedal when operated alone.

I've never tried this approach, so I don't know if it works. I assume there's some good reason why makers correct the split by raising instead of lowering, but I haven't thought that through.

I'd sure be interested in comments from someone who has really done the experiments.

richard burton · From: Britain

Mark Van Allen explains it HERE

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