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Topic: Changing strings on a keyless? |
John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 1:06 pm |
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| How do you keyless players change your strings, what tool or gadget do you use ? |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 1:50 pm
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On my Kline, I use my fingers!
But you use the little allen wrench thingie that Joe supplies to tighten the cap screw. |
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Dennis Wallis
From:
Arkansas
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 2:59 pm
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Depsnds on what kind of guitar you have. A phillips head screw holds most of them on I believe. I have a keyless ZUM and a keyless GFI. They both hold the strings on with a screw. I put the loop end on the pin at the changer and hold it with my finger and wrap the other end around the screw and pull it as tight as I can and then tighten the screw and tune it.  |
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Gary Cosden
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 3:21 pm
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| John - do you have the Sierra string puller? If not you might want to get one as it makes life a lot easier. You can also make one since its only a 1/2" diameter dowel (theirs is plastic but wood should be just fine) about 2 1/2" long with a 1/8" hole cross drilled through it. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 3:26 pm
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| Gary, with a Kline, you really don't need anything. You pull the string with your fingers, tighten the cap screw, and tune. Couldn't be easier. Once the cap screw is tightened, you just wiggle the string around, and it breaks off. I've never needed anything else. Joe's design is perfect! |
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Curt Langston
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 9:43 pm
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| Quote: |
| I have a keyless ZUM and a keyless GFI. |
What?
I did not know Zum ever made a keyless.
Dennis, can you post a pic of the Zum. I'd like to see Bruces keyless design. His website does not show it. |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 5 Apr 2008 10:56 pm
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| Gary, I do have a Sierra, I'm thinking of making a pulling device that would make it easier for putting the strings on. I find it quite difficult to pull the string up to tension and tighten the allen screw . |
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Dennis Wallis
From:
Arkansas
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 2:16 am
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Curt, I think it is an '83 model. He made a few but not many.Here's a pic of the keyless.It's kinda hard to see but you tune it with a regular tuning wrench.Has caps on the screws that draw the tuners.
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Ron Mawn
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 5:38 am String pull device
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| John, I have the Sierra string pull device, talk to you later this month when you get to the UK. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 5:58 am
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Using a pointed Phillip's screwdriver would worry me. If it slips, it's liable to scratch your guitar. Plus, they can strip fairly easily. The Kline uses Allen head cap screws. The whole point of the Allen head design was to limit slippage. The same wrench is used to then tune the string.
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 5:59 am
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| Thanks Ron, looking forward to getting back. |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 6:02 am
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This is what mine looks like...
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Ernest Cawby
From:
Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 7:56 am hi
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The Williams uses allen screws on the hold down and you can use a regular wrench to tune the strings and pedal pulls
ernie |
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Dennis Wallis
From:
Arkansas
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 2:20 pm
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Using a pointed Phillip's screwdriver would worry me. If it slips, it's liable to scratch your guitar.
That's why you have to be REAAAALLLL CAREFUL ! 
Never had a problem. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 2:22 pm
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| Just a thought Dennis, but the screws could easily be changed out for Allen headers. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 5:39 pm
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On my Williams D-12x, I use the same tool that I use to tune the pedals:
Click here for more info.
To pull the string tight on a Sierra, I used a pair of needle-nose pliers. I no longer own that guitar.
_________________
-š¯•“š¯•†š¯•“- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Rick Nicklas
From:
Verona, Mo. (deceased)
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 7:09 pm
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Joe Kline's keyless tuner is the best I have ever seen. After you tighten the string down, you just turn the 90 degree horizontal screw until the string lifts to pitch and that does not take many turns. The screw pushes against the guitar and pulls the string straight out. Pure simple logic. All the other keyless I looked at have an angled screw to tighten the string (sometimes pushing on a lever with leverage)and that means you have to pull the string tight before tightening it down. Then you have to turn them quite a bit to come to pitch. I wish I could have my Kline Keyless Tuner installed on my new G2 and then I would know it was the "Perfect Guitar"......... for me!!
Last edited by Rick Nicklas on 6 Apr 2008 7:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 6 Apr 2008 7:15 pm
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| Rick, when I bought my Kline, I stopped at Joe's to have a knee lever changed. I saw a 6-string neck with his tuning system installed. I wish I had had the foresight to buy it! No one else has come close to his perfect keyless system! |
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Sonny Jenkins
From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 5:47 am
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| My keyless tuner on the little lap steels I make work the same way Kline does,,,about as simple as it gets,,,certainly not rocket science,,, |
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steve takacs
From:
beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 6:34 am ZUM KEYLESS TUNER TYPE
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| Does anyone recognize the make of keyless that is on Dennis' keyless Zumsteel and know anything about that tuner? I was wondering if it was a Bela? steve t |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 9:44 am
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For Sierra's, you use a piece of dowell with a hole drilled in the middle.
Put the string thru the hole and wrap it around a few times, then pull the string up to approx the next lower note.
Tune to final pitch with the finger tuner. |
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Sonny Jenkins
From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 1:04 pm
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| Steve,,,that is NOT a Bela tuner. This looks like a guitar that I bought from Doug Seymour (Bobbe's uncle) that he had "chopped" off and put Bela tuners on. I took it to Jim Flynn who makes Lone Star guitars up in Salado Tx. He refurbished it and put his keyless tuners on it, which are very much like Williams keyless tuners. I traded it to a gentleman up north who sold it to Danny Cormier in La. From there I have no idea where it went,,,IF THAT IS THE SAME GUITAR????,,and I believe it is. Bruce stated at one time that he had no intentions of EVER making a keyless guitar,,,HOWEVER,,,Doug Earnest, who used to work for Bruce built one for himself while he worked there,,a 12 string uni,,beautiful guitar. Being the "keyless" aficionado,,,and uni player that I am,,,I would LOVE to have it. |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 2:45 pm
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Obviously irrelevant, so removed.
Last edited by basilh on 8 Apr 2008 10:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 7 Apr 2008 2:47 pm
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| Cool Baz. |
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Hans Holzherr
From:
MĆ¼nchenbuchsee, Switzerland
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Posted 8 Apr 2008 12:10 am
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Basil, on looking closely at the picture, the unwound strings on your Bennett seem to be JAMMED in the lever mechanism rather than being "locked by the lever action" as you write. Is that on purpose because the lever action is too weak for the light strings? My friend Peter Schild who makes the Schild guitars has experimented with self-locking fasteners. According to him, there isn't much room between slippage and squeezing the strings right through, so that they break. Does the system on the Bennett apply the same lever ratio to all strings?
Hans |
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