Learning to work on your steel

Mike Shefrin · Posted 1 Jan 2009 12:46 pm

I know this might sound dumb to some of you who have lots of experience in working on steels but remember that we all started out as novices. Recently I have learned to adjust the height of my pedals. I also wasn't happy with the height of my vertical knee lever since it was too high up, and I like to use it in combination with my pedals so I figured out how to lower it. I also tweeked the position of my LKL for the E-F raise and now everything is setup real smooth. I've also learned a bunch of other tricks along the way. I must say that there is an immense feeling of satisfaction in working on a steel and finally having everything work properly and having the guitar stay in tune. My axe is a ZB retro D-10(3+5) that was custom built for me by Kevin Hatton and Jerry Fessenden. I love it so much that I recently sold my other guitar which was a 75 lacquer finish Emmons pushpull. That ought to tell you something about how happy I am with my ZB retro. It's a piece of cake to work on. All you need is a screwdriver, a few Allen wrenchs and some pliers. Below are some photos of the undercarriage and the guitar.

Bill Duncan · From: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA

I do the work needed on mine, but seems like nothing is ever simple. One thing I've found out; think before you tink! I have changed and tinkered with many things on my steel, only to come back later and undo them.
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Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

I'm a lot better at it than couple of years ago,Thanks to forum peeps I see a much clearer picture these days I'm also getting a good tool collection.My next challenge is to understand how a P.P works,I would like to see some diagrams or a DVD?and some how get some hands on experience? I don't know anyone who owns an Emmons up here.
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Wow! That ZB is totally unlike any of the three that I owned in the '70s! My father was an engineer by trade and, while he knew nothing of musical instruments, he would wince when he saw basic principals being flouted - he certainly looked askance at the underside of those old ZBs of mine.

That one, Mike, is a work of art!!!

I must say that fooling around under a steel terrifies me, and that's after thirty-some years of playing one! If I try to switch a pull on my Emmons LG111, you can bet that the 'C' clip will spring off across the room, never to be seen again. If I DO happen to find it, I can't for the life of me figure how to get it back on.

I once switched an MCI from 'Day' to 'Emmons', and that was a piece of cake. The Zum I once had looked pretty easy, too.

However - my Emmons defeats me. I really should get a handle on it, as I'm in exile down here in SW Fl orida. Once upon a time my old friend, Bud Vanderberg was just 100 miles north and would do stuff for me, but he's moved north now....

Sad

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

One thing I've found helpful before starting work on your pedal steel: take photos of the setup the way it is BEFORE you start messing with it. If you make a mistake, it can be hard to remember what it looked like earlier. Smile

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Jeff Hyman · From: West Virginia, USA

Brad,

I completely agree. Even so, I have a real hard time looking at a photo to restring my volume pedal. Talk about a twisted mess. If I had use of both my eyes, I'd want 3D glasses before I began.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I think that, unless you live in a place where there are competent PSG mechanics around, you really have little choice but to learn to do at least basic adjustments and maintenance. It's one thing sending a guitar off a distance for a major overhaul, but it seems like there's always some little thing that I want to do to a steel to keep me happy. For example, I sometimes want slight changes in my pedal heights or lever angles, will need to tighten something up here and there, and certainly need to give it a once over every once in a while to keep the tops of the changer fingers smooth and round, and lube critical points.

Beyond that - as happened on 6-string guitar a long time ago - I find that I just want things set up the way I want them, and found it easier to learn to critical setup stuff myself than to communicate what I want to someone who has a very different idea about what's "right", right down to what lubricant to use and so on. I got to the point where the only one who really understood how I wanted the action and feel of my 6-string guitars was me, and the same thing is happening with steel. I guess that's a quirk of my personality, no denying it. Not to mention the fact that I'm not completely lost at a gig if something goes wrong.

Of course, I do just enjoy working on these things. I agree that there is a huge amount of satisfaction in getting a good discount on a guitar that needs a good going over, tearing it apart, cleaning it up, finding small problems and fixing them, and then putting the thing back together again the way I really want it. I don't have access to a machine shop, so I'll have to farm out machining, but so far nothing really big like that has come up.

The first time I changed the setup on a guitar was 4 years ago on a BMI S-10 3+4. I think those are also great guitars to learn on - they're very simple - just some screwdrivers, the right allen wrench, and pliers handle most everything.

So far, I've only pulled apart all-pulls. I have a mid-70s push-pull that I want to move my E-Eb lever to the right knee. But I gather that it was set up previously by Tommy Cass and plays great, so I'm reluctant to mess with it until I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. This stuff all takes an enormous amount of patience - I tend to think about it and organize it in my brain a whole lot of times before I touch one bolt or screw.

Bobbe Seymour has a video each for all-pull and push-pull guitars. I got the all-pull version before I pulled apart that first BMI, and I guess I better get the push-pull version before I do anything with the Emmons. There are tons of helpful threads on the forum, but sometimes I can see things in a video that are harder to visualize from a verbal description or even a still photo.

On the photo thing - I prefer to make detailed notes and a sketch. I also label parts extensively as they come off, and add anything to the notes that I think might be relevant. I probably don't glean every little detail, but I try to understand exactly what something is doing, and whether or not it should go on the same or what changes should be made, before I pull it off the guitar. It takes a long time for me to pull the guitar apart, but I'd rather that than have it take a long time to put back together. The principles of most modern all-pull mechanisms seem to be pretty similar, but each implementation has its own little quirks that must be figured out.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

So far I've managed by virtue of the thousands of miles I travel to and from gigs - I can usually schedule work around one of my road-trips.

It really isn't good enough, though. Dave's post has convinced me that there's an enormous black mark against my name - because I really have little idea of how these things work!!!

I remember once considering the purchase of an Emmons push/pull. My wife cautioned me, saying: 'Do you really think you should, dear?'

Embarassed

IS there a document anywhere that would break the ice for me (on all-pulls, at least)?
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Roger, I have a feeling it's me that's weird, not you. Much the same way that most people don't work on their own cars - in fact most probably don't have a good idea how the internals of their car works - I'd be surprised if most pedal steel players do significant work on their own guitars. But what would we do if we didn't have lots of car mechanics around?

I think the same used to be true in the 6-string world, but I think the proliferation of setup and repair books by people like Hideo Kamimoto and Dan Erlewine, plus lots of web resources, has changed that somewhat, at least for serious players.

A critical point is that if the guitar - of whatever type - isn't set up right for me, I feel like I'm fighting it when I play and it interferes with what I'm trying to work on musically. I think it's possible to get too obsessed with making everything "perfect", but I think I play better on an axe that I feel is dialed in for me.

I found Bobbe's all-pull video useful. I seem to recall that he was working on a Legrande - I haven't looked at it in a while, someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that. But beyond this, Carter's Steel Guitar Information Resource - http://www.steelguitarinfo.com/ - and some simple searching on this forum yields a huge amount of useful info. Couple that with being able to ask questions on here, I can't see why anybody couldn't figure out how to do this. But it does take a lot of time and patience. If I lived close by some good pedal steel mechanics, I might not have ever gone down this road.

Duncan Hodge · From: DeLand, FL USA

Congratulations Mike. I am really proud of you as I am totally unable to work on my '69 ZB. I'm planning on delivering it to Billy Knowles for some tweaking and ZB repair lessons as soon as it stops snowing in North Carolina and the passes are clear and avalanche free.
On the other hand I am planning on attempting to totally change the setup on my Fulawka and add a few new pulls. After I get the whole thing dismantled I'll probably be unable to get it back together and have to sell it...but not before I cry like a little girl first.
Again, Mike, congratulations on the success and that is one beautiful retro steel. Kevin and Jerry done really, really good.
Duncan
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Mike Shefrin · Posted 2 Jan 2009 11:25 am

Thanks Roger. The guitar really is a work of art and sounds great.

Mike Shefrin · Posted 2 Jan 2009 11:31 am

Thanks Duncan. My ZB has modern mechanics which is why it's much easier to work on than the old ZB guitars which are notorious for being difficult to work on. This is what's so great about Kevin's guitars.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Maybe it's just my childhood background with erector sets and model airplanes but the first thing I do when I get a pedal steel - new or used,ZBs,Buds,MSAs,Marlins,Sierras,Excels,whatever - is take it completely apart down to the last nut and bolt and put it back together again just so there's nothing I don't know about it. The only one that didn't make good sense to me was an Emmons push-pull. It seemed like everything was designed the hard way. I used to do that with cars and motorcycles also till they got too fancy for me.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

If you don't work on your own pedal steel, you're missing half the fun. Very Happy

Bill Duncan · From: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA

After I purchase a new pedal steel, I am going to completely dissasemble my '77 MSA D10 and make it new again. Polish everthing top and bottom! Should take a couple of hours or so; I reckon.
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Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

I'm a lot like Roger - every time I contemplate doing something underneath I envision the damage I could do. I certainly did a lot of damage back in the days when my friends and I used to work on our own cars, and I don't believe my mechanical skills have improved all that much. When I do have to do something, I tend to think about it a lot more than I did in my old grease-monkey days, and don't make a move until I have a plan.

Today I needed to make an adjustment in the amount of travel on one of my pulls, and I didn't touch it until I had consulted with Jeff Bradshaw, who is one of the most helpful people on the planet.

Joseph Barcus · From: Volga West Virginia

A little input about push/pulls, they all are not alike and the best push/pulls is emmons some may think different. a push pull guitar once you get the pedals set and the tuning right on it you should only have to tune it at the neck as needed and keep your fingers off the rest. when you see that it just dont seem to be working and you just cant get that string to pull right or lower right thats a big red flag you need a string and not a rod adjustment. again always tune your pulls at the key head and not tail end. its so easy to get a push/pull out if you dont know what youre doing, I guess same rings true for the all pulls as well when a string dont seem to be pulling right we always run to the nylon nut and over time get it turned in to far then it rides on the changer, in turn causes strings not to come back true sometimes with out tapping on a pedal or knee, in most cases people start saying the changer is sticking. but only to find out the nylon was turned in to far. just my 3 cents worth
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Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

If anyone wants a ZB like Mike's go to www.retrosteelguitar.com
I custom build them to order one at a time. I will put them up tone wise to any guitar out there. Killer ZB tone. They are faithful reproductions with precision mechanics. The inlays and finishes will knock your socks off.

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

i'm w: Bro' Erv on this one
one is better off knowing how to maintain, repair & set things right otherwise you're gonna be sad & in a jam
all pulls are obviously the easiest to work on
that's what i've stuck too

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I don't mean to hijack this topic, but in the same vein, how many of you make up your own cords?

Bill Duncan · From: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA

I make up cords every time I play! Most of them don't sound so good; especially when I get into the E13/fLAT9/MINOR SEVENTHS, and such.

Come to think of it; I usually get cords like that, "after", I have worked on my steel!
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Tommy Shown · From: Denham Springs, La.

There are only a couple of things that I'll do, when it needs working on it. And that's changing the strings and tuning it. Anything else, I let someone who knows the technical side a little bit better than I. However I had to change a pot out on my volume pedal one time. SO, I asked my dad for help,
he did a fair to middlin job on it. It turned out he re-wired backwards(LOL). About an hour later my dad called and asked how it was working? I told him that whenever I would press down the sound would stop. Oh wellllllll, you can't fault a person for trying. Laughing

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Work on your own guitar?? Awe just go for it!! Evil Twisted

Brian McGaughey · From: Orcas Island, WA USA

You're gonna need one of these rolling magnets if you disassemble your pedal steel on a thick-pile carpet like I did, although it didn't actually directly help me find that one damn missing screw.

If you don't find the missing screw after 2 hours of going over the carpet with the tool pictured, look in your case...you'll find it inside, like I did. Oh Well

Be not afraid, ye of little faith. I'm no mechanical genius, but I took a few pictures of my steels underside, and 30 minutes later had a pile of hardware on my left and a stripped down guitar on my right.

The portion that took the most time was fine tuning the mechanics, which took a couple weeks to really get it how I wanted it. I'd changed some bellcrank/pull rod positions and added a knee though, so it came as no suprise.

My Pop's taught me to not be at the mercy of the "repair man", so I'm a big DIYSer.

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