lubricating steel

Larry Edwards · From: Broadalbin, NY

i heard some say silicone sray another one says shotgun oil anotherone wd40. anyone have any input on this
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I have 2 pedalmaster steels dbl 10
with 8 pedals and 5 knees.and a dbl body single neck with 3 pedals and 5 knees. I play a vegas 400 and I have a new steelking. I am a leftie.

Jonathan Cullifer · From: Gallatin, TN

Unless the guitar manufacturer recommends otherwise, machine oil, gun oil, or some other lightweight oil. WD-40 is a bad idea. It will gum everything up and doesn't accomplish the intended purpose.

A. J. Schobert · From: Cincinnati, Ohio,

I use 3 in 1 oil, I do have wd-40, but it isn't for my steel and I would hope your aren't useing it.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Here's how I did mine:

TriFlow

Greg

Sonny Priddy · From: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA, R.I.P.

NO WD40 What Ever You Do. SONNY.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I like regular gun oil or sewing machine oil. Both were designed for the same type of use we have in pedal steels - lubricating precision machined mechanical parts that were meant to last a lifetime.

I hear a lot about Triflow (which, I believe, was designed for bicycle and motorcycle chains), but I just don't trust it yet for precision machine parts.

Ronnie Boettcher · From: Brunswick Ohio, USA

I use TRIFLOW.
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Sho-Bud LDG, Martin D28, Ome trilogy 5 string banjo, Ibanez 4-string bass, dobro, fiddle, and a tubal cain. Life Member of AFM local 142

Doug Palmer · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

I worked ar Emmons Guitar for many years and built several hundred steels. I learned from Ron Lashley Sr. Founder of Emmons. The changer axle is greased with automotive grease before the fingers are installed. Then we used Gunk Liquid Wrench Super Oil after assembly and for regular maintanance. This is what Ron said to use. Note, do not use liquid wrench penetrating oil as it removes the axle grease. I've had to remove many changers and buff the axle when someone used the wrong oil. Very expensive mistake.

Doug
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Emmons D-10, ST-10,LD-10 III, NV-112,Fender Deluxe Reverb. Authorized wholesale dealer musicorp.com!

Robert Harper · From: Alabama, USA

Isn't WD 40 really a cleaning agent not a lubricant?. Hey it worked good to clean greaed and is an excellent ink removal agent. My wife had a patient that swore it was good for arthirits. I must add a disclaimer the patient who thought it was good for artritis was severialy fightened of mental instations. He would not allow himself to be put on the former floor that housed the mental patients at the Veterans hospital
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"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first begin to deceive" Someone Famous

Bill Ford · From: Graniteville SC Aiken

For anyone thinking of using WD40 for a lubricant, get a clean piece of metal and spray it with WD40, let it sit for a couple of days, then look at it and decide if thats what you want your changer, etc to look like.

Water Dispersant,formula #40 is not a lubricant!!!!!!!Don't use it on your PSG,You will regret it.

Bill
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Bill Ford S12 CLR, S12 Lamar keyless, Misc amps&toys Sharp Covers
Steeling for Jesus now!!!

Ned McIntosh · From: New South Wales, Australia

Tri-Flow is a great lubricant for the steel-guitar, but if you really want the most universally available oil which will work just fine, John Fabian of Carter Steel Guitars unhesitatingly recommends good old 30W motor oil (or a multigrade if you run your steel in sub-zero comditions!!) He doesn't comment on diesel oil, which is slightly different, but given the pressures in the changer come nowhere near those inside a diesel engine cylinder I have no doubt it would also be fine.

You could also use an ashless dispersant aero-oil, Aeroshell W100 or their 15W50 come to mind, but you won't find these on the shelves at your local auto-mart.

I'd avoid full-synthetic turbine-engine oils, however - they tend to be hygroscopic, that is they will absorb moisture, a potential cause of hidden corrosion. Stick with good grades of mineral oil for your steel.

But the best of the lot, and available in convenient containers, is good old Tri-Flow. Just get a bottle at the local bicycle or gun-shop and you've got pretty much a lifetime supply.
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The steel guitar is a hard mistress. She will obsess you, bemuse and bewitch you. She will dash your hopes on what seems to be whim, only to tease you into renewing the relationship once more so she can do it to you all over again...and yet, if you somehow manage to touch her in that certain magic way, she will yield up a sound which has so much soul, raw emotion and heartfelt depth to it that she will pierce you to the very core of your being.

David Doggett · Posted 7 Feb 2009 10:31 pm

After reading many posts on this here on the Forum (and also buying used pedal steels with various histories), here's my summary.

WD40 is a solvent, not a long-lasting lubricant. It will cut through mild rust and also old oil, grease and gunk. But it dries out and leaves its own residue. So after using WD40 as a cleaner, you need to clean off the WD40 with something like acetone or naphtha (lighter fluid). Then you clean that stuff off. Then you are ready to apply a lubricant to clean parts.

There are two types of lubricant, oil based and teflon (Triflow) or other dry lubricants. The two don't mix well. There is nothing really at high speed or high friction or heat on a pedal steel, so almost any oil or grease will do, from light oils such as sewing machine oil, gun oil, or 3-in-1 type household oils, to heavier stuff like motor oil, to more solid greases such as vaseline and automotive grease. They all work. The only problem with oils is they will eventually attract dust and grit, and need to be cleaned out and replaced periodically.

Triflow and other teflon lubricants are basically a solid powder suspended in an evaporative carrier. The carrier will clean out light oil, and then evaporate and leave behind the teflon. Teflon is dry and does not attract dust, and lasts a long time. But teflon mixed with old oil and grease can gunk up. So you need to clean away any gunk with a solvent such as kerosene or lighter fluid, and dry the parts before adding the Triflow the first time. From that point on you just touch up with more Triflow at infrequent intervals as it wears away. It doesn't attract dust and gunk up, so it doesn't necessarily have to be cleaned and dried before adding more.

Dwight Lewis · From: Huntsville, Alabama

I am an avid bass angler/ motorcycle road racer/ small engine technician/ electonic technician,(so any answer I give , is a confused answer). I have good success with a reel oil called Hot Sauce and a motor oil by Maxim 0w30 full synthetic. These are ultra light oils and they adhere to the metal and causes no drag. Confused? I thought so Laughing

RACER-X
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Dekley 7p4k(PRS-10C), BMI S12 5p5kn

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

I recently visited a local gun shop to buy some oil and was sold a lubricant that they use exclusively on all their rebuilds called BREAK FREE CLP. It has a military rating and spec number. I have used it on two guitars already and am impressed. It contains a small amount of detergent to help prevent 'caking'. It's not cheap...it cost me six bucks for a four-ounce bottle!!! I'll see how it works out over the long haul. Improper lubricants can actually shorten the mechanical life of a guitar, so I took notice when he explained the product to me and why his shop uses it.
PRR

Ray McCarthy · From: New Hampshire, USA

W-D 40 is made from fish oil, which is good for your arteries and joints etc. (in tablet form), but not for your steel guitar.
I used Tri-Flo on my changer--applied from the bottom with a Q-tip. Now I have black stuff (the old oil, I guess) all over the top of the changer fingers. I wipe it off and more comes out. So, at this point I don't know just how well my changer is lubed, but I don't think you should use Tri-Flo unless you've cleaned out all the old oil first.

Derby SD 10, NV 112, Truetone, Goodrich, George-L

Larry Edwards · From: Broadalbin, NY

well thanks for the info all you guys i think i will use the gun oil
_________________
I have 2 pedalmaster steels dbl 10
with 8 pedals and 5 knees.and a dbl body single neck with 3 pedals and 5 knees. I play a vegas 400 and I have a new steelking. I am a leftie.

Scott Howard · From: Georgetown, TN, USA

I just used Tri Flow for the first time on a Dekley I bought on ebay. I removed the changer took it totally apart. Cleaned everything and lubed it as I assembled it. If it moves it got a drop . Best feeling guitar I have ever had , Smooth action . Great stuff. I will be using from now on.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I'm another who has used Triflow on steels and 6-string moving parts fro several years. I would not touch my guitar with gun oil, motor oil, 3-in-1 oil, snake oil, whatever. ALL oils break down and ALL attract dust. You oil exposed parts on a guitar and you are ensuring dust and grit will get in the parts, requiring you to flush it all out . Dry teflon lubricants (Tri Flow, Pedro's Extra Dry) s David said don't attract dust, leave a dry, VERY slick lubricant and require no cleaning up, dismantling parts to remove dirt-infused gunk, etc.

Any oil will initially provide lubrication - but in 3-6 months you'll wonder why your guitar seems "slow".

And WD40 is great for rusty garage door springs...but belongs nowhere NEAR a guitar!
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Mike Shefrin · Posted 9 Feb 2009 11:58 am

I guess I'm old school but sewing machine oil has always worked just fine for me. I won't use anything else.

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I used 3-in-1 oil for while... it works OK, but being moist, it attracts dust and eventually gunks up a bit.

Then, I woke up one morning and said "It's the 21st Century. I'm going to try Tri-flow." Ran down to the bike shop and bought a life-time supply for $5.

Wow. Talk about "better living through science." Once it's applied (and dries) it's not sticky or moist at all... bone dry, yet it's slicker than ice.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Let's hold a poll and vote!

Greg

Bob Cox · From: Buckeye State

I have tubes of PTFE with pin point applicator.3.00 2.00 shippingIf anyone wants to get some email me.I can sell you all you want while they last.

Steve English · From: Baja, Arizona

I was given this advice from someone whom I hold in the highest regard, and unquestionably trustworthy:

One tip I learned from an old push/pull guy, and actually the guy who works for Emmons when they get an order to build an original push/pull out of the old parts. He said for lubrication of the changer he likes to use automatic transmission fluid, you know, the red stuff. He said drench it from the top, and put a rag on the floor where it drips thru. Let it soak for a few hours, move all the pedals and levers to work it in, re-drench it, and then when it's mostly dripped thru, go ahead and wipe it all down with another rag to dry it off. He said the ATF is real good at wicking its way along the changer axle and makes for a good long lasting lube. I tried it last year and I must concur that it works quite well once the mess is cleaned up. Also add a tiny drop where the rods slide thru the bellcranks and where the springs squeeze. I got one of those needlepoint oilers for those spots.

In regards to my p/p I have been very happy with the results.
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Always remember you're unique..... Just like everyone else

Bob Mainwaring · From: Qualicum Beach Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

For a good few years I've been using 3 in 1 oil with it's included added silicone.
During my day job I'm still working as a Locksmith & find that using the stuff on small parts has made a big difference to items that otherwise used to have movement problems Cool

The included silicone thankfully leaves a small residue where it stays way longer on parts than ordinary oil-based substances which tend to break down in time allowing parts to rub/chaff together Very Happy

All Z.B est.

Bob Mainwaring

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Steve - I must agree whole-heartedly with you re: ATF. ATF must endure some of the most severe and extreme conditions known to science. Yet the stuff goes for 100,000 miles and seems to beg for more. I plan to try it on two guitars in particular and see just what happens. It has a low viscosity and will flow readily into nooks and crannies thru capillary action and contains enough detergent to keep contaminants in suspension which is actually where they belong...NOT caked up on a load-bearing surface.
As I stated in an earlier post, IMO a 'wrong' lubricant can actually shorten the life of a guitar changer and do more damage over the long haul than good...just like a car engine!!!
PRR

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