Question about a Fender student pedal steel

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

I know nothing about Fender pedal steels but I picked up a student model and I was wondering if any of you could answer a question.

The steel has really never been played and is all original. It's a Fender but the undercarriage sure seems to have Sho-Bud parts from the 70's. That makes me think it might have been made by Gretsch or Sho-Bud for Fender? It has three pedals and one knee - sort of. By that I mean, the knee lever is non-operational and is wire-tied up in the undercarriage. The puzzling part is that the changer itself doesn't allow for lowers. All ten fingers only raise. You'd think with one knee lever that would lower the E's but that isn't going to happen. Since that's the case, why is there a knee lever there in the first place?

Again, I'm pretty sure this is all original and hasn't been modified in any way.

Any thoughts, advice or experience with this little animal? Thanks.

Pat Comeau · From: New Brunswick, Canada

Eric,
If i'm right that fender is just like a maverick which is a what they call a push release changer and if so there is a way to get the knee lever lower your E's, i'm sure someone will chime in and explain how cause i don't remember exaclty cause i don't have the maverick anymore Rolling Eyes

but if my memory is right you have to use the knee lever setting to get the string to pitch and when you lower the knee you have to use the screw on the changer to tune the lower E
's, . Smile

Maybe someone can explain it better.
_________________
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Joshua Grange · From: Los Angeles, California

Pat, you sound right.
You would tune the E's to Eb by first using the keyhead tuner to get an E pitch, then hit the lever and while engaged use the allen screw at the changer to get the Eb, then use the keyhead to tune back to an E, rinse repeat til you've got it dialed in.

Also, to tune the pedals it's sort of the reverse. You'd start by getting the open string in tune with the keyhead tuners, then depress the pedal and use the keyhead tuners again to tune the pedal, then use the allen screw at the changer to tune the open pitch, then repeat til its dialed in.

Eric, I guess it should be noted that the lever on those guitars were originally RKR, and if your guitar was modified to be something different it could affect that method of tuning. Try looking underneath the guitar as you fiddle with the levers and pedals to see what is happening under there. You might spot the problem like that.
For sure those guitars are capable of lowering.

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

All pull/release systems are capable of both raising and lowering pitches. The glitch is holding the string or strings in "neutral". A spring on the actual lowering shaft is needed for that to override the tension of the string or strings.
PRR

Tamara James · Posted 11 May 2009 8:04 am

From the factory the student Fender knee lever lowers the 2 and 8. Eb to D, E to Eb. Made by Sho-Bud for Fender. Best of both worlds. Very Happy

I have one. Played it for 6 months or so. Still have it. I play a different one now.

Maybe we should start a "Fender Steel owners stand up and be counted" thread. LOL

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · From: Sweden

Good Thinking,Tamara...only problem is,it´ll be a
week or two before I qualify...yes,that´s it,I´ll be
collecting a Fender 400 soon,effectively the outcome
of a personal Fender-rave...when I got into PSG,the
word of the day was "Fenders are obsolete..." etc,
but they´re an essential link in the PSG development
continuum,and I just need one,now...those who know
history are,obviously,half-destined to repeat it...
guess I´m gonna have to stock up on wire & assorted
paraphernalia from the hardware store...Bye...McUtsi

Benson Riffle · From: Arizona, USA

Should be a big honkin' spring on the knee lever itself, which keeps the string pulled in the raised position. So, pressing the lever lowers the string to the "open" position.

I took mine off of the second string, I have it lower both E's. Welded together some parts from Ace Hardware and made a RKL lever to raise the E's, tuned my 2nd down to D, and have used it that way for 20 years ('cuz I'm working poor).

David Doggett · Posted 20 May 2009 3:36 pm

Just to clarify the history, these Sho-Bud/Fender student models were not really related to the old Fender cable pulls. They were Sho-Bud Maverick pull-or-release pedal steels, with coat-hanger pull/release rods. The only Fender aspect was the ash-tray keyhead, and around this time the Sho-Bud Maverick also had that keyhead.

They were designed to either raise (pull) or lower (release) the changer fingers, and not to be able to raise and lower the same string. The fingers that raise rest on the endplate hex screws, and are tuned open there. Pulling the finger brings it up against the body at the inside of the changer cutout slot. The body is the stop for the pedals, and that stop is tuned by the keyhead tuner with the pedal down.

The lowers on strings 2 and 8 worked opposite to that. A spring holds the finger in the raised position against the body, and the open string is tuned at the keyhead (or on some models with a screw stop at the knee lever?). Activating the lever conteracts the spring and allows string tension to rotate the finger against the endplate hex screw stop, and the lower is tuned there.

Some people finagled a way to raise and lower the same string, by using a spring to balance the finger in the neutral position. It could then be pulled from there for a raise, or released from there for a lower. It's hard to imagine that would have very stable tuning.

I had a Maverick with a 2nd knee lever (LKL) that I used to raise both Es, like a standard F lever. RKL lowered the 2nd string to D and the 9th string to C#. That worked pretty good for those standard levers, but my use of the E lower lever was stunted until I moved to a pro model. Basically these things were good for learning the strings and pedals for a few months; then it was time to move on to a pro model with real knee levers.

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