Help connecting Mullen Knee Lever

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

I'm blessed with a beautiful little S-10 Mullen with standard E9 Tuning, E 3 Pedals and 4 Knee Levers, the 4 being a dud (awaiting a hook-up?). I have a question about the 3 other knee levers.

Instead of calling them LKL or RKL, etc, I'll just call them 1 - 2 - 3...left to right... the dud is actually the 1st knee Lever, sitting to the Left of #1,2, and 3 below.

#1 - â†“ strings 4 & 8 (does not â†‘ those strings)

#2 - â†‘ strings 1 & 2 ...and... â†“ string 6

#3 - â†“ strings 2 & 9

Erv's tabs often call for an "F" knee Lever.... but none of my pedals seem to work as an F knee lever should.... they just don't make the chord sound right.

So my question is... what's an F knee Lever and if I can't use the tab for "F" Lever... can I compensate somehow? Slant the bar? None of my Pedals or Levers give me the sound I need when the tab says to play Lever â€œFâ€. (Also, what is an â€œEâ€ knee Lever?)

My C pedal appears to raise the E's (4 & eight (wants to put an emoji here instead of the number eight) to F... so how would you push the A and C pedal down at the same time, use two feet?

Thanks to whomever might enlighten me. Smile

Ken Pippus · From: Langford, BC, Canada

Your #1 is an E lever.

F lever raises 4 and 8 E's to F, almost certainly what was on your current dud, in the place where it is usually situated.

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

Well that's a little distressing. How do I hook up the first pedal?

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Take a picture of the undercarriage and another of the changer end view. Post the pics here in this thread and re-write the title of your post so it says something like â€œNeed help connecting F leverâ€. I can just about guarantee the cavalry will arrive.

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

Now that sounds encouraging. I'll wait for the sunshine tomorrow as it's too dark right now. This give me hope.

Only one other issue is... I have trouble stretching from the A pedal to the 2nd Lever when they're both used at the same time. Is there a way to move that Lever to the left a little more? Or will I need leg-stretching surgery? Rolling Eyes

Thanks!

Gene Tani · From: Pac NW

(I just had to click on NO!)

This describes the knee lever tilt adjustment, and also what NOT to do on Mullen levers https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=349060

Since you're in Colorado you could call/email the Mullen crew and maybe have them see you sitting at the steel and they could tell you what they recommend
_________________
- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
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J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks for that link. So good to be warned. I'm reading that thread now. Smile

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

A trip east on I-70 to Flagler might be in order.

Ken Pippus · From: Langford, BC, Canada

Those Mullen folks are wonderful. Well worth your time to have them get it running properly for you.

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

1 - whole length
2 - Left
3 - Middle
4 - Right

Hope this works.... Smile

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Good pics.
To my inexperienced eye, it looks like your #1 (LKL) is on the crossbar with rods going to the fingers for strings 4 & 8 that would normally raise them a half-step.

You didnâ€™t post an end-view pic of the changer. That would help determine whether the hex nuts for those rods are connected to the changer fingers. If theyâ€™re not, that explains the dud-ness. If they are connected and there is no corresponding raise, maybe they are not in the right changer hole, or maybe they are loosened all the way out, or maybe you need a more qualified diagnosis than what I can give you.

You still should change the title of your post too. Just copy and paste this:
â€œHelp connecting Mullen Knee Leverâ€

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks, Fred. Here's the pic of the changer... hope it helps.

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Okay, counting over from the RIGHT side of the changer, find the hex nuts on the 4th and 8th string fingers. The fingers should move when you engage the LKL. If they donâ€™t, try tightening the nuts by turning them clockwise. Iâ€™m guessing its the top nuts on the finger that should be raising 4 and 8, because its the only raise position nut on string 8, and string 4 should follow suit.

If those hex nuts are tight, try loosening them all the way out and starting over. Iâ€™m not seeing any damage to the changer or the linkage, but again, a more experienced eye may come to the rescue...if you change your subject title.

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

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The LKL is the dud... it doesn't move left or right, so I keep it up and out of the way.

The LKR takes E's 4 and 8 â†“ but not â†‘ to the F unfortunately.

So.... it is possible to just turn those changers to make it go â†‘ to F? If so, that's better than nothing but I'd really like to get the LKL to give me the F becaue the R lever is too far away...unless I could move it to the left? Can you tell if there's a tilt adjustment under there?
_________________
"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalms 39:7)
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Mullen S-10 the prettiest one ever made â¤ï¸

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Someone with better vision than mine should look at the LKL stop screw.

It looks to me like it may be screwed in too far and isn't allowing the lever to move.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Based on the photos, I believe that any competent steel tech can have this playing properly in a standard copedent in 10 minutes. Getting this guitar to one should be 100% your plan.
I started but then gave up trying to draft any suggestions because your refusal to adopt simple and standard terminology is a red flag to me.

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

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I don't suppose there's a way to put a red circle around the part you're talking about in the photo, is there? The bottom of this guitar is foreign to me. I just laid it on its side to get the pics.

Thanks Lee!

Smile

_________________
"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalms 39:7)
-----
Mullen S-10 the prettiest one ever made â¤ï¸

Gene Tani · From: Pac NW

did you try what is says on manual pg 13?

https://mullenguitars.com/owners-manual
_________________
- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
- The secret sauce: polyester sweatpants to buff your picks, cheapo Presonus channel strip for preamp/EQ/compress/limiter, Diet Mountain Dew

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

J, where in Colo are you located?

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

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I think I'll engage my husband in this when he gets home. (Not that we ladies are incapable of doing everything in the world all by ourselves. haha) I just need to borrow his hex wrench.... Very Happy

Thanks, Gene, I just copied the instructions from the manuel.

Jack... in the Denver area.

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_________________
"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalms 39:7)
-----
Mullen S-10 the prettiest one ever made â¤ï¸

Tommy Allison · From: Transfer, Pennsylvania, USA

Unless my eyes are getting worse than I thought. I see five knee levers. the LKL and vertical levers are folded up against the underside of the body. The tuning nuts show the guitar is rodded to raise both E strings (4 and 8) and lower both B strings (5 and 10). Should be a pretty standard configuration but, what's standard on a pedal steel?

Patrick Timmins · From: Seattle

Hi J. I 2nd Jacks recommendation to get your rig up to Mullen and have them help you out. They are a super nice crew up there in Flagler. I was just there a couple of weeks ago; just call ahead or email and make an appointment. They have a good production backlog at the moment.

As for getting you fixed up right now, here is the screw you likely need to loosen/adjust. Once you adjust that, you will need to retune the nylon endplate tuners to the pitch you want.

I looked at your pictures and you appear to have 5 knee levers. My best guess is that this is your copedent. Everything seems to be in the right place.

Use this copedent chart to tune the rest of your pulls so they start sounding correct.

This should get you started.
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Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

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Tommy, now I see the 5 levers too. Thanks for pointing that out.

Patrick, thanks for the pic! And for that great Chart! If I have 3 pedals and 5 knee levers, then that should be quite adequate.

I'll let my husband have a look at it and see if he wants to tackle it. He's pretty good at things like this. But on the other hand, I really need the levers located closer to my knees because now the LKR is way too far to the right to even touch if I need the A pedal depressed at the same time.

So... I think a trip to Flagler might be in order. They should be able to tell me which lever should be where to make it as convenient as possible.

Smile

Thanks to everyone who's contributed here in helping me. I really appreciate it!

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_________________
"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalms 39:7)
-----
Mullen S-10 the prettiest one ever made â¤ï¸

J Hill · From: Colorado, USA

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