New to PSG, pedal and knee lever issues

Jeff Silverman · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Just got a carter starter and have never owned or had to maintain a PSG. I am noticing that when I use my A pedal and F knee lever at the same time, my c pedal moves slightly, making my notes out of tune. Can I address this somehow?

As well, is there a specific resource for these kind of functionality questions, Iâ€™m sure more issues like this will arise. Thanks!

Joe Hensley · From: Boise, Idaho, USA

Take a look "under the hood" to see if any of the pull rods are rubbing or catching on others when engaging your pedals and levers. Generally if you monkey around a bit you can see what is the cause and solution (bent rods, shifted mounts/brackets/etc...).

I'm sure some of the other PSG vets will chime in with some wiser words, but I hope this helps and good luck on your new journey!

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

The F lever on my Carter S12 also slightly activates the C pedal, and the C pedal slightly activates the A pedal. Iâ€™ve always assumed it made mechanical sense because those pedals and the lever raise the same strings. Oddly enough the A pedal does not cause the C pedal to move.

You may have a tuning issue, but my guess is that it is not to do with pedals being slightly activated by other pedals or levers. A little information about how you tune your guitar might help in determining the problem and possible solutions. It might be an â€œovertuningâ€ issue, which you can look up here https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=326460

Joe Hensley · From: Boise, Idaho, USA

That's a fantastic post/link Fred.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Not enough info to push theories but yeah, so many of society's ills boil down to overtuning and I'd have a look at that, for sure.

I had a Carter-Starter on my workbench last year and my conclusion was that with a modification to the LKL stop to make it much more solid and stable, this is a decent sounding and playing guitar. You ought to get some mileage out of it.

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I've had several guitars where the C-pedal wiggles a little when you activate A-pedal. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, it's not enough move the strings or cause a pitch change so nothing to worry about when that's the only symptom. Pitch change is a different story.

My theory on your issue:
When you hit the F-lever, it pulls the 4th string finger on the changer.

Also attached to that same changer finger is another rod that runs back upstream, set up so the C-pedal can raise 4th from E to F#.

So those two (F-lever and C-pedal) "share DNA," as it were, and they meet at the changer's 4th-string finger. They both raise the 4th string when activated and their rods and nylon nuts are right next to each other. Therefore, activating one can sometimes activate the other if something is binding or catching in the pull-train.

Try hitting the 5th string, then engaging the F-lever. Do you hear the pitch change slightly? If so, something is binding between the pull trains for the F-lever and the C-pedal.

One thing to check: is the nylon nut for the F-lever pushing up against the one for the C-pedal, and dragging it along when you hit F-lever? Operate the knee lever by hand while closely watching those two raise-nuts for the 4th string. You want a little space between those nuts.

Another thing to check: if that C-pedal rod is passing through the hole in the changer at enough of an angle (instead of going directly through), the threads on the rod that are just behind the nylon nut can catch on the lip of the hole. This can sometimes essentially mimic pushing the C-pedal when you hit the F-lever. Since the C-pedal is attached to the 5th string too, this causes it to raise slightly when you don't want it too.

One way to test this theory is by just temporarily removing those C-pedal rods from the equation: unscrew the nylon nuts on strings 4 and 5 so that they don't engage the string at all when C-pedal is engaged and see if you still have tuning problems (and C-pedal movement) when you use the A-pedal alone, the F-lever alone, or A+F.

If the problem goes away, then one of those rods is binding or catching on something, either another rod, an adjacent nylon nut, or maybe the lip of the changer hole. Just flip the guitar upside down in the case and move the knee lever by hand and watch the rods carefully. Or, watch the tuning nuts and see if you can detect that one is 'catching' the hole, or rubbing another nut. Those rods are easy to bend a little to make whatever adjustment is needed to stop the binding issue.

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