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Topic: HELP with “Howard” 12 string |
Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 22 Jan 2023 5:58 pm |
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| Is ANYONE intimate with Howard steels? I aquired this steel for free earlier this week and I have a lot of questions about this thing… namely regarding copedent and tuning… this thing has 6 pedals and 6 knee levers and not one of them raise my 5th string a whole step, even when maxing out the pedal tuners. I have tried basically every fix my brain can think of, but I’m too green of a pedal steel tech to wrap my head around the cable system, and I can’t find any resources on the web for Howard steels. I will post pictures when I get home…. If anyone can help me get the bottom of this and get to playing it would be MASSIVELY appreciated. |
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Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 6:24 am
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That's challenging. I am confident that I (and many others here) could work this out but it would have to be hands-on.
This earlier discussion in the link below does give some clues. Bottom line -- regardless of the type of mechanism, if you are getting some raise or lower but not enough, you need to increase the travel of whatever is activating the movement at the changer. This might mean moving whatever is limiting the movement of the pedal or the rod or cable puller.
The pictures in this thread might give a clue about where the restriction and the adjustment can be found:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=279287 |
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Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 7:39 am
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| Jon Light wrote: |
That's challenging. I am confident that I (and many others here) could work this out but it would have to be hands-on.
This earlier discussion in the link below does give some clues. Bottom line -- regardless of the type of mechanism, if you are getting some raise or lower but not enough, you need to increase the travel of whatever is activating the movement at the changer. This might mean moving whatever is limiting the movement of the pedal or the rod or cable puller.
The pictures in this thread might give a clue about where the restriction and the adjustment can be found:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=279287 |
Thanks for the reply! I’ve been working on increasing the travel on my A pedal… but not that I’ve got it about where I need, it isn’t returning properly due to the sheer amount of cables and whatnot in the undercarriage. I’m gonna go ahead and do a full clean of the changer and any other gunked up parts and then maybe completely gut it and reinstall new cables. I might even remove a good chunk of pedals or levers as I really don’t plan on utilizing the universal tuning aspect of the guitar much and it would significantly expedite the process not having to deal with so much cable. I’m not sure, this could be out of my league. If anyone has a recommendation for a good steel tech in the Oklahoma City metro area I could get in touch with that would be super rad
Last edited by Joshua Mcdaniel on 23 Jan 2023 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 8:04 am
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| At the top of this section is my discussion of overtuning. Trouble is, I can't tell, in that Howard jungle, what even constitutes overtuning. But the one question that comes to mind is -- after doing what you've done with the A pedal, is the string not returning to pitch due to gunk or have you changed the 'at rest' pitch in the course of what you've changed with the pedal (which would indicate either overtuning or something like it. The link I provided to an earlier Howard discussion shows several adjustment points that might be relevant; at the pedal itself, at the pedal/pedal rod junction, and in the undercarriage. If this were on my bench, these are all things I'd be looking at, observing what happens and what would happen if I changed one thing or another. |
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Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 4:28 pm
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| Jon Light wrote: |
| At the top of this section is my discussion of overtuning. Trouble is, I can't tell, in that Howard jungle, what even constitutes overtuning. But the one question that comes to mind is -- after doing what you've done with the A pedal, is the string not returning to pitch due to gunk or have you changed the 'at rest' pitch in the course of what you've changed with the pedal (which would indicate either overtuning or something like it. The link I provided to an earlier Howard discussion shows several adjustment points that might be relevant; at the pedal itself, at the pedal/pedal rod junction, and in the undercarriage. If this were on my bench, these are all things I'd be looking at, observing what happens and what would happen if I changed one thing or another. |
To get more travel I adjusted the starting position of the “c bar” (for lack of a better term) that actually pulls the cable, by moving the bronze colored collar clamp. My current issue is that even though I’ve moved the starting position (and when I move the c bar with my hand, it makes a whole step raise), when I hook up the pedal it always returns to the original start position before I moved the collar clamp. I just chalked this up to something physically in the undercarriage stopping it from returning to the further position, I.E. gunk or cable rub, BUT I’m also super green and this cable business is not helping |
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Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 4:29 pm
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| I will read up on overtuning though and see if I can get another diagnosis |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 23 Jan 2023 5:14 pm
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| You may be green but you do sound like you have a general sense. That can go a long way. |
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Joshua Mcdaniel
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2023 6:34 am
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| Jon Light wrote: |
| You may be green but you do sound like you have a general sense. That can go a long way. |
Update: got my A pedal completely functioning and tuned… now my problem is that since I had to move it quite a bit to allow the necessary travel of the c bar, the bell crank that my pedal rod is attached to is sitting so high in the undercarriage that my pedal is shooting up much higher than any other… if I had longer rods I could have it sit lower, but even as high as it is now, it travels completely to the floor before it hits the stop and completes its raise. Kind stumped, I’m not sure if it’s just a design flaw of the Howard or what. I’ll post photos in here after my shift today. |
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Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2023 7:27 pm
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At rest, the A-pedal normally does sit higher than the B-pedal. And maybe the C-pedal too, depending on your personal preference. But if any pedal is hitting the floor, you need to raise it... and then follow up by raising the other pedals as well so that they are all useable together
If you are new to all this, you do this by breaking the tension on the tiny lock nut that sits next to the spring-loaded barrel (the barrel is the thing at the end of the pedal-rod you attach to the pedal itself). Once that lock nut is screwed in a little to get it out of the way, you can then remove the rod from the pedal and you'll have free reign to rotate the barrel on the rod. Screwing in the barrel on the pedal-rod (clockwise) will end up raising your pedals. And vice versa.
After you get it right, cinch that lock nut up against the barrel (counter-clockwise) to freeze your new setting in place. |
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