Dekley D12 bellcrank blues

Pete McAvity · From: St. Louis, Missouri USA

Heya, Forum. I lucked into Wally Murphy’s circa ‘79 Dekley D12 & was hoping to get pointers from Dekley owners on making copedent changes. It currently has E changes on the right & Im attempting to swap some levers. For the life of me, I can NOT get the little screws holding the bell cranks to the rounds shafts to loosen in order to move ‘em around. I got a copy of the owners manual, and if I’m reading it correctly, it advises swapping out the entire shaft to make changes (infeasible although only two shafts are involved- four rods, four bell cranks). I haven’t gone so far as to liquid wrench things. Tough to get in there to get enough tork amidst other rods and I’m trying to only do as much disassembly as is warranted. Thoughts?[/img]
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Excel Superb D10, Sarno Black Box or Freeloader, Goodrich L120, Boss DD5, Baby Bloomer, 1965 Super Reverb chopped to a head, feeding a mystery PA cab w/ a K130.

They say "thats how it goes". I say "that ain't the way it stays!"

Bill Johnson · From: Washington, USA

Pete,
I know what you're talking about. They can be a bear to work on due to tight conditions.
I have a 1978 D10 that I picked up that was in bad shape. I decided to do a complete tear down and rehab.
The following is what I had to do to get the bellcranks loose. (the most important thing was not to get in a hurry and rush things, as I found out the hard way)
1. loosen the barrel locks at the bellcranks and remove the pull rods from the cross shaft you're working on. This will allow you to turn the cross shaft,
bringing the allen head screws into a more workable position.
2. Stuff some old rags under the cross shaft to catch the excess rust dissolver. I had the best result by using "PB Blaster" rather than "Liquid Wrench".
3. Liberally apply the dissolver around the bellcrank, shaft and allen head screw.
4. In between applications of the dissolver, lightly tap on the shaft and bellcrank and work the allen head screw slightly in both directions.
I also applied heat from a heat gun. (hair dryer will work)
A few of the bellcranks came loose the first day but most of them took about three - four days of repeated applications of steps 3 and 4.
Like I stated earlier, mine was in bad shape with heavy corrosion so hopefully yours will go much easier.
NOTE: All of the Dekleys I've had, have used regular polished steel shafts instead of stainless. The shafts are also flat ground with a keyway on the underside. (facing cabinet)
Sorry I don't have a quick and easy solution for you, but this is the only thing that worked for me.
Good Luck, Bill

Pete McAvity · From: St. Louis, Missouri USA

Awright Bill! That’s what I’m looking for. I’ll get it upside down again & go slow. Thank you!
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Excel Superb D10, Sarno Black Box or Freeloader, Goodrich L120, Boss DD5, Baby Bloomer, 1965 Super Reverb chopped to a head, feeding a mystery PA cab w/ a K130.

They say "thats how it goes". I say "that ain't the way it stays!"

James Parsley · From: Virginia, USA

I took my Dekley apart to add some changes. It was much more involved than I was expecting. I end up disassembling most of the guitar. I used Remington oil using a Qtip on the tiny Allen screws to loosen it. On mine I had to “polish” the crank arms with fine steel wool and oil to remove the light corrosion to get the bell cranks to slide. The tolerance on the bell cranks and the shaft are very tight. Be very careful with the “crank arm screw clamp” I snapped a couple working on mine.

Barry Coker · From: Bagley Alabama, USA

Just to expand on Bill's great advice I have used a small soldering iron to heat the set screws. The heat will expand the part just enough to loosen the hold of the rust.

Good luck
Barry
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Zum-D-10, Webb 614-E, 65 Pro Reverb, Evans RE200, 69 Gibson Birdland, 89 Telecaster EAD Bad!!

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