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Topic: Clearing a changer jam? |
Eric Jaeger
From:
Oakland, California, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 12:01 pm |
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I've got a problem on a Sho-Bud Pro II (double raise, single lower). The pull range on the 5th string is down 1-step (B to C). The adjustment end of the changer seems to show the finger stuck in about 1/4 inch, and it won't return to flush with the others. Enough play in the rods, so I'm thinking the changer itself is jammed. Any insights on clearing it short of complete disassembly?
-eric |
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Colby Tipton
From:
Crosby, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 12:12 pm
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Make sure you don't have a ball end off of a broken string stuck in it somewhere and lube it. That may work. I had one that all at once 2 fingers started sticking, lubed it and worked like brand new.
Colby |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 12:24 pm
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| Try operating the affected pedal with the guitar standing on-end or upside-down. That will usually work loose whatever's jammed in there. Sometimes, you can let the pedal "snap back" to help the process, also. |
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Eric Jaeger
From:
Oakland, California, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 12:38 pm
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Colby, I wish I could SEE inside it. I think there's a ball-end in there (they often seem to fall in when the string breaks over the changer), but no way to tell.
Donny, tried upside down, sideways up, snapping the pedal... nada.
Beginning to sound like it's time to dig out the phillips and the hex wrenches... maybe I can get by removing just a few of the rods and return springs.
-eric |
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Bill Moore
From:
Manchester, Michigan
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 2:59 pm
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| Eric, did you happen to just change the strings? And while you had the string off, did you move the changer finger around or turn the guitar upside down? If you do that, sometimes the parts of the changer finger will "flip around" and get out of position. Try removing the string, and you might need to also remove the return spring, then you will be able to move the parts and get them into place. This has happened to me before. Good luck. |
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Colby Tipton
From:
Crosby, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 3:45 pm
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Eric,
Any luck yet? If you can see a ball end in it and it want shake or rattle out try to hook it with a string and work it out. I had to that before. Seems like I took and dragged my fingers across the pull rods several times so it kind rattled things (along with the pedal pop) a little one time and it made one work loose, just like your plucking bass strings. Someone will come along and have a different idea in little while. |
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Eric Jaeger
From:
Oakland, California, USA
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 4:17 pm
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| I'm waiting to get home to try some of these things. This is the first time I've had a changer jam so thoroughly from something I can't see. This happened right after the 3rd broke, so I'm suspicious. But it could be the fingers flopping oddly when I turned it over. Ironically enough, to take some of the slack out of the pedals. |
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James Morehead
From:
Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Dec 2006 10:13 pm
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| Eric, sounds like the finger was pulled a little to far, and finger is out of the guide. Turn the guitar over and operate that finger and you will see if that's the case. Simply pull it back out and help it slide back in. You will need to back off the adjustment a little, or it will continue to happen. Hope this helps. |
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Colby Tipton
From:
Crosby, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2006 7:04 am
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| What James said may be it. I have seen this before, but it was when I had a guitar about half torn down working on it. |
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Paul Redmond
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2006 6:00 pm
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I worked on a Sho-Bud for a guy once who just couldn't get his changer to work right. As I took it out of the case after assembly, I heard a bunch of stuff fall into the case. They were broken string ends. I checked his changers and found a total of 14 of those little critters in there. After fishing them out with some wire, his changers worked just fine.
PRR |
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Ronnie Sellers
From:
Seymour Tenn
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Posted 23 Mar 2007 11:00 am
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Erick" If your still having problems with the changer
this my be the problem.
I have a PRO II Custom and it was doing the same thing as yours.
Done everything i could think of and broke down and called Paul Sr.
He said it could be that the finger has wore through
the plating on the changer.
Paul had a big hand in the desing of the changer,and
at the time this changer was being built at SHO-BUD the changers were being cast instead of C&C milled like todays changers and the people at SHO-BUD had no way of knowing if the casted piece was solid!they had no kind of XRAY MACHINE to test with. Paul had 20.of the old Mavrick changers,and i bought only 10.
should have took them all.Replaced them in 1993 and it still plays fine today! Hope this helps.
Ronnie Sellers {1983 Red SHO-BUD D10 8&4} |
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Don Barnhardt
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2007 5:51 pm
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| You may have already thought of this but if you haven't, back track to when your trouble first started. Did you change strings just before the problem started or any other unusual event? That may give you a clue. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 25 Mar 2007 9:41 am
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I carry around a little fork that is made for getting crab out of it's shell. They are real skinny and easy to get in the changer to get the string ends. Sometimes it's hard to get needlenose pliers into where the string end is. Although, since I bought my Carter in 99, i have maybe broken 3 strings and only once did the ball end fall into the changer. I didn't know it was there and I noticed my E to F lever had a spot where it clicked and had a resisitance, but still made the complete travel. I looked and couldn't see the ball end for several weeks and one day I was setting up my guitar and I could just see a tiny bit of the ball end. Got out my crab fork and all was good and well.
Also, the fork comes in handy when you play at crab feeds.  |
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