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Topic: Wrist levers |
Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 11:29 am |
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I've had one now (B to Bb) for just about 10 years. It took a while for me to get used to it, but it's really a cool thing.
The one real disadvantage is that it's impossible to chime while using it. A second relatively minor problem is that things get very cramped when you're playing way up the neck. You can still do it, but it's not real comfortable.
But the advantage more than compensates for this. On a Universal, the B to Bb change is useful in so many places on both sides of the tuning, that there really is no one place to put it where it can be utilized to it's fullest musical advantage. By putting it on a wrist lever, you can always use it, regardless of what your feet and knees are doing.
I was skeptical myself until I tried one out. But once I did, I immediately saw the advantages of having such a lever. Recently I was surprised and pleased to learn that my long time friend and occasional mentor Blackie Taylor had one of these levers installed on his guitar. He tried mine out and liked it so much he got one for himself.
I'm not sure whether or not there is any advantage to having one of these levers on a single or double 10, but they work really well on a U-12.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 1:02 pm
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Mike - Were you able to get a wrist-lever on your new guitar?
Lee |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 2:09 pm
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Yes Lee. In fact it's actually a better one. Johnny Cox studied the one in the picture, (I sent him the guitar so he could examine it up close) and improved on the design. I just don't have a picture of it.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 3:01 pm
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| I thought you had said that. You need to show us a picture, when you have a chance. |
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Bob Simmons
From:
Trafford, Alabama, USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 5:38 pm wrist
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| I put one on on D10 - G# to F# , love it only thing, had to make a wider case! |
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Ben Godard
From:
Jamesville NC
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 6:15 pm
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How about a head lever or maybe a shoulder lever too?  |
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Colin Mclean
From:
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 7:19 pm
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How about two levers on your chair, one for each ass cheek? 
Just kidding. That actually looks like a good idea Mike. Nice guitar too. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 8:47 pm
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| Ben Godard wrote: |
| How about a head lever or maybe a shoulder lever too? |
Whenever I see more than four knee levers I ask myself which item of the anatomy is used to work the others. Prudence prevents me from offering a suggestion, but let's just say a woman would be at a disadvantage...  |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 10:10 pm
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Tom Bradshaw built the lever in the picture. There is a picture of an MSA with one in his original 70s catalog, so chances are either he or Bud Carter invented it. As far as I know though, (and I could be wrong) Carter does not offer a wrist lever as an option on their guitars.
Besides MSA, the only company that I know of that offers wrist levers as an option is GFI, but itβs reasonable to assume that most builders will build a guitar with one if somebody asks, and many repair guys could retrofit an existing guitar (as Tom did mine) with one.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 1:55 pm
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| I'm in the process of building a lap steel with palm levers. I never thought of it before, but there really isn't any reason you can't have both palm levers and pedals on a pedal steel, as long as you can build them into the mechanism. |
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Ron Turner
From:
California, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 2:12 pm
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| Where do you get these and are they easy enough to install my self? |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 7:27 pm
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| Ron Turner wrote: |
| Where do you get these and are they easy enough to install my self? |
Ron, since you have a millennium, you would have to send the guitar back to MSA and have Johnny build and install the lever. In an older MSAs, the shaft goes through the hole that previously housed the jack, but on a Milly, they have to drill a hole on the guitar.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Bobbe Seymour
From:
Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 7:59 pm
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I know a girl that put a knee lever on herself,
She sure looked funny, |
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Whip Lashaway
From:
Monterey, Tenn, USA
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Posted 14 Aug 2007 1:11 pm
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Question Mike, Would it overcome the disadvantages any if the "wrist" lever were somehow extended out and became an "elbow" lever. That would keep things from getting "crowded" and might also allow you to hit the chimes. I would consider putting something like that on. What do you think? Whip
_________________
Whip Lashaway
Sierra E9/B6 12 string
Sierra E9/B6 14 string
Excel S12 8x9 blue
Excel S12 8x9 black |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 14 Aug 2007 1:43 pm
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Whip. On the guitar in the picture (And on the one shown in my avatar) the cross shaft for the lever goes through the hole in the guitar that was originally used for the jack. I'm not sure whether or not the hole in the Milly was drilled in the same place, but the wrist lever Johnny designed for it is more of a Z shape, and the spot where you hit it with your wrist is a little further out toward the edge of the guitar.
I have not tried to chime and use the lever at the same time on the Milly. I can't do it on the older guitars, and I believe it can't be done on any guitar. The problem is that when you activate the wrist lever your right hand position is determined by the use of the lever, and you lose the freedom to place your hand wherever you want, and cannot accurately put it in the right place to get a chime.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Ronny Line
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Aug 2007 2:26 pm girl
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| What did the knee lever do Bobbie? |
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Jeremy Threlfall
From:
now in Western Australia
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Posted 15 Aug 2007 12:45 am
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Have you seen the wrist lever pictures on the GFI website? - heres one of them ...
sort of on the subject, why are knees levers called knee levers when you move them with your legs - were the early ones right up the front of the guitar? |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Posted 16 Aug 2007 8:07 am
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Here's a vertical(down)wrist lever of my own devising I put on my Sierra U-12.It raises my 2nd string from C# to D and then on to D# by way of a half-stop. BTW the little box with the momentary button on it is for changing the Leslie speed and is activated by the palm of the right hand - right in the middle of a lick if desired.That guitar has an IVL midi rig on it.
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 16 Aug 2007 11:41 am
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| Is it just me, or are some of our instruments beginning to look like orthopedic braces and torture devices? |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 18 Aug 2007 6:21 am
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| I once saw Mike Perlowin on the Santa Monica Freeway doing 75 mph on his MSA.....his wrist lever was in 6th gear..... |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2007 6:45 am
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Has anyone ever put a half stop on a wrist lever? Just curious...
The idea of a wrist lever always seemed too confining to me. I change the position of my right hand a lot to get different tones and to play harmonics. I think it would "cramp my style".
_________________
-πππ- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 18 Aug 2007 11:34 am
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| BobbeSeymour wrote: |
I know a girl that put a knee lever on herself,
She sure looked funny, |
Do I understand that to be she herself put a knee lever on the guitar or she put a knee lever on herself ? If the latter is the case I would sure like to see what happens to her when you activate the lever...  |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 18 Aug 2007 11:41 am
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| b0b wrote: |
Has anyone ever put a half stop on a wrist lever? Just curious...
The idea of a wrist lever always seemed too confining to me. I change the position of my right hand a lot to get different tones and to play harmonics. I think it would "cramp my style". |
It probably would to a certain extant Bobby, but not as much as you think.
If you're coming to Mesa next January you're welcome to sit down at my steel and try it out.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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