building pedal steel

Jeff Waller · From: marshall Illinois, USA

how much could i expect to spend building my own pedal steel guitar. i just ordered book pedal steel guitar design and construction. just curious what to expect.

Stan Paxton · Posted 19 Aug 2008 3:55 pm

Hey Jeff, coupla guys on the Forum here done that not long ago; if they see this post, bet they could tell us.... Cool

Interesting......
_________________
Mullen Lacquer SD 10, 3 & 5; Mullen Mica S 10 1/2 pad, 3 & 5; BJS Bars; LTD400, Nashville 112, DD-3, RV-3, Hilton VP . -- Gold Tone PBS sq neck; Wechter Scheerhorn sq neck. -- "Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone." -anon.-

Andy Hinton · From: Louisiana, USA * R.I.P.

Jeff: It depends on howyou want the finished guitar to look & play. I built my first one, a single 10, 30 yrs. aggo. Traded a trailer repair job for the cast aluminum end plates & 7 pedals. Curly maple body. about $40.00, legs $50,oo, Wound my own P/Up $20.oo. Changer was a modified Z B type, also all the underneth hardware was similar but not exact. worked good at the time but my left foot &leg got 2 inches larger. for some reason. Think it was a little stiff. Total cost on that one, About $250.00 cash & a year of my spare time. My only tools at that time was a drill press ,hand hacksaw,& several bastard files & som sand paper. So you see, it can(could) be done cheap.
Have rebuilt this same Steel with a handmade Shobud changer, new paint job, all selfmade under carridge, GeorgeL E66 pup. Looks, sounds & plays great. Cost 5 yrs. aggo 'bout $350.00.
Starting 2 new ones. An SD10 w/pad & A D10. Have a lot more power tools now & 75 years of living & learning to fall back on, so if I live to finish them, they will be masterpieces I hope. Planning to cast a few of the parts. Probable cash outlay on each of these, between $900.00 & $1000.00.
So you see It depends on what you can, & want toput into it. Allways HAD to poboy it myself.
Best of Luck if youdo it. If i can help you, shoot me an Email Andy H

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Lotta work, I wouldn't attempt it without a Bridgeport and a good supply of tools. In the last 3-4 years alone, material prices (aluminum and stainless) have doubled, so I'd figure at least a grand for a single, and about $1400 for a double. If you have to buy parts like the changer, pickup, legs, and tuning keys, you'll probably spend $500 just for those pieces.

Ron ! · Posted 19 Aug 2008 6:45 pm

Pat Comeau · From: New Brunswick, Canada

Hi, i'm new to the forum and i build my PSG a few weeks ago, i took a few parts from my old sho-bud maverick (BL pickup,legs, bridge support,nut roller bridge, fretboard and endplates) everything else was bought and hand build by me,

Birds eyed maple :$60.
aluminum and rods, metal,bolds and screws...ect around $100 more or less.
Finish...lacquer, thinner ,glue, sand paper,wood inlays ...ect around $100 more or less.
10 ,tuning keys $50.
and another $100 for other stuff i don't remember
exactly.
so as you can see you're looking at around $400 to $500 if you have some parts already and you can build your own changer, but if you have to buy the changer and bridge support ,nut roller, legs and endplates...ect ,you're probably looking somewhere around $800 to a $1200 for a S10, i know you can get a good student model for that money but the fun is to build it with your own hands ,so good luck if you decide to build one it's alot of fun...sometimes Shocked

PS i'll be posting a post about my PSG and pics.
,

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

If you have to ask the question I don't think you should attempt it. Whoa!

There are so many pitfalls. Evil or Very Mad

Just buy a used, ready-made one. Very Happy

You'll save money in the long run and won't be reinventing the wheel.... Cool

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=140239

Andy Hinton · From: Louisiana, USA * R.I.P.

All of the posts above are very true, however, imo the satisfaction of finishing any musical isstrument & have it work right & sound right has no comparison. Dig in & have at it. Keep us posted on progress on the Forum. Any more questions, I'm just an Email away. Andy H.

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

I've built dozens of lap steels and console steels, and I've fixed up some pedal steels, but the only time I ever attempted to build a pedal steel was in 1972. I didn't have a machine shop so the whole thing was made of wood, from the pedals, connected via dowling to wooden levers under the body, via wooden rockers to the strings. The wood would swell and shrink with the wet Birmingham weather, and everything would jam up. I could never keep it in tune. I eventually gave up and removed the mechanism completely. Embarassed

Looking back now I can't imagine how naïve I was, and how I thought it had the slightest chance of working. Laughing

We live and learn. Very Happy

Roger Shackelton · From: MINNESOTA (deceased)

Hi Alan,

Lucky for you your all wood guitar wasn't attacked by Woodpeckers or Termites. Very Happy

Roger

Jerry H. Moore · From: Newnan, GA, USA

I get a lot of satisfaction re-building anything with one foot in the grave or even dead. I heard my Grandfathers fiddle play again after 60+ years. I would like to get an old pedal steel and wake it back up. They're hard to find around my neck of the woods. It is very hard to build something thats as precise as a PSG with basic tools....but not impossible. I'd like to see a kit version of a PSG guitar. Or even everything but the wood.
I think if you have the interest to do it then go for it. You may or may not finish it but the illusions in your mind of the finished product are worth all the time and money spent.

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

I have built a S12 and a S14 pedal steel back in the late 50's.
A picture of the 14 is on my Website. I played that one for nearly 10 years.
I bought a 8 string 6 pedals Multikord Changer from Jay Harlan, around 1952, and put it in the middle for the changes and put high ones and low ones on both sides.
I took two 6 string Guitar Pickups and staggered them to cover all the strings. (there was no 12 string pickups available to me at that time)E6 tuning with low E and A, and high F# and G#. Of course that was before Bud Issacs came along with those two great E9th changes.
I worked a lot of jobs with it, then I met Reece and heard him on his MSA S12, in 1968 and that was it. I ordered a D12 from him and picked it up in Dallas, when I was living in Santa Rosa, CA.
But I would much rather buy a first class guitar from a good builder now. As they are so good these days, but in the 40's and 50's I had to make do with what I had.. ....Memories of almost 60 years ago..al. Smile

_________________
Michigan (MSGC)Christmas Dinner and Jam on my 80th Birthday.

My Email.. almarcus@cmedic.net
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Jeff, Welcome to the club! Sure, you could buy yourself a used one for about the same money, but your level of satisfaction would not be the same, seeing how you like to tinker and make things yourself.

As to cost, here's the breakdown on my first attempt:
Box of parts purchased for $200. This gave me the pedals needed, the keyhead and sundry small items like springs. There were enough parts left over to sell piecemeal and get my 200 back

The other parts, except pickup, strings, legs and tuning gears, were made from scratch. Gears were bought from a surplus store at a handsome discount.

When all is said and done I ended up with a SD10 with 4&5 for $1200 Canadian and that includes a couple of stupid buys of parts I couldn't use and all purchased at retail.

It is possible to make it all with hand tools and a metal cutting band saw. But that won't happen with me again. If there is a next time for me, it will be with a mill and preferably a small metal lathe.

Go for it! Keep us posted on your progress.

Michael Maddex · From: Northern New Mexico, USA

Jeff Waller · From: marshall Illinois, USA

it's actually a cd pedal steel guitar design and construction version 3.0 available through amazon.com

Michael Maddex · From: Northern New Mexico, USA

Jeff, thanks. I've seen that one advertised before. It's MS Windows only which doesn't do me any good. I was hoping that you'd found an actual dead tree book.
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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Jerry - Bless you for attempting to take on the endeavor in the first place. There is a certain satisfaction that goes along with creating something by yourself. Take a good look around you and see just what has worked and lasted over the years and withstood the test of time as all things must do. Then get out the old sketchpad and start putting numbers (dimensions)to your ideas. FWIW ask Ken Rollans about the 'clone' BMI he built back in the 1980's with nothing more than a hacksaw, drill press, files, and a whole bunch of determination. Oh, yeah, he also had a bench vise and a saber saw.
Go for it!!!
PRR

Mac Knowles · From: Almonte,Ontario, Canada

Hi folks,

I just had to add my 2 cents worth to this posting. I've built a bunch of them. The blond one without legs in the front is my first one. Built it in 1962 and played it all over Canada and parts of the US for 30 years with hardly any problems. Maple from our own woods, aluminum from scrap bits from where I worked etc. Only real tools I had was a sabre saw, 3/8" drill, vice and hand tools. Total cost at that time about $50.00 I guess. I wrote a book on building these things about 15 years ago and sold a few hundred copies worldwide. The two biggest concerns when building are stability and accuracy. There are all kinds of designs of the underside that have been tried. They all work...some better than others. Personally I think I'll continue to use the single piece fingers on the right end (for raises)like the old pull/release guitars, and the lowers on the left hand end. The latest version of this will have the lowering adjustments on top of the guitar rather than trying to tweak things reaching into the left end cavity. Anyway...don't be scared off in building your own guitar. You don't need a $50,000 CNC machine to do it. A hundred dollar bandsaw and a small disc and 1" belt sander are quite enough to make the parts.

Cheers
Mac

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Mac, a milling machine, although not a 100% must-have item, sure is a valuable addition to your power tool arsenal. They can be had used very reasonable and work great for repetitive cutting such as changer fingers, and the accuracy is also much better than hand tools and band saws.
A mini lathe would also be desirable

On the other hand, it looks like Canadian builders are coming out of the wood work. We should all get together and share our talents.
Email me any time
Bent

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Bent - You're right on!!! A lot of manufacturing has gone off-shore resulting in a lot of American shops downsizing or closing. A friend of mine decided to scale back a bit on equipment and sold me a used 2 HP vari-drive Bridgeport mill with a 42" table, power feed, Anilam digital readouts, Bijur one-shot oil system, ball-screw conversions on the X and Y axes, a set of collets, lights, and a 6" Kurt Ang-lok mill vise, all for $2500.00 delivered!!! It has a few battle scars, but nothing that would impair its accuracy. There is presently a glut of used machinery out there. You don't need a real state-of-the-art mill to get the job done. Even though some used stuff might exhibit some wear, you'll find that a lot of that can be adjusted out with the gibs already on the machine for that purpose. In a machine shop environment, machines don't always receive the best treatment re: regular oiling and accurate adjustments. A little cleaning and re-setting, and a grubby little old mill can be brought back to useful life for many years to come, and you won't have to consider forking out thousands of bucks for a new one, not to mention what a new vise, a set of collets, etc. costs new.
PRR

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