T-10 9 pedal - Miller update

Steve Waltz · From: USA

I just bought a new project, a T 10 Miller with nine pedals. It's a permanent set up so I'd like to try to use it as is. The neck close to the body is E9 with three pedals. The middle neck is C6th with four pedals just like P4 through 7 on a normal set up. I have no idea what the outside neck is.

It has two pedals. One pulls string 2. The second pedal pulls string 2 and 4. That's it. Any ideas?

I'm going to strip the non original blue paint but I want to get it runing right first. I've got the C6th neck and pedals up and runing and I'm waiting on the keyhead for the E9. If it doesn't show up I'll have to get a new one cast.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Are all 3 pulls raises?
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Steve Waltz · From: USA

There are two pedals on this neck. One pedal pulls string 2 and 4. The other pedal pulls only string two. There are only two fingers on this changer. Only pulls. On string 2, one pull could be 1/2 step or whole and then when used with the fourth string it could a 1/2 or whole.

I'd post a picture but I get a debug error. I thought I resized the photo.

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Before the mass standardization of our tunings, Miller Guitars came from an era when most pedal steels were custom-built for the individual wants and needs of the original purchaser. There's no telling what tuning that player wanted for that neck.
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Herb's right. I would sort of expect the 3rd neck to be A6th. The changes might be:

Steve Waltz · From: USA

Herb, I agree about the custom nature of set ups back then but since the pedals for E9 are standard and the changes for the C6th neck are the noraml pedal 4 through 7 for a 6th tuning I thought this person might have been following some standard that might look familar to someone.

Bob, They keyhead doesn't have rollers but it does have groves but they don't seem to be groved for string size but I'll go back and look. I know what that looks like on a stringmaster and this looks similar where the string touches the keyhead.

Your A6th makes sense I just thought that since there was a 6th tuning on it already that they would have done something else.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

That looks to me like one pull on string 2, and two pulls on string 4 (the opposite of what you said in the original post). Confused

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Steve Waltz · From: USA

Bob,

The two rods are just stuck into the finger without fasteners behind them. The guitar was taken apart at some point when it was painted and it wasn't put back together. Two rods from the same pull to the same finger wouldn't do anything more than one rod. It would be possible to make each pull just one string.

A bit of those pulls.....and the birdseye under the paint.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

I think it might be E13, with E on top. This kind of makes sense to me:

Steve Waltz · From: USA

Bob,

Thanks for the suggestion.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

My goodness! I just love old guitars! Great find Steve! Please post pics of your progress. I have a fondness for old Miller's, as my first steel was an old S-10 Miller. Got it well-used in '69 or '70. Had it 3 weeks before the "Good Fellas" burnt down their club for the insurance money!

Steve Waltz · From: USA

John,

I actually wasn't looking to buy something new but I noticed this guy was starting to part what I thought was a D-10 Miller. One keyhead was for sale. I told him I thought it would be a shame to part a T-10 so I asked him to sell it before it was all gone. So I kid myself that it was OK to buy it since I saved it from destruction.

I expect the front apron to look like the birdseye maple on the backside of the aprons. I pulled one neck and checked underneath and it is a solid wood without inlays and looks like a mahogany that was stained slightly darker. I'm hoping for a slightly, kina-sorta, bigsby look. I'll post some pictures after I strip the paint. That blue flec is actually fairly cool when the lights hit it. There are all kinds of colors of flake. The three pickups were rewound by Jerry Wallace but wound at 20K, they don't seem right for this era of guitar.

I'm thinking of trying to wind something horseshoe sounding with larger magnets, #38 wire and less windings.

John Bechtel · From: Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.

Steve; The first P/U's for Sho-Buds from that era were wound at 22,000 ohms.
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Jussi Huhtakangas · From: Helsinki, Finland

A Disco Miller! Smile

That'll be a really cool guitar when you have it all done Steve!

Steve Waltz · From: USA

I thought I'd give an update on this project. I stripped all of the paint, sanded, shellacked.....well I didn't shellack it but a friend is helping out with the finish. In the picture only the tops are varnished. We just started that part.

The necks ended up being Oak so I decided to go white laquer on those since I've seen that on a number of early Millers and a few sho buds. You can't see as much of the figuring in the picture as there actually is on the guitar. The back apron looks like the front. The third keyhead arrived and I had the back endplate leg threads repaired so I have everything ready to go after the finish is done.

I just set a few parts on to see how it was going.

unfinished rear apron

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Abdo-lutely cool Steve! Keep the pics coming!

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

cool! you should get it together with johnny cox's triple neck zumsteel for a photo op.

maybe with a forklift too.

Rich Peterson · From: Moorhead, MN

Three necks. Oak necks. My back hurts just thinking of it. Yup, forklift.

Might the front neck have had a low/bass tuning?

Could do an extended and modified (with the pedals) Leavitt tuning?

It's gonna be an eyecatcher when done.

Steve Waltz · From: USA

I think I'm going to try the E13 on the outside neck.

The guitar itself isn't that heavy. It's the legs and pedal board that weigh in. The upper part of the legs looks like chromed steel pipe and the lower part is chromed solid steel rod. The Oak necks are not an issue. You might be able to see that about an inch and a half by 1/2 of a channel has been removed from the underside of the necks. I can only think that was done to reduce weight and the changer housing has that same pattern removed from it too.

When I have time I'll build a two piece case for it.

Here's the only other triple Miller I've seen.

John Groover McDuffie · From: LA California, USA

I miss the blue metal flake already? Were you able to save the glitter?

Rick Abbott · From: Indiana, USA

Anything new? I'm wishing I hadn't sent my Miller to a friend for safekeeping. He probably isn't playing it...rats!! Steve, that's a cool guitar.
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RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer

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