| Author |
Topic: Maverick Steel Guitar- Knee Lever Fine Tuning |
Pershing Wells
From:
Louisiana, USA
|
Posted 30 Oct 2019 4:32 pm |
|
I did a quick search but...
The Maverick I have has one knee lever. It serves to drop two of the strings down a half step- one whole note- from E to Eb, right? (I'm currently not at the guitar). I'm able to adjust he highest string to be Eb (at full bend of the lever) but the lower string fine tune adjustment (on the pickup side of the guitar) is turned all the way in and the string is still way sharp. Any idea of how to get this to work? I suspect I may have to go under the chassis to do some adjustment.
I'm a newbie to steel guitar so please forgive me if I'm not accurately describing my situation. |
|
|
 |
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 30 Oct 2019 11:14 pm
|
|
Hi Pershing, your description doesn't entirely make sense, but assuming your Mav has the stock setup, the single knee lever drops strings 2 and 8 a half step each (you said whole note, but E to Eb is a half-step). For standard E9, string 2 would tuned to D# (Eb) open, and lowered to D when the knee lever is engaged, string 8 would be lowered from E to D#. If that's what you have, and nothing else has been altered or otherwise f'ed up, each string has no more than one change, so the tuning is very simple.
On the strings with a raise (A-B-C pedals, strings 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10) the raised note is tuned at the key head, and then the open note is tuned with the screws in the end plate. Depress the pedals to tune the raised notes at the key head on those strings, then release pedals and tune the open notes with the screws. On the two strings with lowers (strings 2 and 8), the open note is tuned first at the key head, then the lowered note is tuned with the end plate screws.
The basic concept is simply that the range of motion of the finger goes between the highest note when pulled tight against the body stop underneath, and the lowest note when it hits the screw in the end plate. You can literally tune both ends of this range by simply pushing the change finger without ever touching the pedals or lever. The screw simply increases or decreases the range of movement between the highest and lowest note.
All that said, if someone has altered the setup or something is binding or any number of other possible maladies, all bets are off. If you're not able resolve your issue with the above info, please provide some more specific info, i.e. specifically what each lever and pedals does. Pictures are worth several thousand words. If you do a forum search for "pull-release tuning" you'll also find a lot of info from throughout the years. |
|
|
|
Pershing Wells
From:
Louisiana, USA
|
Posted 31 Oct 2019 5:44 am
|
|
Thanks for the info Ian!
You're right it's a half step down.
The fine tuning key to adjust the intonation of the knee lever WHEN FULLY ENGAGED (on the pickup side of the instrument) is adjusted as far in as it will go. Or to say another way- there can be no more adjustment when turning clockwise. I think I'll have to take a look underneath to see what's up. |
|
|
|
Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
|
Posted 31 Oct 2019 6:45 am
|
|
| Shouldn't you be turning that screw counter clockwise to increase the travel and allow the finger to lower the string. It appears to me that turning the screw clockwise would restrict the lowering range of the lever, and not allow the finger to lower the string far enough. Ian's instructions are right on. Turning the adjustment screw counterclockwise adjusts how far the string will be lowered by the knee lever. |
|
|
|
Pershing Wells
From:
Louisiana, USA
|
Posted 2 Nov 2019 6:23 am
|
|
| I need less travel. The note (on the lower string) with the lever fully engaged is somewhere between D# and D. I'm pretty certain it needs to be D#. There's a screw underneath to adjust how far the lever goes and I've briefly tried that to no avail. Anyway, I appreciate the responses! |
|
|
|
Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
|
Posted 2 Nov 2019 6:57 am
|
|
| Loosen the adjustment screw. This will allow more travel. Remember you have a pull release guitar. The further you loosen the screw the lower the lever will allow the string to go. You logic would be correct if you had an all pull changer, but the pull release is a totally different animal. Give it a try and let us know how you make out. |
|
|
|
Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
|
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 2 Nov 2019 12:28 pm
|
|
If the lowered note is ending up flat, you need to tighten the screw on the end plate to reduce the finger's range of motion. Once you have that tuned correctly, you will likely need to adjust the stop screw on the lever itself so that it syncs up with changer, this is secondary to tuning the note at the changer. Have a look at this:
 |
|
|
|
Pershing Wells
From:
Louisiana, USA
|
Posted 2 Nov 2019 1:52 pm
|
|
| Appreciate it Ian! Thanks for your help! |
|
|
|
Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
|
Posted 3 Nov 2019 9:29 am
|
|
| I guess I don't really understand your problem. Ian's post and the picture really explains the workings of the Maverick changer. With this info you should be able to arrive at a solution. Here's hoping everything works out for you and you get a lot of enjoyment from your guitar. |
|
|
|
