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Topic: 12 String Excel Keyless Just Added Franklin Pedal - Hear It! |
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2020 11:50 am |
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I just added the Franklin pedal to my Excel 12 String keyless. Click the link below to see the mechanical changes and hear some newly recorded sounds. Some of these sounds show how well the Franklin pedal blends with the low E and B strings on the 12 string E9th tuning.
Excel With Franklin Pedal
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Glenn Demichele
From:
(20mi N of) Chicago Illinois, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2020 9:13 pm
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I don't know how you do it Greg: the underside of that looks pretty packed to me!! Glenn
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Franklin D10 8&5, Excel D10 8&5. Both amazing guitars! Homemade buffer/overdrive with adjustable 700Hz "Fender" scoop., Moyo pedal, GT-001 effects, 2x TDA7294 80W class AB amps, or 2x BAM200 for stereo. TT12 and BW1501 each in its own closed back wedge. Also NV400 etc. etc... |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2020 7:34 pm
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The guitar is tight underneath and there are some refinements that it lacks to fit everything into such a tight space. Mitsuo was very generous with all the extra parts he sold me with the knee lever kits. I was able to make 3 complete knee levers out of the two kits.
I don't think in my case the Franklin change will have a big impact in live playing in a noisy club with a loud band. For recording however it produces some stunning sounds that stand out in a track if the steel is out front more. |
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gary pierce
From:
Rossville TN
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 5:38 am
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| Sounds pretty cool to me. |
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 5:57 am
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Do your 5th & 10th string B's somehow split-tune to C with the Vert. lever lower or is this something you do without in lieu of the Franklin lower?
That tuned split is important enough to me that I opted out of the Franklin change which is mechanically incompatible with the split tuner.
I'm always looking for a work-around so that I can have both. And I wouldn't put it past Mitsuo to have found a solution. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 6:48 am
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| So far I've had to give up the split tuning and really haven't figured a way to get it back. The pulls on this guitar are smooth and even enough that half pedaling is pretty easy. But for fast changes like with diminished chords, nothing sounds as good or precise as split tuning! In fact I've passed on buying a few used vintage guitars because they lacked the convenience of built-in split tuners. |
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 6:58 am
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| Thanks for the response. I've never had the Franklin change but I've always wanted to explore it. But not at the expense of the split which is an 'always use' change for me. Ah well. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 9:07 am
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| I've wondered about that too. But it's irrelevant in my case because I don't have a spare hole. On an Excel with 17 raises, though.... :>) |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 17 Feb 2020 11:29 am
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I think the two-rod method is the direction I will be going for the Split. |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Feb 2020 6:00 am
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| Greg Cutshaw wrote: |
| So far I've had to give up the split tuning and really haven't figured a way to get it back. The pulls on this guitar are smooth and even enough that half pedaling is pretty easy. But for fast changes like with diminished chords, nothing sounds as good or precise as split tuning! In fact I've passed on buying a few used vintage guitars because they lacked the convenience of built-in split tuners. |
I just installed the Franklin changes on P4 of my Mullen G2 yesterday, and ran into the same thing. (Except it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why I couldn't lower the Bs more than a half step.) I was on the point of going into the other room to look and see if I had another changer hole open to add a pull rod when I read your post. Co-ink-i-dink? 
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 18 Feb 2020 7:02 am
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| We would need enough slack in the un-engaged red pull rod in the picture above to allow the 5th string whole tone lower to work. Doesn't seem likely but I"m gonna eyeball my changer movement to see if it looks close enough to be worth trying. |
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Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Posted 18 Feb 2020 8:57 pm
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I got one of those Excels. Mine is about circa 2004 and has a 25.5" scale. I didn't see the need to take it to C6 with the gear shift and just use the E9/B6 w/lock gadget which I have no problem with as far as transposing C6 tunes to B6. I only use the lock once in a while on some old tunes I learned on C6 decades ago and don't want to hold a lever in for the whole tune. I too added a few bells and whistles. It came with 8+6 and I made a few custom levers that I crammed in there and now have 8+9. I do have a zero pedal that pulls strings 9 (B) up to D and 10 (G#) up to B. This gives me the whole intact standard 10 string E9 tuning on my first 10 strings and also gives me a boogie woogie vamp in the low 4 strings - almost like a Chuck Berry 2 string rhythm guitar thing but it's bigger than that and more pianistic when you use wide grips across the whole tuning with that pedal. Greg Leisz turned me on to that change. Quite indispensable for fitting the steel into rock & roll, gospel and R&B tunes where you want big dominant or extended minor chords that don't sound like E9 OR C6. Are you using the stock pickup? I put a single coil Trutone 17.5 Emmons clone in there but the stock pickup is the same ohms and very close in sound. Excel is the best engineered steel guitar out there today in my estimation. The only thing I wish it had is quick change pickups like a Sierra for those gigs where the neon beer signs are hummin' and you wish you had a humbucker for the night. Mitsuo told me he was thinking about adding that.
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2020 5:07 am
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Mine still has the stock pickup and it has a nice warm but clear tone. Very well balanced on all the strings. Nice job on adding the additional knee levers!
This sound bite also makes great use of the bottom extended E9th strings:
http://www.gregcutshaw.com/Excel%20Franklin%20Pedal/2.mp3 |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2020 9:01 am
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| Greg Cutshaw wrote: |
| We would need enough slack in the un-engaged red pull rod in the picture above to allow the 5th string whole tone lower to work. Doesn't seem likely but I"m gonna eyeball my changer movement to see if it looks close enough to be worth trying. |
Doesn't the red pull rod pull on the "raise" finger? So it shouldn't interfere with the full-tone lower?
I'm easily confused, but I tuned my vertical lever to drop the Bs a half tone with the A pedal down, as usual -- figuring I use it most often to make a pedals-down minor chord. Then I let off the A pedal and pushed up on the vertical lever, which gave a note somewhere south of Bb. Then I pressed on the A pedal very slightly, to bring it into tune. That seemed to me to be the same thing as adding the extra "splitter" pull rod....?
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2020 10:43 am
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| Al,that's a great idea! Just tune the knee lever half tone lower for splits which is 99% of my use of it. Of course then I'd have to see where it ends up on my guitar when using it in C6 mode for the C to B change. |
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