Floor pedal too sensitive issue

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I've been playing and tinkering with pedal steels for over 40 yrs., but I'm having brain fade on this D10 Carter.

The problem I'm having is the pedals are too sensitive when just lightly positioning my foot over especially pedal 1, yet I'm still intermittently not getting it all the way down sometimes so have that annoying out of tune thing at times.

A little history, it belongs to a friend of mine who's letting me use it. I played it for a couple years before I discovered it's 1 inch under standard.

Still, I'm pretty comfortable underneath and it's not interfering with my movement, realizing that raising it up to normal height would put my knees lower on the levers. I don't think that's the problem though.

I've been adjusting on these pedals forever. When I get one of the pedals where I'm not leaning on it and pushing it inadvertently out of tune, the same issue rears it's ugly head on the adjacent pedal.

I believe I have gone through the Carter rodding chart a couple of times.

Here's the main issue I'm looking at right now.

I think it needs more slack in the pedal train[s] so that the pedal[s] is[are] not so sensitive, but getting in there and adjusting things, my brain gets wracked. I can't remember if I need to move the pedal rod closer to the body or further away on the bell crank to gain more slack. Then adjust the stops.

If someone could refresh my memory, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. JO.

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Further away for more slack and shorter/stiffer pull. Although I believe adjusting the stops is where you can increase the slack. Not sure what can be done about gravity taking up the slack that you try to add to a pedal.

You might want to refer to your post from last year on this subject. I remembered seeing it because I was doing some stuff with my Carter.
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=384512&highlight=carter+rodding+chart

Good luck with those dog bones 🤨

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Jerry, I'm not sure doing a rodding change will be enough to totally solve this situation. An all-pull guitar like a Carter with a feather-touch mechanism is just going to start moving the string with any pedal contact. Nature of the beast. But you can definitely make the pull stiffer.

I've not seen it done, but wonder if a spring could be rigged to the bellcrank and anchored to the body to provide more resistance? A kind of "raise-hurter spring" that was so strong that you could lightly rest your foot on the pedal the way you can on a push-pull without the pitch changing...

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Thanks for the reminder Fred. I guess I had forgotten about posting that. Anyway, I seem to still be spinning my wheels. I'll go back and revisit that thread as there are some excellent replies from some well respected mechanics.

I've owned and played more than a dozen all pull guitars and I've never had an issue that I couldn't resolve 'til now.

Point taken Tucker. All worth consideration.

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

Never had much contact with a Carter Guitar.

The old MSA classics had return springs on the pedals, That allowed you to lay your foot on the pedals with a little feeling, Without moving the strings notes. My first pedal/knee lever was a MSA Classic S10 with pedal return springs. If not pedal return springs Gravity on the pedal keep the linkage tight all the time. Touching the pedal engages the pull.

The pedal return spring is actually in some way hooked to the cross rod pedal rod lever to hold pedals up. Then the feelable slack is between the changer finger and the nylon tuning nut. Pull does not start till the nylon nut hits the changer finger.

Good Luck on curing this problem. Happy Steelin.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I would rig up a return spring and see if it helps.
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