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An Area where you put pictures and Videos of your pride and joy also anything about the steel guitar
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Nixon steel build

Sat Jan 10, 2026 2:06 pm

Hi guys, been a while since I've shared any progress on rebuilding my David Nixon sd10 so I thought I'd share some updates. my experimental round pedal bar has been working flawlessly so I'm making another couple of pedals to possibly add to it in the future.
the lower parts of the changer fingers were made from sheet aluminium which was starting to wear and bend causing changer fingers to stick, so I have rebuilt the lower finger linkages in stainless along with the bracket that the the notches sit on.
I made new finger uppers from brass to hopefully improve tone and sustain and it all seems to be working very well.
next step is to finish off a few more bellcranks and a few other bits to go on the crossroads and then I can bolt the whole undercarriage in, all the crossroads are on bearings mounted to rails on the front and back apron, so all I have to do is mount the rails to the guitar and can make the least amount of new holes.
Attachments
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Re: Nixon steel build

Sat Jan 10, 2026 3:05 pm

here's some really awful playing to show it in action before I pull it apart yet again.

Re: Nixon steel build

Sun Jan 18, 2026 5:02 pm

no input from anyone?

Re: Nixon steel build

Mon Jan 19, 2026 4:44 pm

I haven’t heard of this male before. Is it British? Sounds good to me!

Re: Nixon steel build

Mon Jan 19, 2026 4:53 pm

Dave Nixon from Luton

Re: Nixon steel build

Tue Jan 20, 2026 12:32 pm

Thanks Dessa!

Re: Nixon steel build

Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:21 pm

Another quick update, I wasn't happy with the size of the crossrod bearings, they may have prevented the crossrods being close enough together around the pedal/left knee area so I have spent many hours on the milling machine making new needle bearing holders. They have a tongue on the back and a T nut to fit the rail, so can be positioned anywhere on the guitar and easily removed/installed as necessary.
Attachments
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Re: Nixon steel build

Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:23 pm

Dessa, do you know if it is possible to contact Dave Nixon? Is he still with us? I would love to see how this guitar looked originally.

Re: Nixon steel build

Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:50 pm

from an engineering perspective, there is a flaw with the taller crossrod holders for the far side of the guitar. The bolt should be on the other side of the bearing for better force distribution. And I could have cut a relief into the "foot" to allow more room for a bellcrank or whatever else is on the crossrod. All is not lost however, if I'm not short of space I can simply reverse the crossrod holder or use them on the nearside of an S10.

Re: Nixon steel build

Sat Feb 07, 2026 10:10 pm

I think Dave Nixon passed quite some time ago but of the three guitars he made i think i bought two of them the left handed one went to Andy Bucannon
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