14

[Haddock]

Latest update. Returned from the Far East on Friday to 12 new meter lengths of rod and the correct die for cutting threads. First problem, the die wouldn’t fit my holder without being pushed in which meant it was cutting too deep. I made a rod, slightly wobbly at the thread so resolved to wait for a new die holder. Then the impatient voice in my head took over and, helped by the improvising voice in my head, used a pair of mole grips (the best tool in the world!) to hold the die and successfully made all the rods for phase 1. In case you’ve not seen how Sierra do their rods, the threaded part actually sits at the crank end into a little nylon bush. The other end has a hex brass nut and two nylon spacers and is finished off with another round spacer set across the way. This means the changer finger is pulled by a round surface rather than a random part of a hex tuning nut which seems like a very good idea. I think I might adapt this idea for the MSA, perhaps by putting a drilled bead in between the tuning nut and the finger. Cant do any harm!
Anyway it now looks like this-

And it works too! It was certainly a lot easier than last time I did this and only had to make a few adjustments so far to make it work, usually just swapping round rod positions to get a better pull. The other problem was the vertical lever which was just too low so I thought I might have to make a new one. However a good squeeze in the vice removed the bend and it now sits in the right place at least though I still think I can improve it. A work in progress…
The other major change was to string 14, my low A. (I’m tuned to what I call a D9/G6 extended) There seemed to be little point in that following the other A’s on the A pedal so I reversed it and it now goes down to low G when the A is pressed. A mighty earthquake style noise and similar to what I do with my string 12 on the AF combination on both guitars. The whole point of the bass end is to provide a bass so it wants to be roots all the way I reckon.
And now I’m on to the fine tuning which should take about a year if last time is anything to go by…..
Cheers
Calum

[Haddock]

And one more interesting fact I forgot. I’m going to have to create a new preset on my Peterson as it’s different notes and I use a very personalised just set up so I’m just using an ET setting at the moment and tweaking by ear. So what’s the cabinet drop like? My old LDG had a bit, the MSA actually has quite a lot so I was interested to see how the Sierra compared. None! At least, nothing a Peterson tuner can detect. And thats with 14 strings too! I did say it was solid!
Cheers

[Danny Mitchell]

Great update, Calum , and very glad to hear it's going well. Two points of extreme interest, 'Low G'!!!! (Sounds like it might be a bullworker for the thigh) and 'no cabinet drop'!!! Inconceivable!

[Haddock]

Returned from the Far East just before the storm started with a head full of things to try on 14. (Or 14 of 18 once I’ve fitted the implants). After a good long play (love that bass!) I decided the knees were just too far apart so had to be moved. I was already thinking of moving the MSA ones but these were another 3 inches or so wider so had to happen. So a day has been spent taking it all off again and moving pedals, knee levers, shortening rods etc and putting it all back together. Getting quicker! While the legs are off I might as well machine them to be able to adjust them a bit longer which involves lengthening a slot. A job for daylight and a milling machine so will finish it tomorrow.
Cheers
Calum

[Haddock]

Another good day of progress, unless you count some unnecessary fun with a septic tank! Legs are longer and I now fit comfortably under the thing. Levers are massively improved and now sit in more or less the right place and i have the overlap I need between the E lower and the vertical. The levers on the MSA are works of art and very adjustable. These, less so though there is a very handy 'slide' feature that makes the 'backward' moving knee levers movable. Finished fitting all the rods and everything is working as it should. Added one extra pull on string 13 which is nice for the A pedal minor chord. Put in my compensators too which I had left till the end in case I ran out of rods. its only strings 1 and 7 I compensate these days after much research and experimentation, dropping them a tad when the 9th needs to be a 6th.
Here's what I've done with it, no doubt with mistakes in the chart!

Sounding great but still a lot of tweaking to do, mainly on the tuning. Plus the player could do with a bit of practice too, instead of buggering about with metalwork.....

Nice to see so many views so I'll keep wittering when anything changes.
Cheers
Calum

[bob adams]

Nice looking chart Calum, look forward to hearing what that produces! Good work!!!

[Haddock]

Thanks Bob, you can have first shot when it yarns up at the 'Cosh'! As is normal for me, this iteration lasted less than 24 hours. My music theory isn't too bad but its more of an 'offline resource' and I'm not sharp enough to spot glaring holes until I have a play. String 13 just had to drop a tone on the vertical to make the ABV minor make sense. Now I'll live with it for a while, mainly because I've run out of spacers and hex nuts!
Cheers
Calum

[Gary James Peters]

But is it country?

G

[Haddock]

No. But it is a lot of fun and some of the noises are quite nice!
A pedal steel doesn’t know its a country instrument when it wakes up in the morning. Its the c… on the seat that decides that!
Cheers
Calum

[Haddock]

Time for another update. No work this week so I had time to get to grips with things. Decided that enough tweaking for now so just sat and played the thing- Lots! I think it might have been Mr Davisstringshere that said ‘one steel isn’t enough’ and I have to say, I agree. A couple of hours on one followed by a couple of hours on the next and it soon shows up the weaknesses of both technique and setup. Highly educational and after a week of it, the MSA is still the nicest to play but they are getting closer. Having the fine adjustment on knee levers as MSA do is a clear vote winner and it became obvious that some moves are just physically not possible without the exact correct positioning of pedals and knees. I use my vertical lever a lot and one regular move is being able to keep the dropped E’s, with the vertical on plus A and B to make a nice diminished and then somehow lift the A pedal. THis was a non starter the way I had the Sierra levers so required a lot of finessing. Got it now but there was a glaring issue that needed attending to - splits. With no split screws the vertical on its own was a mile flat which made it rather hard to figure out if it was the machine or the player who was out so I’ve now added two rods to tune the splits. Have completely run out of official bits so its glued on nylon tuning nits and bits of pen as spacers but it works fine and I’ll make it all good one day.
So I’ve now got a very playable guitar which is really different due to the extended bottom. Its like some kind of mad fretless with a bit of Chapman Stick thrown into the mix plus a normal pedal steel for the top end. I just need to make another joystick for my looper control and it’s assimilation into the collective will be complete. Except I’ve still to do the new Peterson preset which will be totally different due to the compete lack of cabinet drop and also because I’m a tone down. So now to spend some happy hours chasing the syntonic comma round the fretboard….
Thanks for watching.
Cheers
Calum