What's wrong here ?

[Basil Henriques]

[Ken Byng]

They are pics of a rare 12 string Emmons 'basket weave' mica push pull guitar, very similar to the one on the front of Buddy's 1975 rainbow album. The headstock had been modded somewhat with aluminium fillets to accommodate long shank machine heads and thereby getting a straight pull from the rollers to the tuners. There is some speculation on the US forum that this could be Buddy's actual guitar, and while that view can't be discounted Buddy had put a pickup adjacent to the headstock roller. In addition he had fitted an Emmons 'string machine' at the changer end which would have left one or two holes in the guitar. He certainly was an innovator. I think the basket weave finish looks really cool.

[Basil Henriques]

GREAT info Ken, but $2,400 for it on this site, and there's something QUITE wrong with the headstock/tuners can you guess ?
https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/6174347664.html



The advert says

"Vintage Original Emmons S12 Steel Guitar
Manufactured in early 70's.
4 Pedals 4 Knee Levers
E9 Tuning
Day Set-up
George L Pick-up
Push/Pull
Guitar and case have seen a lot of miles and honkytonks across the USA in Atlanta, Pensacola, Mobile, Biloxi, Jackson Hole, Laramie, and Cheyenne.
Guitar is just like the one on the Buddy Emmons - Steel Guitar - 1975 - Album Cover.
Guitar is in great shape and everything works as it should.
Case shows the miles.
$2400 "

[Ken Byng]

In addition to the 'spacers' that the machine heads are mounted onto, someone has forgotten to screw the machine heads on. Therefore only the barrel nuts of the machine heads are holding them in place. Is that it?

[Basil Henriques]

The guitar is a bargain, BUT the machine heads are in the wrong way round; It's the practise to have the orientation of the worm gear in such a way as that when pressure is put on the shaft (Via String) the gear and worm drive close in on each other to prevent undue wear. the left-hand and right hand machine heads are in the "Wrong Bed".. I know with modern design it probably does not matter much BUT you'll not see a guitar any where with the machine heads on incorrectly like this; it's a standard convention and again basic mechanics.

Also it's a know mechanical fact that two and a half turns around any object is the minimal, and in the case of the dreaded 3rd string it's necessary to wind the string a lot more than that if you want to avoid premature breakage. Not enough length of shaft is available IMHO.

Wrong.


Right.

[Basil Henriques]