All-Pull Maintenance Learning Materials

[bradsteel]

Hi guys,

Is there any material out there (books, videos, courses etc) about maintaining/ fixing/ diagnosing problems on all-pull guitars? I’d love to learn how to change my copedent (not that I want to change it right now, but nevertheless). Sadly, I really don’t have the confidence to experiment on my own.

I’d happily pay a pretty penny to learn some ‘techie’ stuff, as I’m sure would many others.

Why hasn’t anybody cashed in on this?!

[Danny Mitchell]

Hi Brad,
I don't know if you've come across this

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=326460

Interesting read, even if it doesn't help you with your current pickle.
I'm feeling your pain brother.

[bradsteel]

Thanks Danny! In actual fact, I’ve just been directed to this thread by one of the US guys too, and it is very helpful to my plight!

I think we should commission the top U.K. tech guys to write a British Steelies Guitar Maintenance handbook. Us ignorant ones could club together to pay them a little advance, and they could all take a chapter each and split the profits

[Tony Russell Davis]

I think we should commission the top U.K. tech guys to write a British Steelies Guitar Maintenance handbook. Us ignorant ones could club together to pay them a little advance, and they could all take a chapter each and split the profits

You'll find that a question posted here will usually get an answer - free

[bob adams]

Brad, attached some info on rodding you may find helpful,

Pic one explains the principal

Pic two a more comprehensive version for Standard setups.

[bradsteel]

Thanks Bob!

[Ken Byng]

Hi Brad
Tony was correct above - there are lots of helpful folks on here who are only too pleased to help someone out with mechanical issues. Most all pull guitars are similar these days, and probably the biggest thing to get right is getting two or more strings to finish their pull at the same time on the same note. There's always a certain amount of experimenting to get the pulls right, but it's worth getting the basics under your belt first. It's not rocket science, but if someone 'fiddles' around with the undercarriage and doesn't know what they are doing then there could be more issues as a consequence. When I worked for ZB guitars in the early 70's, I saw loads that had come back to the shop where people had tried to correct rods that weren't pulling straight. Result - one knackered guitar! When I worked for Sho~Bud Guitars later, the most common problem was that of over-tightening the nylon tuner and not leaving a bit of slack on the pull rod.

My five pence worth is that it would be nice if steel guitar manufacturers put together a decent manual with their guitars. They would only have to do it once generally. I even wrote to Haynes the manual people in Somerset years ago to see if it was a venture that they would be interested in taking on. Reply? Zilch!

[bradsteel]

I myself have been guilty of over-tune in the past, but thankfully I’ve never done any serious damage because I’m usually too frightened to do anything with the rods! The other night I brought a rod down a hole in the bell crank (with help from the forums) and was mightily pleased with myself. Whether or not I’ll ever have the confidence to fit an entirely new rod/ change is yet to be seen - I doubt it though.. I’m a bit of a wuss really.