(For the shorter player!) Moving pedals and knee levers

[TonyT]

Getting back into playing after 40 years is a struggle but a good steel makes, obviously, all the difference. I have a second hand WBS E9th Custom, after putting it back to the original rodding chart, and lowering as much as possible, it playes lovely BUT after a while I realized I was struggling to reach the C pedal (Day) and all 5 knee levers were on the limit of my stretch. After studying the underside I emailed Wolfgang at WBS, he was very helpful. So I disconnected and removed all pullrods. Rodding diagram absolutely essential to rebuild! Took out the whole undercarriage in one unit, took it apart, lots of photos before I started! Removed crossbar bearings where necessary, locktighted them back into new locations. Moved 3 pedals lkl, lkr, and klv all towards the changer, one hole, 65mm. Rebuilt which included shortening 6 rods. For someone my height, 5' 3', (getting shorter by the day) the difference is incredible everything is as smooth as brylcream on butter! I cant explane how much this was worth doing!
So anyone, vertically challenged, does your steel fit you?
I've had 5 steels in my life and this never occurred to me befor.

[Zebedee]

Or you could have left things as they were, and positioned yourself far over to the right , as near the changer end as possible (at a slight angle, facing toward the headstock end of the steel), this automatically angles your legs further over to the left of the steel.

[TonyT]

Yes I did try that, even then all the levers were cranked over towards my body as far as they would go but it just wasn't right. Now it is brilliant!

[Haddock]

Interesting to read of someone with the the opposite problems that I have. All of my adjustments have been trying to make the steel higher and more roomy to accommodate my long legs. I cant even fit underneath most guitars to try them out! Inspiring to read of a full strip down and clean. It’s something I would love to do but I don’t want to have any down time so I just did the full incontinence pad lighter fluid flush method this morning and that should see me good for a while. Perhaps I need two guitars........
Cheers
Calum

[TonyT]

Hi Haddock, the WBS steel I have is about 2" higher, on its lowest position than the steel I just sold. The legs could be extended a further 4" at least, I removed the adjustable lower legs and made new, 1" shorter legs, just to clarity, my C pedal, Day set up, is now 6" from the left end of the steel, moved 3". Maybe try a WBS sometime!