Help/advice need with repair/maintenance to knee lever

[ChrisFrost]

Hi all

I'm new to the forum, and subsequently new to Pedal Steel. I've been a Guitarist for 30 years and decided to give Pedal Steel a try as I'd always loved the sound, so I recently purchased a ZB Custom Student from a chap that'd left it to rot in a shed for years. Subsequently it needed some work. Mechanically and electrically it was surprisingly sound as it'd been in it's case all these years, but as you'd imagine there was a little surface rust here and there that isn't that big of a deal. What is though, is the single knee lever it has. I don't know if the retaining screw was original or not, but I found it bent 90 degrees, meaning that it only functioned once the lever was practically flush with the underside, and my gentle attempts to extract it in order to replace it, sheered the head right off. Now I have the unenviable task of attempting to remove what's left of that screw in order to replace it. As you can imagine, it's not easy to get to nor extract since the remainder of the screw is virtually flush. I say virtually because it's not flush enough for me to get the bar out, and it's also not protruding enough for me to get long nosed pliers on. I've attached pics for reference but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Chris

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Where are you located???

[ChrisFrost]

I'm in Kent

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Probably too far to come to St.Neots ?? If not be glad to help you fix it........

[ChrisFrost]

Is that St Neots in Cornwall or Cambridgeshire?

Many thanks John, I guess either way it might be, but if I really can't solve this on my own I might consider it, greatly appreciate it.

It's my first Steel and I keep looking at it wondering if it's only supposed to have one knee lever or two. I see holes were a second could go, but I can't find any info on my model online to check.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Cambs. It could be sent up here by APC for less than 20 quid, you really need at least two knee levers on that,not too hard to fit on that machine.

[ChrisFrost]

What would that cost John?

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

It depends on what you want it to look like when its done ..... If I use an old Bennett foot pedal for a knee lever (not very pretty but functional ) probably nothing more than getting it up here..... but the pro flat ally levers are not difficult to make if you buy some ally flat there is not much machining to do, I have made them with a hacksaw ,drill. and a vice they looked ugly but they worked so, you pays your money and you make your choice.... there are lots on here that have milling machines etc and some would trim down and taper some ally flat just for the hell of it... ask'em....
Something like this..........

Attachments

[Tony Russell Davis]

Can you centre-punch the snapped screw and drill it out? Then you could either drill/tap for a larger new one in the same place or drill/tap a little further down the rod to insert a fresh one the same size. Those old ZBs are solid as tanks and adding knee levers is fairly easy. I think they were originally made with the minimum of machine tools!

[ChrisFrost]

Can you centre-punch the snapped screw and drill it out? Then you could either drill/tap for a larger new one in the same place or drill/tap a little further down the rod to insert a fresh one the same size. Those old ZBs are solid as tanks and adding knee levers is fairly easy. I think they were originally made with the minimum of machine tools!

I'm gonna give that a try, thanks Tony! Really hope I don't bugger it up lol

It depends on what you want it to look like when its done ..... If I use an old Bennett foot pedal for a knee lever (not very pretty but functional ) probably nothing more than getting it up here..... but the pro flat ally levers are not difficult to make if you buy some ally flat there is not much machining to do, I have made them with a hacksaw ,drill. and a vice they looked ugly but they worked so, you pays your money and you make your choice.... there are lots on here that have milling machines etc and some would trim down and taper some ally flat just for the hell of it... ask'em....
Something like this..........

It'd definitely worth considering. As it is/was it only had the one knee lever which dropped D to Eb. What would a second add? I wonder if there were any ZB parts for sale online with the same knee lever so it looked like it belonged there.

Thanks everyone for your replies!!