The British Steelies Society

Hello everybody,
even though I'm not located in the UK I just registered to your forum hoping nobody minds.
I'm from Hagen, Germany and play on steel guitars with and w/o pedals for a couple of years now.
Beside trying to learn how to play that darn thing I'm also interested in other aspects of the steel guitar. Mechanical aspects, like setting them up and repairing/restoring them, especially Emmons push pull guitars. Also important to me is steel guitar history and building up a small collection of guitars. Musically I fell in love with hawaiian music. The band I'm playing with is a so called Americana Band.

Regards
Joerg

Welcome Joerg, Im sure you will find plenty of interest on here. We have within the UK steel community a few guys like yourself that deal with the engineering/technical side of the pedal steel. Look out for Bob Adams, Dave Wiggins, they are both very knowledgable with repairs re-modifications etc.
Dave.

Hello Joerg,
I'm always tinkering under my Emmons push-pull, trying to get it to play to the n'th degree, fire away with any questions you like.
On the other hand, if you want to keep it bog-standard, perhaps I'm not the best one to take advice from..........

ZeBedee

Hallo ! or yassas as we say here in Greece Joerg !
welcome to the steel guitar asylum, you'll enjoy all the topics from the guys and meet some super steelies, you won't
regret it !
Frank (a.k.a. ZBSD-10) . Corfu

Thanks to everybody and a special "efcharisto" to Frank for the warm welcome.

Concerning P/P questions, yes, actually there is one: How do you guys implement a tuneable halfstop (d#->d->c#) on string 2 if you also have implemented a raise (eg. d#->e) on the same string.- The factory halfstop will only work if there is no raise on string 2. I have a solution but it is not that acurate as the stock solution is...

A hui hou
Joerg

Joerg Schubert wrote:Thanks to everybody and a special "efcharisto" to Frank for the warm welcome.

Concerning P/P questions, yes, actually there is one: How do you guys implement a tuneable halfstop (d#->d->c#) on string 2 if you also have implemented a raise (eg. d#->e) on the same string.- The factory halfstop will only work if there is no raise on string 2. I have a solution but it is not that acurate as the stock solution is...

A hui hou
Joerg

i haven't a clue what ya saying but welcome to the forum

Hello Joerg,
Re the beloved push pull! It can be achieved by the combination of setting of the end plate screws raise and lower must be set to allow sufficient finger movement and the lower change set so that it moves in two defined stages, the initial lower push lowering the first step then it engages with the raise finger and continues the push to lower to second step or desired note, in doing so it gives you a defined feel change, you must set the lowers and watch that the raise collar does not start to pull in any way, at that point lock up the raise collar and in conjunction with the end plate screws achieve your desired raise note. Example remove everything!!! All rods from the finger set the screws so that the raise finger is as close to the end plate as possible now use a screwdriver or the likes and push the lower part of the finger (where the push rod goes through) the string will go way down, now pull the raise finger and you will achieve the same result the string will go way up! Your task as stated in the method above is to achieve the balance in between! The half step drilled out set screw arrangement is more applicable to a half stop 'raise' acting as a controlled mid distance pull on the same rod it can be done without it but has a greater degree of tunability with it. Good luck! ...Bob

Bob,
Jeorg raise his second string, so the normal pp way of acheiving a half-stop will not work.

Joerg's problem is more than his PP half stop etc.. His Greek "efcharisto' " (Thank You) and his signing off with Hawaiian "A hui hou!" ( Until we meet again!) and his superb English and of course his native tongue are his other problem.

Multilingual, and talented.. I HATE HIM

His love for the "Burton Brew" will be slaked soon, as he plans a visit.

As an aside listen to the Americana group he plays with. http://www.freebears.net/

And as another aside he doesn't have a "small collection of guitars" He's a little like Noa, except not aboard two by two..

Having owned Emmons guitars since 1970 I can tell you that what Joerg wants to do IS NOT easily accomplished, except by Bob Adams maybe..

Hi,
yes Basil, I will come and bring the "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte", the one I still owe to you. Checking out some of the local ales would be definitly on my task list for the Brummy town visit

Bob, thanks for your description. I'm not sure if I understood it completly so I describe what I did to achive the lower halfstop and the raise. Guess it's close to your solution, isn't it?

Here are some videos (sorry for the pure quality) that show the conventional halfstop vs the solution I equipped my guitar with. This solution definitly provides a feel stop. The quality is not that good as the conventional Emmon's is. It is comparable to the standard solution with string 2,9 and all pull guitars. The advantage of my solution is, it is tunable.

This is the standard Emmons halfstop on String 2. It allows to lower string 2 from D# to D to C#. With this solution it is not possible to additionally raise string 2!
The pushrod goes through the hole in the lowering finger (no collar mounted before the hole) and pushes the raise finger. The raise finger then touches the screw for the open tuning adjustment. This is the point where the D halfstop is taken. If you push further to finally reach the C# note the raise and the lower finger move together. The lower finger is equipped with an additionally spring.


This shows a halfstop for Emmons push pull guitars on String 2. It allows to lower string 2 from D# to D to C#. With this solution it is also possible to additionally raise string 2 to E.
The string 2 pushrod is attached to the lowering finger (a collar is mounted before the hole). On string 9 (D to C# change) the raise collar touches a Emmons finetuner (swivel with drilled screw). This is the point where the D halfstop is taken. String 9 still is on the D note. If you push further to finally reach the C# notes, string 2 and 9 move together. String 9's return spring is given more tension.


The raising movement is shown here.


For the forum members that are not familiar with Emmons push pull changers: http://www.steelguitar.com/steelmap/maptop/ppchangr.htm

A hui hou
Joerg