Steel Guitar Builder

I've made a finger assembly based upon Ron's design (a few slight mods of my own, the biggest being the "hidden" lower plate (as viewed from above the guitar). I've got it installed in my test jig and I've taken pull distance and finger rotation measurements for all 10 strings. This finger is workin...

I think I see. You just have the top temporarily attached to the frame in the photos in this thread so that you can easily work on the mechanics. After that you will take it apart and glue/biscuit the aprons to the top and then re-assemble?

Thanks Ron. A few more questions, if you don't mind. I notice in your first set of pictures at the beginning of this thread that you have a stepped top surface on the cabinet, but looking at yesterday's pics you seem to have a non-stepped underside to it. I take it this must mean that the wood is si...

Looking closer, Ron, I have a few questions. I see you don't incorporate stops for the fingers plates right into the end plates. How do you do the stops? Are your end plates bent to form the 90 degree corner? If so, how thick are they and is it difficult to bend sheet aluminum like that without it c...

Wow! Simply wow! Looks amazing.

Just curious how your builds are going, Ron. Making progress?

Well, after finding problems with the finger design I've been working on, and after having an offline chat with Ron, I've decided for my first PSG it will be more wise to use a tried and true finger design. Ron has kindly allowed me to use his design, so I am now putting together a prototype based u...

The length between the lower finger pivot and the bearing looks a bit on the long side making for a harder pull. I see what you're saying, Ron. Mine is definitely longer than what you showed on your drawing. I'll rework that and see what difference it makes. The leverage on the knee levers are too ...

I got through my first round of testing. I broke both of the smallest strings - 1 & 3. Not sure why. Both broke right at the tuner and they broke before even getting one semitone above the open tuning. The results of the tests can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wh4GldrKF2zFdqi...

I've got my 1-string test setup put together and it seems to be working. Everything is mounted on a piece of 3/4" plywood. The first time I tightened up a string on it the plywood bowed. I guess I should have predicted that :lol: I now have a couple of piece of 2x4 on the bottom to keep it stiff. I ...