The Palm Steel Guitar Build

[wesm.vaughan]

I am trying to build a Pedal-less steel guitar with string bending capabilities.

I have included a crude drawing at the bottom.

I am thinking I will need some rotating saddles similar to these:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_ta ... b=Pictures

And then another set mounted behind that so that the string is underneath it like in the picture. That way when a metal "close-pin" is mounted to the body of the guitar you can press down with your palm which would pull the string up. The rollers would help reduce friction as well as help return the guitar in tune so the string doesnt catch on the bridge.

I wass thinking this was what I was looking for however I called Hipshot and they said it was only a Part of their B-bender system:
http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.p ... etail&p=39

Here is an example of a palm steel made on youtube however, I think that the bar over the top of the bridge would be harder to play and would get in the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6D8F5ujHE


Here is something that looked like it would work but when I called the company they talked like that was not what I was looking for. It looks like there are 4 different levers behind the bridge in this picture:
http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.p ... tail&p=267

Where can I get something like this made or does it already exist?
Please help I am ready to get this made soon! Thank you!

[michaelm]

Here is a simple palm pedal from off the shelf parts:



The lever is over the bridge and I think that that is the only way that I have ever seen them. More info here:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=

HTH.

[azureskys]

I like your palm pedal . I have one in a drawer around here somewhere that I designed but haven't got around to using it yet . Russ

[Dave-M]

If you mount your steel on a console, you could improvise 2 foot pedals to pull the levers with a wire. Then your picking hand is not impeded. The levers would hang over the edge instead of being in-line. Hey, man, now you have an el-cheapo PSG.

Now you can add a third lever to lower the root, without fumbling around on the top with multiple levers.

Code: Select all

Open G tuning
-----------------
| 0 | P1| P2| P3|
-----------------
| 5 | 6 |   |   |
| 3 |   | 4 |   |
| 1 |   |   | 7 |
| 5 |   |   |   |
| 3 |   |   |   |
| 1 |   |   |   |
-----------------

5,3,1 = I
6,3,1 = VIm
5,4,7 = V7
5,3,7 = IIIm
5,4,1 = I sus4
6,4,7 = V9
6,4,1 = IV