Finally!!

If it has Pedals...
Ross Shafer
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:52 am

Re: Finally!!

Post by Ross Shafer »

bluesteel wrote:Yes, there's obviously years of work in there. I spent hours pondering over the Anapeg changer you referred me to, but I still don't get how it works. And your changer is materially different anyway. I do understand you wanting to protect your design of course, after all that work. So no surprise that you are being a bit coy about it. You should at least do a Registered Design on it to protect the IP rights. Interesting that the established manufacturers all go with the much simpler scissors-type changer finger. Production costs, I guess.
Sorry for such a delayed reply, just not enough hours in the day it seems! I'm sorry you think me coy in my earlier response, that wasn't my intent at all. While my changer is indeed "materially different" from the Anapeg, the function is exactly the same. I thought the diagrams and associated written descriptions of the Anapeg in the link I supplied, were pretty clear, but I've been wrong a time or 10 (10....hell, I've been wrong a million times, just ask my wife!).

Anyway, I hope the following description clears up some confusion for you.

The finger assembly has 2 pivots, one for the raise (bottom pivot, that connects the raise and lower fingers) and one for the lower (top pivot in the lower finger, pivoting in the changer housing). Keep in mind there is a return spring holding the lower finger against the stop bar.

When the raise finger is pulled, it swings around the lower pivot pulling the string contact point (it is part of the raise finger, I'll call it the "bridge point") away from the nut stretching the string.

When the lower finger is pulled it swings around the top pivot. Since the bottom pivot is part of lowering finger it swings forward as the lower finger is pulled. As the bottom pivot swings toward the nut the "bridge point" is also pulled towards the nut end, allowing the string to slacken and achieve its lower note.

The split on the Anapeg and mine are done pretty differently, but again the function is identical. Unlike split screws found on many all pull changers, these splits are not a hard stop for the string at its lowest note. The splits on the Anapeg and mine, function exactly like a split done using an extra rod to bump the lowest note up a bit since it is almost always flat after having tuned the split note with the lowering rod nylon. I'm assuming here that you know how splits work....grokking them can be kinda confusing for sure. There's a number of diagrams and explanations out there on the interweb though, so I won't try to explain them here.

If you're still confused, I'll be happy to explain it to you on the phone, just send me an email through my website: http://www.six-ninedesign.com and we can arrange a time to talk on the phone.

Have a great weekend y'all. And all you U.S. folk have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week!
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