Steel Guitar Builder

woodslanding wrote:That's one of the most elegant looking keyless tuners I've seen. Do you have a diagram of how that works?

Awesome!

Here ya go: I changed a few things, but the basic design/function is based on Lamar Colvin's keyless tuner on my Lamar psg. Hopefully the cross section makes it function clear. In a nutshell, the head of the tuner bolt is trapped in a slot which keeps the fastener in place while it is being twisted....forcing the tuner "sled" to move up or down.

Works great!

I LOVE it! It's the slot that holds the screwhead in place that I couldn't figure out, in doing a design like this.

SO glad I asked, thanks a million. I'll be using the same kind of design in mine.

What design program is that? Do you like it? i've been working in sketchup, but am thinking I need to go to a real CAD program.

Solidworks

Holy smoke, that is one sweet changer design, 4 raise, 3 lower? Looks a bit like an Excel. Would love to know how your changer works. Hats off to you!

bluesteel wrote:Holy smoke, that is one sweet changer design, 4 raise, 3 lower? Looks a bit like an Excel. Would love to know how your changer works. Hats off to you!

Thanks muchly for the compliment! You are right 4 raise/3 lower, the brass adjuster at the top is the split tuner. The mechanism's basic function is indeed the same as Excel and Anapeg, both of which share the same function as the Rickenbacker changer from the 40's or 50's and the way cool, but ill fated Fender PS series that never went into production. All these changers have quite different details but share the same mechanical function.

One killer feature/benefit that my design shares with the Fender PS is the ability to remove one finger at a time for cleaning or repair. I've done some repair work on various steels (including a couple of Excel's) and while removing one finger without having to disassemble the whole changer is possible, its fiddly and requires a high degree of care and patience and is guaranteed to get one's panties bunched up very tight! One wrong move and you will indeed have to take the whole thing apart....arrrgh!

I can remove or install a single finger in around 60 seconds with no panty bunching at all.

Thanks again!

I've no way of looking up any of those designs, Ross, I think they are all closely guarded secrets. Care to share?

Good 'ol Google will get you there

You can see some diagrams showing the Anapeg's changer function here:

http://steelguitardownunder.com/Past/Anapeg/anapeg.html

This just shows the basic function, the Excel and Anapeg though differing in a number of details, share the same pivot arrangement. The Rickenbacker, Fender and my design function the same as these, but differ from the Excel, Anapeg and each other in how the pivots are done.

Hi Ross,

That is one real nice looking guitar. Quite different from many of the guitars we see here. The changer and keyhead are impressive. Just wondering though, how did you come up with the name and how many hours work do you figure you put into this build?

Nice work!

Paul

Thank you Paul,

The name was my wife's idea. "Sco" is the chopped and channeled form of "Rosco" and is a nickname given me by my cycling pals many years ago. My wife who knows almost nothing about musical instruments, (other than how much space they occupy in our house) does know the name "Sho-Bud"....the rest is obvious.

How many hours....weeellllllll, I started designing prototyping and testing various parts for it 3.5 years ago. In the midst of designing it and making proto parts to test, I decided I needed to supplement my mediocre machining skills with some CNC know how and into the rabbit hole I went. There's a hellofalotta time involved in learning programming and machine set up and a helloflotta time involved in purchasing, moving and getting the big cnc beast into my shop and set up.

I won't venture to guess how many actual hours I have into this sucker.....but I'm sure its somewhere north of a shit-load!

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.