Split Tuning & Half Stops

[Dave L]

Has anyone done Split tuning and Half stops on their steels?
Can this be done after the fact or is it something to consider at design time?
Will you share some of the possible ways to implement them?

Thanks,
Dave

[Georg]

I use regular pull-rods for split-tuning, and they can be added at any time as long as the changer can take the extra rods.

Split-tuning in the changer is easiest included at design time. I have no use for those.

Half-stops in the form of spring-loaded "feel-stops" come in many forms, and all types I know of can me post-installed.

[Bent]

Georg, out of curiosity, why do you have no use for the in-changer split tuners?

[Georg]

Bent, it is because split-tuning in changer can only be adjusted for one split - the farthest, for each string. Enough on most E9 tuned PSGs with regular copedents, but not on mine.
Since I will need pull-rods to tune the shorter split(s) anyway, I may as well use pull-rods on all. That's why I put extra raises/lowers on the changer I'm designing.

[Dave L]

Thanks for your reply Georg.
If I understand then, if you have 3 raise holes you would just hook 3 rods to that finger and the same pedal or knee lever and this would give you three splits? Say E open F#, G, G# and you feel the rod engage and or hear the note wanted?
So could you have the three rod option and also a stop at the changer for a 4th? or is that getting to be to much?
Not that I would ever need/want/able to us all that, just want to know the options.
Thanks again,

Dave

[Pat Comeau]

Dave, having the split on the changer housing is the way to go if you want splits...adding an extra rod doesn't always work on some changers, my next build wich will be a kind of emmons clone will have split tunings.

Pat

[Dave L]

Thanks for your advice Pat. Still trying to picture in my head how exactly the splits work.
If using the changer method for instance, it makes sense that the screw in the back would be the final stop. But how is the other note controlled? or perhaps I don't understand exactly what the split is. (haven't had a steel for thirty two years or so and don't recall that MSA having splits but just don't remember)
Thanks again,
Dave

[Georg]

Dave, that is not how splits work. I'll give you an example.

- Raise string 5 and 10 a full tone from B to C# with the pedal.
- Then lower same, raised, strings a half tone from C# to C with (for instance) a vertical lever. Tune this lower until it lands perfect on C.
- Release the raise but keep the lower pressed. String 5 and 10 should now be perfect Bb, but chance is they're slightly too low and not even.

Now two split-tuning rods come into play, from the lever (bellcranks actually) that lowers string 5 and 10 to the changer scissors that raises string 5 and 10. By tuning these split-tuning rods to raise string 5 and 10 individually until you get that perfect Bb with the lower lever pressed, you have "tuned the split".

You should now be able to get a perfect open B, a perfect C#, a perfect C and a perfect Bb on string 5 and 10, through one pedal and one lever.


So, what a split-tuning pull-rod does is to connect raise to lower with a well-defined, tuned, gap - the split-tuning gap, so the lower lever can't pull below a certain point without also pulling on the raise and thereby level out and not lower the tone further. The pedal that raise does OTOH not pull on the lower no matter how far the raise goes, so it is a one-way linkage that only kicks in for that specific lever.


A split-tuning screw in the changer links raise and lower together both ways, with a tunable gap, and in my case won't allow the addition of a B to A lower if I use the split-tuning screw to tune the B to Bb lower. Thus, split-tuning screw in changer only allows for one split tuning pr string, while split-tuning pull-rods can be added to tune more than one gap since they are directly linked only to the relevant pedals/levers.

[Bent]

Bent, it is because split-tuning in changer can only be adjusted for one split - the farthest, for each string. Enough on most E9 tuned PSGs with regular copedents, but not on mine.
Since I will need pull-rods to tune the shorter split(s) anyway, I may as well use pull-rods on all. That's why I put extra raises/lowers on the changer I'm designing.

Thanks Georg. For the vast majority then, changer splits are the cat's meow

[Georg]

Thanks Georg. For the vast majority then, changer splits are the cat's meow

Yes
...and such a changer split can always be set "wide open" if it gets in the way when adding changes in the future.


FYI if nothing else: my knife edge changer takes two independently adjustable splits for each string (if I ever want them) ... one for only pulling raise with lower, and one for only pulling lower with raise.

My optional "changer splits" will (if added) use existing positions (holes) in the changer scissors, and work via the spring-loaded free-wheeling lower-return bellcranks with push-rods and very short pull-rods I have designed in for improved precision/stability ... sometimes one get extra options for free... meow ...