That we agree on.richard37066 wrote:Beginning at the beginning - some folks think that the mere depression of a pedal or two produces a force sufficient to "bend" the body of the guitar. I think that this is nonsense.
I will go so far as to say that if we somehow could place the pedals/levers and the rest of the mechanics on a hilltop a couple of miles away from the body and somehow link them to the changer, we would still would have almost the same degree of detuning in a given PSG when pushing those "detached" pedals/levers. "Almost", as we cannot completely ignore the forces applied via the mechanics ... it is just a very small part of the equation.
Varying string-tension a given height above the body - giving leverage to bending of the body and "give" in all part-connections, is what causes detuning. Doesn't matter how and with what and from where we vary the string-tension, only how well the body and all parts and connections can withstand these variations.
My solution for traditionally built PSGs is to transfer the string-tension force down to in line with the top-plate, independent of any stabilizers surrounding the mechanics in the frame. I am using the 'traditional bow saw' as model...
Once the strings lose their "one-sided" leverage above the body we're left with top-plate compression, and variations in string-tension will have minimal detuning-effect.