Meet Flipper

[azureskys]

Ok I think I see how everything works now , it is interesting how it goes together isn't it , now im curious as to how its going to tune and the stability of it, are you going e9 or what ?

[Bill Ford]

Paul,
The pedal pull plates (crossbars) are similar to the ZB, and first generation MSA, you will need a spring under the short pull when you have 2, or more pulls on a pedal. This gives a better setup for tuning. Gotta love the looks of the old wood cabinets.

Bill

[mac639]

You're sure making this one look really good. I've never seen this mechanism up close, but I always wondered
how the rods going through the holes without the barrels don't get caught and screw up the tuning. Are the holes just big enough that this doesn't happen when a rack without a barrel rotates? Anyway, alignment to me with this system is the key, otherwise looks like it works fine.
Cheers,
Mac

[Bill Ford]

Mac,
Looks like the 3 pedal racks have oval shaped holes, don't think it's needed anyway, the MSA that I had with the "F" brackets never gave a problem and they were all round.

Bill

[Paul Lafountaine]

Thanks Bill and Mac for your comments and insight. The holes through the plates are small enough that the barrels should not get hung up. I have placed rubber washer between the barrel and plate and hope that will eliminate any noise as the plate pulls on the barrel.

The idea of placing a spring between the plate and barrel for the shorter pulls could not hurt, however, from what I see when one lever is pulled it also pulls the barrel of the second lever away from the plate of the lever that is not acted on. Would the pedal stop not be used to adjust the length pull when tuning determining the amount of travel of the lever? Not making much sense here EH?

I am still having problems with some binding on one of the plates and need to either drill a bit or replace the plate.

Any help and advise on tuning Flipper is appreciated.

Thanks again for the interest and sharing your knowledge,

Paul

[Bill Ford]

Paul,
From what I'm seeing in your drawing, you would tune the neutral/pedal,levers in off position, then tune the raise,lower positions..pedal/levers on position, also you need a spring on the short pull to be able to tune without a problem. Choosing a spring with the proper tension is sort of a challenge.

Think of it this way, if you tune the short pull first, how can you tune the long pull, or vice versa? One pull will have to be tuned with the set collar, if no spring is used. I will try to find a picture of my old MSA to post.

Hope this doesn't confuse you too much....Bill

[Paul Lafountaine]

Thanks Bill,

I believe I understand your explanation about the tuning of the guitar and the procedure. I would really appreciate the pictures of the MSA if you still have them. It would be interesting to see.

Thanks for the help,

Paul

[burt]

I am a bit puzzled by the function of the 6 springs under the keyhead end (arrowed)

In their current orientation they will make pedal/lever operation more strenuous.

If they were mounted the other side of the bracket they would act as helper springs.

[Bill Ford]

Finally found them from the best I remember, the spring is under the short pull.
The added pieces on the plate is a repair that I made when both studs stripped out. No fault of the guitar, it was a dumb thing on my part...Bill

[Paul Lafountaine]

Hi Burt, thank you for chiming in. You know one heck of a lot more about pedal steels than I do. If you recall you supplied the drawing of how the changer works and it was much appreciated. The changer is all pull, pull to raise, pull to lower. On the raise portion there are no return springs attached to the fingers. Judging from how it was put together when I received it, it appeared that these springs were used in place of return springs. I've attached a picture of the guitar as I got. This does not mean everything was in the right place to start. I'm happy to receive all the help I can get as this is my first time working on a pedal steel.

Paul