Steel Guitar Builder

Will, re point # 2. Thanks for the roses it does indeed warm my heart to see you write this.
However I believe you might be short changing your Curnoe and the alu fingers. Most every steel uses alu so....
My brass idea springs out from the theory of church bells and ship bells' beautiful sustain and tone, maybe this would apply to a changer as well.
I think it works, albeit to a small extent. That said..sustain and tone depends so much on the player's abilities and sensitivity IMHO.
Anyway...I would love to expand this brass idea to what really should be used, namely bronze. I would love to try that. I have this big hunk of bronze sitting here. Any one person brave enough to be willing to actually try this..I will GIVE you enough of a chunk to make 10 fingers.
Another plus using brass is that brass is a bit harder than alu and seems to avoid getting the grooving from the strings

Dave, I use what I think is the most common stuff which is 360

I am getting ready to make fingers for my changer and have a question on how do I cut out the shaft hole for each finger? do I have to do them one at a time to keep holes lined up perfectly or is there a better way of doing all ten or twelve without the holes being off center of each other since the shaft has to go in straight, can they be done on a drill press? or is it milled? Steve B Black43230@yahoo.com

I don't know how everyone else does it, but I used a small drill press and bored a hole in each piece first. I have very limited tools, nothing fancy like a mill so I made a jig with a shaft that I put the finger over and worked it to shape with a disc and a belt sander, etc. to rough it out. To make them all match I bored a couple of small holes and bolted them together for the final machining. Crude and time consuming but it seemed to work. I plan on posting pics in a week or so when I have my changer finished. It is my first attempt at building and I am sure I am going to learn a lot along the way. I would imagine the best way is to have someone with a computer controlled plasma cutter or water-jet cut them out from a drawing? Maybe some of the more experienced builders will post on how they do it, I would be interested in that as well. Good luck on your build.

Thanks dgalloway for the info on the fingers, how did you cut the raise and lowers plates? did you use a band saw? or a scroll saw?. Steve B.

I used a bandsaw with a metal blade and went slow. I used a saber saw on the 1/4 inch aluminum and had good success with that, just can't get in a hurry. My biggest problem is figuring out what to put the 2 pieces together with that won't bind, wear and be too long.

Most everyone uses rivets to hold the finger components together. I'm planning to use Teflon washers between the parts to guard against binding.

Will C

I decided on Chicago binding posts from McMaster-Carr and the Teflon washers sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the input.
Dave G.

Hello dgalloway what do these binding post look like? Steve B.

Hi guys, Re the binding posts... popularly called chicago screws, are fine to use in my books. I did use them until I ran out of supplier for stainless steel ones. Aluminum ones are plentiful, but I don't dare use them in such an important and inaccessible spot.
The way you should consider fastening them is to apply a drop of red Loctite - the permanent stuff, to the screw. Then you screw things together while checking the scissors for tightness all the while. Too loose is no good and too tight..well, self explanatory. When you get them just right, stop and lay the changer unit flat for 24 hours to allow the Loctite to harden.

Like I said, I had to switch to rivets. These I install with a simple jig in my machine vise. I can make a stop on the jig so that I get the same tightness every time.

Bluesteel that sounds like a great Idea are you still planning to use pop rivets with nylon between them?