Steel Guitar Builder

Scott, Georg..you abnormal guys you... For sure, it is whatever cranks your tractor. Scott I can definitely understand what you say about the centered and uniform look.
Georg, I was wondering when you would be piping in with your changer-in keyhead-end ideas. You both have valuable ideas and opinions for everybody to learn from.

Georg, I will be ready to make a prototype of your idea once it gets on paper. Now that I'll be getting this big fancy mill, I have to put 'er to work..
I can also see your penchant for the less than shiny look, after studying the Dekley for a couple of days. There is a certain dull, boring look to the composite materials and aluminum in these guitars, but there unimportant things fall by the wayside when you start playing them. Even with my cardboard ear, I can hear a certain sweetness come out of this plain jane. Another things i sthat pedals and levers work like a hot knife in butter...so ultra smooth and easy to operate that I catch myself smiling as I "mash" A&B.

Like I said, I'll be ready. In the meantime I have so many things to learn building these things the conventional way, so that's the way # 4 and maybe 5 will be built.

Being a wood lover and an admirer of beautifully finished wood, that's how my projects will be finished for now.. the traditional shiny way. There is no reason why one can't marry beautiful looks and functionality.

Scott,

The Floyd Rose clamping nut is just what it says. It was developed with the whammy bar jockeys in mind. It consists of (remember this was designed for six strings) three small metal thingies that mounted between pairs of strings outside the nut. There is a base part which is attached to the head of the guitar and it is threaded to take machine screws which, in turn, hold down the metal thingies across two strings. The strings are tuned and then the machine screws are tightened. In general, the system does work. You can whammy yer bar all night and it does stay in tune. The dive bombing fraternity love them.

There have been lots of variations of the clamping idea over the years. Here is one of them... The other end of the FR system is a keyless tuner which is at the bridge end of a standard six stringer so the existing headstock is used as a string anchor only, with the strings being fed through the standard tuners leaving the ball end at the head of the guitar and the other end going to the keyless set up.

The pic above is much more complex then the basic FR design but the main claim in the patent I grabbed it from was that it needs no tools to operate - just the cam lever. As you will understand, the strings run between the blocks. The FR system is better IMO since changing a string involves loosening the clamp on two strings only with the possibility of a retune on only two strings while the above un-clamps the full set.

Allan.....

Scott Howard wrote:Pat
All are long gone . I have a MSA that I pulled the back neck off of left and a SD-12 Dekley that still have keyheads on them. Both 12 string. I plan on making these Universals and maybe sell one of them if times get better.

here is another interesting keyless with DUAL Pull / Release changers !!

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

I was at Bobby's house not long ago and played the D-10 model of this guitar. All I can say is WOW! It has the "Emmons" sound along with the clarity of a Blanton guitar.
I have played a keyless guitar before and without a doubt they are the way to go, I just cannot get past the fact that to ME they look strange. I really wish I could get past that.
If Bobby's "American Steel" was still in production, I would have one. It's too bad the $ person lost interest.