Steel Guitar Builder

I have just made and tested this Tuner with different gauge strings and it worked very well, this is just a diagram to show how it works, I will be uploading a video on You Tube to join my other How To Build a Pedal Steel Guitar Videos in a while. at this stage I have only built one tuner.
Ray.

PS Photo to follow


http://www.youtube.com/user/moonrakerdu ... udvLppQ104

hi Ray, thats enteresting , id sure like to se more . Russ

Hi Russ Here is another drawing, Ray

Thanks Ray, I was about to post a question, but your second drawing cleared up the pivot point. Interesting design. I am seriously considering a keyless head and all design/ideas are welcome. I had the thought of a string wedging action but not how to implement it, your design appears to be very effective. A set of keys looks to be about $90 plus per set so keyless might be a more economical option albeit less traditional looking. I read somewhere that keyless heads cut down on string breakage ??? Not sure what effect keyless has on the sonics if any? your opinion? looking forward to seeing more.
Dave

Hi Dave. I dreamed up this keyless concept to see if it would work, I have not used it on a steel so I cant honestly say what effect it would have on sound or string breakages,I am like you and like steels to look like steels, headless don't look right. I find buying two sets of basic guitar machine heads the cheapest way to go, plus you have two spare.thank you for your interest,
best of luck
Ray.

Ray:
Nice design.

I believe that you could do away with the middle alignment pin if you drilled an oversized blind hole in the pinch bar for the tuning screw to sink into. Then the tuning screw could also be used for alignment instead of the pin. What do you think?

Hi Dave. I think that is a great idea, I will try that when I build the real thing,thank you for your input, Ray

If you turned the tuner device the other way around (so that it was under the first few frets) you could make the instrument even shorter.

A couple of downsides to that idea would be that the tuning screws would be in the fretboard, and it might get a bit cluttered 'under the hood' when the pedal cross-shafts are fitted.

The tuning holes should be covered to prevent debris from clogging them up. If you used Burt's idea you could use a mask to fill the whole fret space, and make it resemble the original space. Alternatively make a fancy metallic or plastic design that plugs into the end holes and looks like a fret marker.

Perhaps the nose of the pinch bar should center on the string more. The tuning rocker-action of the pinch bar may RELEASE the string instead of pinching it otherwise.

Maybe running the string the other side of the nose and through a hole in the pinch bar body would be preferable for a more positive pinch action. The nose and socket would have to be rounded to accomodate that.

If the tuning screws were reversed and threaded into the pinch bar, you could mount the tuner vertically on the end of the PSG and have tuning accessible through the end plate. The strings could run right in, bending just enough to put sufficient pressure on the rollers.

The alignment feature of the tuning screws would still be valid, and you would not even need a blind hole in the angle metal. The only holes in the angle would be the two mounting holes, and the pivot cutout.