My first pedal steel attempt

[maxi19]

Hi all, I recently put up some photo's of my home built 'lap steel' saying I was in the process of building a 'pedal steel' and finding other members interested in my attempts here is the progress so far on my pedal steel.
Advice and comments would be welcome as I may be a bit out of my depth here. So far every thing has been machined from bar stock and there is a lot of finishing and polishing to do.

Bent showed an interest in seeing photo's and I only hope my attempts will turn out a fraction of the standard he shows. 'Oops' I'll be slowed down for a little while, I just sliced into the top of my thumb with a 'craft knife'.

Regards to all Ron Mc

[bluesteel]

Ron, that is seriously nice work! Way to go..... I'd be interested to talk about the changer with you.

Will Cowell

[maxi19]

Hi Will, I will take some photo's of the changer if you like, in theory it should work, but how well will be another story.

Thanks for your interest I would love input from you guy's

Regards Ron Mc

[richard37066]

Ron -

AWRIGHT!

I love fine craftsmanship. Please post pics of the changer and the whole thing as you move through the assembly stage.

Richard

[Bent]

Ron, I love this a lot! Look at the pillow blocks, the way you have them made and installed. It oozes of strength and good looks at the same time. I might do some copying here.
Nice to observe that you made brass fingers with string-thru-finger mounting. I have found this combination to work very well, both for tone, strength, ease of string change and cutting down on breakage.
Like Richard, I hope you continue posting detail photos. Good work!

[maxi19]

Thank you Bent, Richard, I have attached photo's of the changer as it stands at the moment.

The fingers are 1/4 x 3/4 brass, the lower finger is 5/8 x 1/16 stainless steel the actuator blocks are 1/4 x 3/4 x 1 nylon blocks, I made up stepped rivets to fasten the nylon blocks to the lower fingers and custom shouldered screws to fasten the lower fingers to the brass fingers.

Bent I have fitted 2 mm roll pins to fit the string ends but have drilled the fixing holes through the fingers in case this method isn't satisfactory, I would then be able to punch the pins out and resort to a 'string through' method, at the moment I'm afraid it is all 'suck it and see' as this is the first time I have attempted a pedal steel build.

Best Regards Ron Mc

[azureskys]

Looks like you have a very good start , keep it up you ll get there , looks like you have Glucks cd on pedal steel building ? He did the changer like that and the pedal quick release setup which works very well in application, the key head is another gluck style or what he has on the cd , his cd was a good place to start anyway, Russ

[maxi19]

Hi Russ, thank you for your comments, yes I have Mr Gluck's cd, which I would recommend for anyone making a first attempt into building a pedal steel. The cd doesn't give a 'blow by blow' instruction into building a steel, but, it does give a grounding and more importantly (I feel) food for thought and a basis to modify its contents.

Basicly it saved 're-inventing the wheel' and gave me a starting point, I am hoping to glean more information from the more experienced members of the site and with the positive responses so far I believe a vast amount of help and encouragement will be forthcoming.

Best Regards Ron Mc

[burt]

Ron,
Nice work.

Make sure that the nylon blocks are nice and loose.

The reason I say this is because nylon is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air), and expands quite a lot when saturated (which is an unlikely scenario, I know, on a pedal steel) and will cause the nylon blocks to tighten up and sieze on the pivots

[maxi19]

Hi Richard, long time no see, you weren't at John's last 'steelie' meet, we missed you. Thank you for the advice, I did ensure the blocks floated freely.
I made the rivets with a shoulder to ensure they weren't able to tighten up when fitted. when are we going to see and hear you again.

Respects and regards Ron Mc