Cabinet Drop
Cabinet Drop
I am only just getting into the Pedal Steel. I play lap steel. I read some articles here and there where guys mention Cab drop. I was talking to a guy yesterday that has played lots of different pedal steels for many years and he said he has never experienced it. Is it really a problem or not?
Re: Cabinet Drop
Cabinet drop is when the body of the guitar flexes under pressure applied to the pedals and detunes a string or strings. Weak body, stiff pedals, more cabinet drop. Strong cabinet, easy pedals. less cabinet drop.
Scott Duckworth
E6 Rogue lap steel, D6 Regal RD-30MS squareneck reso-guitar,
Li'l Izzy, Zoom MS-50G Effects Pedal into a Berhinger mixer and Harbinger V2112 speaker(s).
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it
E6 Rogue lap steel, D6 Regal RD-30MS squareneck reso-guitar,
Li'l Izzy, Zoom MS-50G Effects Pedal into a Berhinger mixer and Harbinger V2112 speaker(s).
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it
Re: Cabinet Drop
Ive never seen cabinet drop on any pedal steel guitar ive ever seen , which leads me to think its a crock of crap just something to talk about I guess. I have a MSa ten string that was made in the middle 70s I could stand on the thing and it wouldn't flex, I have a wheeler 14 string that I could put a ton of weight on and I dought it would flex and several guitars I made that will not flex or drop a fraction of a thousand of an inch, only way a pedal might have cab drop is if it was made way too thin on the top and narrow skirts with no support under the top , that's my thought on the subject lol. Russ 
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Ross Shafer
- Posts: 189
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:52 am
Re: Cabinet Drop
The term cabinet drop itself is a bit of a misnomer...almost all steel guitars have some amount of de-tuning going on...the bodies can indeed flex, but so can other things, especially the changer axle if not girthy enough or unsupported between the two ends.
I agree that most discussions of this subject are just a waste of time. After all it is a fretless instrument and unless egregious, detuning is easily compensated for by simply listening and moving the bar to where the right notes are.
Hook those rigs you don't think are flexing up to a sensitive digital tuner and I'd be extremely surprised if you don't see some small amount of detuning on some non-pedaled strings when you press A & B. A few cents drop may not be noticed by your ears, but it does mean something's flexing. A tuner needle that doesn't budge a bit when you play an open string while holding down the pedals is very rare.
As a machinist, fabricator, self taught engineer nerd kinda guy, I can assure you beefy things you don't think could possibly flex can and do...its all about how accurate and sensitive your measuring tools are.
I agree that most discussions of this subject are just a waste of time. After all it is a fretless instrument and unless egregious, detuning is easily compensated for by simply listening and moving the bar to where the right notes are.
Hook those rigs you don't think are flexing up to a sensitive digital tuner and I'd be extremely surprised if you don't see some small amount of detuning on some non-pedaled strings when you press A & B. A few cents drop may not be noticed by your ears, but it does mean something's flexing. A tuner needle that doesn't budge a bit when you play an open string while holding down the pedals is very rare.
As a machinist, fabricator, self taught engineer nerd kinda guy, I can assure you beefy things you don't think could possibly flex can and do...its all about how accurate and sensitive your measuring tools are.
Re: Cabinet Drop
Thanks for your comments Russ and Ross.