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Post new topic First pedal steel (Fender 1000) and a couple questions
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Author Topic:  First pedal steel (Fender 1000) and a couple questions
Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 28 Feb 2017 4:34 pm    
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Not particularly, to me anyway. One thing you'll notice is that with some shoes, the soles are considerably larger than the uppers. If that's what's causing your problem, you can find some comfy shoes that don't have the big, overhanging soles. I have one pair of shoes with squarish toes and (big) overhanging soles, they were definitely designed more for Herman Munster than for pedal steelers.

Or...you can relocate the pedals, or make a new pedalboard - which isn't all that hard, either, since the pedalboard is wood. Smile
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Richard Alderson


From:
Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 1 Mar 2017 10:30 pm    
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Some people play with soft shoes, moccasins, tennis shoes, and other smaller footware, in order to have more tactile sensation. Of course others use clod hoppers and cowboy boots and never miss a beat. The opinions and practices are quite varied on this regard. With luck in your case the solution could be as simple as just holding the foot in a different position to strike a single pedal and letting the body gradually get used to the newness and novelty of putting placing the foot at a new angle, and then building up muscle memory for the new angle. Do you have access to a teacher or an experienced player where you live? They would have lots of good answers.
_________________
Derby SD-10 5x6; GFI S-10 5x5; GFI S-10 5x5; Zum D-10 8x7; Zum D-10 9x9; Fender 400; Fender Rumble 200; Nashville 400; Telonics TCA-500.
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Bruce Bishop

 

From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 2 Mar 2017 12:13 am     Fender 8 string
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Nathan, first let me say sounds like you got a good deal, great looking guitar .

I saw where you asking about your 4/5 pedal works as you knees would in a Emmons set up ,
If that's all you have then respectively so just wanted to say I've only had a steel for about a yr. Didnt even start messing with it till around Oct 2016. It is a 77 Sho Bud pro 1 it is a 3x2 the knees are on the right RKL lowers my E's and RKR lowers my 2nd and raise my 8th string E had no raise for the 4th E ...
So I got a new steel 2 weeks ago which is 3x4 Emmons set up . Love it but my point being retraing myself to use LKL & LKR for my E's instead of the Sho bud right knees can be challenging when I'm not focused .. that my be something to think about if you think you will go from this Fender 8 string to a 10 string 3x4 ...muscle memory takes over and then it's easy to get your signals crossed. But then again most of these steelers play both necks
Any way just food for thought I guess
Thanks
Bruce Tennessee
.
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Nathan French

 

From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 3 Mar 2017 10:32 am    
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Came up with this design for the knee lever which pulls to the left:



One cable from each string goes thru a hole and is pinned in place by a set screw. The screw at the back allows for adjustment of the pull. Obviously each cable needs to pull a slightly different distance so you have to futz with the set screws to get the relative pull right. Not ideal but it will get me by for now.

I may go back and clean up the mounting bracket, I had some issues with the CNC path on it and did a bunch of it by hand/eye. But here it is:





Because the lower E string can use the regular changer adjustment I only had to dial in the set screw on the higher E string. It actually was pretty quick to get that tuned up.

I used 1/16" galvanized cables, some crimp ferrules (which I didn't crimp), some 18 gauge galvanized wire, and regular electrical solder to make the cabling. All of which I found at Home Depot for a few bucks.

It seems to work fine. I want to replace the crude 1/4" steel bar with a section of properly dimensioned 1/4" shaft, it's a little wobbly right now. Other than that it seems to work just fine. And it folds up nice and low so should fit in the case just fine.

The other knee lever (which will pull to the right) won't need any of the adjustment so it should got a bit quicker. I do need to figure out how to replicate the two-cable pulley splitter hardware. Luckily there's a spare slot in the big master pulley to route the cable.
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Nathan French

 

From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 7 Mar 2017 10:06 pm    
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Here's my evening DIY project for tonight:



You wouldn't believe how many threads there are on the pros and cons of different sizes and materials, 3/4" vs 13/16" vs 7/8" vs 1" (and one lonely guy using 1-1/4"). Yikes!

I went with a 304 stainless steel 7/8" x 3-1/4" bar. Sanded to 1500 grit. Works great, sounds great -- previously I was using a bronze bottleneck slide. The steel was $8 for a 12" length (guess I could make a couple more).
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 13 Mar 2017 7:24 pm    
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Decent-looking bar, but it looks like it needs more polishing! Winking

(Reflections in the bar should be distorted, but sharp.)
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Jerry Hayes


From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
Post  Posted 14 Aug 2020 12:15 pm    
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I had an old Fender 400 eight stringer for awhile years ago which was set up with the following......

Pedal one raised both E strings to F.

Pedal two raised both B strings to C#.

Pedal three raised both G# strings to A.

Pedal four lowered both E strings to D#.

With this setup you can go to the V chord with pedal 4 and then rock onto pedal 3 for the V7 chord.

You can play a lot of stuff with this setup...JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!
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Dave Zirbel


From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
Post  Posted 14 Aug 2020 4:38 pm    
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👍👍 I love my Fenders. They are fun to play and rock solid.
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps
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