Goodrich L-120 - Increasing pedal 'friction'

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 30 May 2019 6:13 am

I've got an L120 with the AB pot that I like a lot, but it's not a youngster, and over the years the 'hinge' or whatever you call it has loosened up so that it won't stay 'parked' in a position. It will drop down to 'full on' once you take your foot off. Obviously not ideal.

I tried putting more tension on the spring that pulls the top over against the 'body' (if that makes sense?) but that doesn't help. The axle is actually pretty loose, it will pop right out, so obviously the problem may be partially due to the lack of friction in those bushings? I'm not sure..

What's the hot setup/fix to make the pedal stay parked where you put it? BTW, the AB pot is super quiet, but quite easy to turn, so it doesn't add any physical resistance like some pots do.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 30 May 2019 6:54 am

I can't advise you on a fix for the condition, but there is a set screw that holds the axle in place. Try locking that screw down and see if that helps.

Pull off the bottom plate and you will see a small well where the allen set screw lives.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 30 May 2019 6:58 am

Thanks Jerry!

I didn't see a set-screw but I was wondering why that axle pops out that easily.. I'll check it out. If that's the fix I'll post back here.

Thanks again.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 30 May 2019 7:18 am

Older pedal. Actually, I can see this one without removing the plate...should be there somewhere adjacent to the axle. HTH.

kevin ryan · Post by **kevin ryan** » 30 May 2019 7:56 am

Tightening the spring will help but cinching down that axle screw will too. Make sure that the pot is strung up because that also adds resistance so that the pedal stays where you want it. Goodrich Sound 760 -547-1260

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 31 May 2019 12:21 pm

I think it's a faulty design. The treadle part should be balanced so it doesn't need friction to hold it in place. I wouldn't put up with this, either in design or practice, and I wouldn't use a pedal that relied on friction or a spring to make it stay where you put it.

My suggestion would be to lift the pad and drill the forward section full of holes to lighten it. If that didn't do it, I'd add some weight to the back of the treadle until it was balanced.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 1 Jun 2019 7:02 am

In response to forumite Lee Baucum's PM to me about heeding Donny Hinson's response to the Goodrich volume pedal's faulty design I responded with the following~
"We have already produced a new pedal with different pivot points (OMNI) but I know of no pedal w/o some mechanism(generally a spring or built-in resistance) to keep it balanced as relying on a perfect balance point is possible but w/in each pot and each pedal are enough variations that it would be foolish to hope it works w/o any adjustment possibilities- that's a built in feature allowing for user discretion depending on how they want it to respond."
It would be myopic to think that was has been successful in the past cannot be improved upon- hence our development of the OMNI- however there are literally tens of thousands of versions of the previous 120 Goodrich pedal that have withstood the test of the past 50+ years of use and abuse(including my own

) and have performed admirably. Kevin at Goodrich is a valuable resource and is always available to help.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 1 Jun 2019 4:14 pm

Jim Palenscar wrote:...I know of no pedal w/o some mechanism(generally a spring or built-in resistance) to keep it balanced as relying on a perfect balance point is possible but w/in each pot and each pedal are enough variations that it would be foolish to hope it works w/o any adjustment possibilities...

Au contraire, mon ami! The Fender Volume pedal is perfectly balanced. It will stay exactly where you leave it, and it will do so with any pot made. (It will also "stay" even with the pot and string removed.) Look guys, I know I'm anal with this type of stuff. But on the other hand...it's NOT exactly rocket science to design a pedal with a balanced treadle. Do that, and you don't need spring washers, o-rings, springs, and friction devices.

Done deal!

Yeah, sure, I know that ALL other pedals are like that, same damn problem - so I'm not singling out any one brand. I also know that 99.999% of all steelers out there put up with the issue of possibly having to periodically adjust, or shim, or tighten something.
Not me! (Or anyone who still uses one of these semi-antiques that came out back in the 1950s.) I've used the same pedal since 1966, over 50 years, and I'm quite happy that I've never had the "flop down to full volume" problem.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 1 Jun 2019 8:25 pm

Actually the Fenders that I have here are regulated by a spring that attaches to a string that goes to the pot- and it works well amigo~. Admittedly I have not checked them with no pot attached- having no need to do so. Even with the new OMNI pedal where the decision was made to use the same parts for both the standard and low profile versions depending on the placement of the axle(thanks to Dave Beaty), it would be next to impossible to perfectly balance it with no other method employed to do so.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 2 Jun 2019 10:13 am

Interesting discussion...

thanks guys!

I tightened the set screw, which was in a different location than the photo, more toward the middle of the pedal, and it did of course cure the axle from sliding out. However, no improvement in getting the pedal position to stay put.

I deal with it right now by just turning the amp down when I'm on a break, but if I was one of those guys who move off the pedal for some C6 two-foot stuff, this would be a problem. Fortunately, for me the C neck has largely become an arm rest, albeit an uncomfortable one. When I do play what little C neck I play, the right foot stays on the pedal, so it doesn't matter so much. LOL..

I've got a second L-120 at home that doesn't have the problem, but it's got a replacement pot that needs replacing again. (Yeah, yeah... I know.. get an electronic pedal and never replace another pot.. but they just don't work for me, I like the 'pot sound' and I hate having to run power to the v-pedal.) I could just move the AB pot over to the other pedal, but I was hoping for some easy, i.e. less hassle, fix before I did that.

I may try to find something to shim between the pedal top and bottom halves, the idea of something like a cymbal washer trimmed a bit might work. Not elegant, and virtually certain to need to be replaced periodically, but could be an 'easy' thing to try.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 2 Jun 2019 6:17 pm

Jim Palenscar wrote:Actually the Fenders that I have here are regulated by a spring that attaches to a string that goes to the pot- and it works well amigo~.

Jim, the only purpose of the spring is to keep tension on the string to prevent it from slipping. It has nothing to do with holding the treadle in position.

But then again...you knew that, didn't you?!

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 2 Jun 2019 7:37 pm

Nope- I had not tried that but without continuously learning new things I fear I'd find life quite boring.

kevin ryan · Post by **kevin ryan** » 3 Jun 2019 10:17 am

Bill, If you would like, send it over here to Goodrich and we will see what we can do with this problem child.. of course no charge...Thanks Kevin

Goodrich Sound
2375 Oceanside Blvd suite A
Oceanside, ca 92054

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 3 Jun 2019 10:25 am

Bill, If you would like, send it over here to Goodrich and we will see what we can do with this problem child.. of course no charge...

Wow! Thanks Kevin! That is top-notch service, as we've all seen before.

If none of my hillbilly methods work, I may take you up. I'll let you know, and thanks again for your gracious offer.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 3 Jun 2019 10:31 am

As a point of clarification, I took the string and spring combination out of the loop in a Fender volume pedal today at the shop and of course my friend Steve is correct- it is fairly well balanced. That being said- with this pedal in no way is that usable as the pedal would not stay in whatever position you put it until it was strung up w the string and spring and that tension was enough to keep it in position.

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 14 Mar 2020 3:00 pm

There is a spring inside that helps keep the pedal parked in the off postion, on each end is an anchor screwed to the top and bottom half, the anchors can be adjusted to put more tension on the spring, curing the problem.

The axle set screw does nothing but hold the axle in place, it will not help your problem, not even one scintilla. If your pot is holding the pedal in the off position, you probably need a new one!

I have owned a lot of different volume pedals over the years, for me, all roads lead back to the Goodrich L-120. IMO, they are just about indestructable!

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 16 Mar 2020 6:59 am

The spring tension mod doesn't fix mine.. The 'tabs' are rotated as far as possible to provide maximum spring tension, but it still collapses..

This is a very old L-120 with an AB pot, I wonder if that pot (which still works fine) has got so many miles on it that it no longer has any (or very little) internal physical resistance? I think the pot must provide at least some of the friction.

kevin ryan · Post by **kevin ryan** » 17 Mar 2020 12:04 pm

A pot that is old and really worn out will probably not supply the resistance factor that the pedal needs for it to stay in the off position. Probably replacing the pot would help considerably.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 18 Mar 2020 10:42 am

Kevin wrote:A pot that is old and really worn out will probably not supply the resistance factor that the pedal needs for it to stay in the off position. Probably replacing the pot would help considerably.

Yeah, I think that may be it, but I'm really reluctant to replace a perfectly good (otherwise) AB pot. I really like the taper... I've relegated this pedal to a pile of other 'to-do' items in the studio, so I'll probably keep looking for some way to add some resistance.

Now that I'm basically '0 for March' gig-wise, I've got the time.

David Hodan · Post by **David Hodan** » 18 Mar 2020 10:51 am

I had a old L-120 "rebuilt" by Goodrich at the Dallas show 2 years ago. It was floppier than ever and fell to nearly full-on W/O a foot on it. The axle was falling out after this refurb too. The new pot made NO difference. After fixing the axle I actually shortened the spring to get mine to work halfway decent.

They are great pedals but this part of them does wear out. The one I have may be as old as they come.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 18 Mar 2020 1:16 pm

No hill for a climber Bill. You've got as much smarts as anyone, I'll bet. You can probably come up with a fix without sacrificing the pot.

I have a few Goodrich pedals. I like mine to stay put where I leave it because I do some two footing on the pedals. A couple of them do, but one of them wants to pop back towards off when I leave it. I might look into loosening up the spring on it...not sure yet.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 20 Mar 2020 5:31 pm

I've also used w some success furniture glide felt between the 2 halves creating more resistance available at Home Depot and Lowes.

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 20 Mar 2020 7:23 pm

Jim Palenscar wrote:As a point of clarification, I took the string and spring combination out of the loop in a Fender volume pedal today at the shop and of course my friend Steve is correct- it is fairly well balanced. That being said- with this pedal in no way is that usable as the pedal would not stay in whatever position you put it until it was strung up w the string and spring and that tension was enough to keep it in position.

Pali,you got the wrong"Hinson"...I'm innocent!

SH

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 21 Mar 2020 5:47 am

Jim wrote:I've also used w some success furniture glide felt between the 2 halves creating more resistance available at Home Depot and Lowes.

Yeah, I was thinking along those same lines with something like a cymbal felt, but the ones I found were way too thick. Good idea..

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 21 Mar 2020 7:19 am

Bill, I haven't tried felt but they do make a wave washer, or spring washer that's used in other non musical applications to provide tension without over tightening. Just a thought.

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Goodrich L-120 - Increasing pedal 'friction'

Goodrich L-120 - Increasing pedal 'friction'

Pot won't help