Howdy everyone! New member, first time posting. I just bought my first pedal steel, its an old Dekley student model.. Set up to E9, 3 pedals, 3 levers. I'm super excited about it, and I've got the bug. Spent a few hours tinkering and tweaking things and was able to resolve pretty much all of issues that I started with.. rearranged some of the pedals to set it up to a traditional E9 to start learning on, and I was able to tune the pedals and lever up, and she's playing nice and in tune.
One thing I'm stumped on is how are the pedal rods supposed to stay hooked in the holes on the undercarriage? Seems like every time I bump them with my foot, one pops out and falls to the floor. True story- I was practicing today and my dog Weezy found a spot right below my pedal steel to get cozy, and I popped one of the rods out by accident and it bopped her and sent her running into the kitchen. Is it as simple as "Don't bump the pedals with your feet?" or is there an adjustment or a part missing that I could get or make to keep this from happening repeatedly? Any help would be much appreciated by me.. and my dog.
I'm not familiar with Dekley's at all, but judging from the pedal steels I've owned and seen, it would appear that the pedal rods need to hook from the opposite side between the front apron and the pedal crank.
Jerry Overstreet wrote:I'm not familiar with Dekley's at all, but judging from the pedal steels I've owned and seen, it would appear that the pedal rods need to hook from the opposite side between the front apron and the pedal crank.
Jerry is correct. Angle the rods at about a 45 degree angle and then hook them in from the front. Of course, you'll have to turn the pedal connectors a half turn.
JIC you didn't know, Jim is the authority on Dekley guitars around here. He was involved with the company for some years. You might want to search the pedal steel board topic Dekley using Jim Smith as author.
Welcome to our obsession. It's "a nice little hobby."
There's an awful lot you can do with 3+3. Now the fun starts.
I hope your dog will reconsider. My schnauzer doesn't like noise and commotion. She surprised me by showing up in my music room, and settled in near my steel.
Yup. I had this problem as well and learned that I needed to attach them from the front. Mine actually rub slightly against the front apron. I put a few drops of oil where the friction occurs and it's tolerable. Good luck!
Thanks guys. So yeah, that totally keeps the rods in place and no more bouncing out. Weezy and I thank you!
Follow up question:
It's a tight squeeze between that front apron and the pedal crank. I got the rods to get in there by taking the whole pedal bar off the front legs and pulling the pedal bar towards the front, so the angle on the end of the pedal rods would squeeze in there up top, but I'm thinking there must be an easier way. Doing it this way definitely made it difficult to adjust the action to get all the pedals to the same hight. Is there a more efficient way? I see there's an allen screw that loosens the square piece with the hole in it, (sorry-don't know what that's called yet) that the rod hooks into.. but that still doesn't seem to bring it out far enough from the front apron for the rods to fit in there. I'm sure this is a beginner set-up question. I'm new to this all and haven't gotten to watch someone set up or breakdown a steel yet.
Thanks! Dan P.
And Dan, that's pretty great about your schnauzer taking to the pedal steel. Weezy doesn't seem to mind the sounds of the pedal steel much either. She only howls when I play the harmonica.
And James, thanks for making me feel less silly about hooking them in from the front. Good to know I'm not the only one! I'll try lubing them up like you suggested, cause I can definitely hear some rubbing. Thanks! -dp
Yes, that would be the way to go, that makes sense, but here's the thing, the rods seem to connect to the pedals by threading in.. or by spinning the entire rod, and I can't spin the rod while it's hooked in up top.
Is there another way to detach the rods from the pedals besides spinning or unthreading them? Thanks!
dan...the round cylinder at the end of the pedal rod should be a spring clip that pulls up and lets loose of the ball that comes out of the side of the pedal.
it's called a ball joint.
if it doesn't pull up easily spray some lube on it and work it a little.
hope that works.
Daniel Potthast wrote:And James, thanks for making me feel less silly about hooking them in from the front. Good to know I'm not the only one! I'll try lubing them up like you suggested, cause I can definitely hear some rubbing. Thanks! -dp
It's "only" been 35 years since I left Dekley, but I don't remember the student guitar pedal rods rubbing on the frame. I certainly wouldn't have let them leave the factory like that.
Assuming you have everything assembled correctly, you can put a slight bend in the rods away from the body without hurting anything.
Bingo on the ball joints! There's a sentence I never thought I'd type.
That did it, and it all seems so obvious now. Doh! Thanks so much for walking me through that, guys. Feeling very grateful that ya'll are so knowledgable and generous w/ the advice. REALLY appreciate it. Time to get picking'! -dp
Glad you got it working properly. You might want to check out the Steel Guitar Information Resource in this old Carter archived site for the mechanics of pedal steel guitars. Might find more helpful info there as issues arise.
There's also a downloadable pdf. owner's manual available for Dekley there although I don't know if there's any specific info for the student model. Some aspects should be the same tho. http://steelguitar.com/
I, too am just a beginner, just joined the forum, and just started with a Dekley. I have had this for about 2 years. I was questioning having it at first, but having read a lot about Dekley in this forum,I have come to the conclusion that Dekley's are a pretty good guitar and am pleased with what I have.
The hard part of learning pedal steel is being able to do it without thinking (too hard).
I wish you well on this endeavor.........Engage at warp 10!
Thanks Jerry for the links and the encouragement, and good luck to you too, Pat. Yes, what you said is what every musician strives for, to be able to "do it without thinking too hard." To be able to let go and make this thing sing.. Yeah! That's what I'm shooting for!
I can't tune the pedals on my student Dekley. I have no problem with my Sho-bud, but I don't understand the Dekley student model. When I get it to work it's because of luck. Does anyone know how it's done?
Hi Stephen,
Assuming your model-assessment is correct, the student model has a different style of tuning than the pro-models have.
What problem are you having with the tuning?
The pro-models have an "all-pull" changer and the tuning is different from a "pull-release" changer (common in their student models). I am quite a Dekley fan, but do not have a student model, and am not familiar with THAT way of tuning, sorry I can't answer this.
Luck on looking it up........Pat.
Last edited by Pat Chong on 22 Jan 2024 3:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
It says "for all models", but I don't see different instructions for tuning the student model.
Carter D10 8p/7k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup, Regal RD40 Dobro (D tuning), Recording King Professional Dobro (G tuning), NV400, NV112, Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open G slide and regular G tuning guitar) .
I have been trying to look up a method of tuning for your pull-release changer. It would help if you put in a picture of your changer and the bottom side of your guitar. I (we) will try to figure out how your unit is tuned and write out a method for tuning.
First, your copedent (as I recall) is as follows: (if there's more, let us know. By the way, signing in lines up the copedent better.)
I'll try lubing them up like you suggested, cause I can definitely hear some rubbing. Thanks! -dp
