cabinet drop

Instruments, mechanical issues, copedents, techniques, etc.

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Ray Uhl
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Post by Ray Uhl »

Unless cabinet drop is significant, I don't let it bother me. If you think about it, a slight movement of the bar, can be off in cents. On a fretted instrument, if tuned to pitch, when the string is depressed against the fret, the distance between the top of the fret and neck, will be off in cents. I guess it's just how critical does one want to be, and more important, how, if any, does it effect the SOUND. MY OPINION, only.



Gene Jones
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Post by Gene Jones »

IMHO,the best "counter force/cabinet drop" device available for a pedal steel guitar is, the "bar". Image

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Earnest Bovine
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Post by Earnest Bovine »

If cabinet drop affected all strings equally, it would be easy to fix it by moving the bar. But unfortunately it can change a perfect fifth (for example) into a slightly diminished and ugly fifth. The best solution I've found is to tune that fifth a bit wide, and let it go a bit narrow when you mash a pedal, and live with it.
ed packard
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Post by ed packard »

To isolate the "cabinet drop" effect into it's component parts, try the following:

1. Excite your "favorite" cabinet drop strings, then lean your weight on the center of the body and see how much they change (ala tuner cents).
This will tell you if the body bends for the amount of weight that you applied to the center.

2. Now activate your "favorite" cabinet drop changes and measure. How do the numbers compare?

If (heaven forbid) the changer axle is only supported on the ends, you may expect the center strings to be more affected than the end strings if the axle flexes.

There is two to three hundred plus pounds of pull( 28 to 33 pounds per string) per neck trying to bend the body like a bow; then you add the change activation force.

L and U channels can be used to stiffen the body, if that is where the pitch shift is coming from.

Another, and as far as I know, unused approach is to pre-tension the structure (the same way that the strings do) to an amount exceeding the string pull; This principle is used in other fields to solve similar problems.

To see the structure's sensitivity to the string tensions try this:

1.Tune all strings up to pitch.

2.Monitor your "favorite" string with the tuner.

3.Slack your other strings, one at a time to zero tension noting how much the favorite string shifts in pitch.

All strings will not show the same shift in pitch because all strings do not stretch the same amount for a given change in tension, and are not equally tensioned (except by accident) in the first place.

The effect of "forcing stops" on different instruments will have different results as all stops are not physically and location wise equal.

How much pitch change is too much? If it bothers you re what your hear for the style that you play, then it is too much. If it bothers the folk you play with, it is too much. If it does not do the above, and shows up on your tuner, it would primarily be of interest to instrument designers/builders.

6061 aluminum was mentioned (no condition was given such as T6 or?, ..that is quite soft. 7075 is harder.

Neck length will also be an issue, ..pity me, my new neck is just short of 30"!!!