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Topic: LelGrande III Situation. Some Questions! |
Tom Bradshaw
From:
Walnut Creek, California, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2019 10:18 am |
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Has anyone discovered a bridge piece that had been pressed onto the changer axle of an Emmons’ LeGrande III, or why it was done? I know that most Emmons guitars have the changer’s support pillars pressed on to their changer axles, but never a changer bridge piece affixed in that manner! Here is what happened:
A fellow brought me a D-10 Emmons LeGrande III. It had all the standard pedal changes on its E9th and C6th necks, plus many more changes for its 8 + 8 configuration. The fellow had it packed away for quite awhile and assumed that the changer simply needed lubrication when he discovered that the 10th string on the C6th neck would not change pitch when pedals 5 (a raise) and 8 (a lower) were engaged. He gave up trying to fix it himself, so brought it to me.
After I removed the two pull rods from that string change, I tried moving the bridge piece. It moved, but with great difficulty. I presumed that it was simply frozen to the changer’s axle, likely just needing lubrication. I chose to not remove all the other pull rods, suspecting that I could just free that “frozen†changer lever after I got the pressed-on support pillars off of the 9/16†changer axle. To my surprise, those pillars were not pressed on. They simply “fell off†once I removed the screws that held them to the cabinet and to the split-tuning block behind the changer head. To remove that one bridge piece (and its attached changer lever) from the axle, I ended up having to actually “hammer†it off.
Once off, I examined its interior. I observed striations inside that were similar, but much smaller, to those on the outer edges of quarters and half-dollars. Thinking that only a good lubrication was all that was necessary, it quickly became apparent that the hole in the bridge piece would need to be reamed, and if not, I would have to “hammer†it back on the axle. I then concluded that the bridge piece had been machined for pressing onto the bridge axle.
I subsequently reamed out the hole in the bridge piece, lubricated the changer thoroughly and slipped the bridge piece back on its axle. A reassembled the guitar, tuned it up; problem solved! It was again a well functioning LeGrande III.
Now, back to my original question in the first paragraph of this post. Who may know the answers? …Tom |
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Chris Reesor
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 16 Jan 2019 5:52 pm
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Sounds like some sort of galling, Tom, if I'm understanding you right.
Now to wait for someone who knows what they are talking about to jump in.
_________________
Excel Superb U12, MIJ Squier tele, modified Deluxe Reverb RI, Cube 80XL, self built acoustics & mandolins |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 17 Jan 2019 6:34 am
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| Far from an expert, here, but as Chris said, it sounds like the finger assembly was just frozen to the axle. I suspect that was due to corrosion from lack of lubrication, and the act of driving the finger off the axle created those striations on the inside of the finger. (Much like a bullet gets marks on it from traveling down the barrel of a gun.) |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Posted 17 Jan 2019 9:48 pm
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| There's not much meat concentric to the axle on Emmons fingers because the axle diameter is so big. It's possible that the guitar was dropped or something, and the finger got compressed just a little on top, squeezing it slightly out of round, and tight to the axle. |
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