Make sure your knee levers have a small
amount of slack in the travel before they cause the tuning nuts to engage,
the fingers which raise and lower the strings.
The slack can be observed as a small amount of movement of the pull
rod or rotation of the cross shaft and pull bar when moving it (as shown
above). Most pedal steel guitars use 1 of 2 different systems to adjust
the knee lever slack.
Note: some guitars may use both systems, one for knee levers that move
to the left and the other for knee levers that move to the right
Whichever system the knee levers use, they should still demonstrate
a slight amount of slack in the travel before engaging the changer fingers.
We recommend you familiarize yourself with the operation
of the different types of knee levers as they apply to your steel
guitar.
To adjust the different types of knee levers, follow these steps:
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Type 1 knee levers
feature adjustable stops which the pedals engage at the end of
their travel (shown above).
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Type 2 knee levers
feature fixed, nonadjustable stops which the knee levers engage
at the end of their travel
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- Tune the guitar to proper pitch.
- Activate the knee lever.
- Tune the raise (or lower) on the string that travels the farthest.
Plain strings require more travel than wound ones. The smaller
the gauge, the greater the travel.
- Release the knee lever and check the open tuning. If the string
returns to proper pitch, you have enough travel. If the string
comes back sharp (flat for lowers), it is an indication that
you don't have enough travel.
- Adjust the knee lever stop (usually a screw or adjustable
assembly of some type) to allow more travel to the knee lever
mounting bar before it engages the stop screw.
- Recheck the knee lever for the correct amount of slack in
its travel.
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- Tune the guitar to proper pitch.
- Activate the knee lever.
- Tune the raise (or lower) on the string that travels the farthest.
Plain strings require more travel than wound ones. The smaller
the gauge, the greater the travel.
- Release the knee lever and check the open tuning. If the string
returns to proper pitch, you have enough travel. If the string
comes back sharp (flat for lowers), it is an indication that
you don't have enough travel.
- Adjust the position of the knee lever or the linkage to allow
enough travel to pull the string to the desired pitch. Do this
by pulling the string past the desired pitch, releasing it,
and then retuning the open string.
- Recheck the knee lever for the correct amount of slack in
its travel.
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