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Make sure your pedals 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 gap which appears between the
pedal and the guitar body when moving it (as shown above). Most pedal
steel guitars use 1 of 2 different systems to adjust the pedal slack.
Whichever system the pedals use, they should still demonstrate a slight
amount of slack in the travel before engaging the changer fingers.
To adjust the different types of pedals follow these steps:
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Type 1 pedal stops
feature adjustable stops which the pedals engage at the end of
their travel (MSA, MCI, Sho-Bud, Carter, Mullen).
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Type 2 pedal stops
feature fixed, nonadjustable stops which the pedals engage at the
end of their travel (Zum, Emmons, Derby).
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- Tune the guitar to proper pitch.
- Step on the pedal.
- 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 pedal and check the open tuning. If the string
returns to proper pitch, you have enough travel. If the string
comes back sharp, it is an indication that you don't have enough
travel.
- Adjust the pedal stop (usually a screw of some type) to allow
more travel to the pedal bell crank before it engages the stop
screw.
- Recheck the pedal for the correct amount of slack in its travel.
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- Tune the guitar to proper pitch.
- Step on the pedal.
- 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 pedal and check the open tuning. If the string
returns to proper pitch, you have enough travel. If the string
comes back sharp, it is an indication that you don't have enough
travel.
- Adjust the slack adjustment screw on the pedal bell crank
to allow more travel to the pedal. The pedal bell crank is attached
to the cross shaft and is the part into which the pedal rod
hooks.
- Recheck the pedal for the correct amount of slack in its travel.
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