The Steel Guitar
Information Resource

Your volume pedal is something you can't do without. They go bad once in awhile, and somebody has to fix it. It might as well be you. The most common cause of malfunction is that the potentiometer gets static sounding, which is nothing more than dirt, or deterioration of the graphite inside it. You can't clean one up so forget that. You can't save it no matter how cheap you may be. You will have to change out the pot.

This is not so bad, but it looks hard if you have never done it. The trick is in knowing how to take the pedal apart and get it back together just like you took it apart. Most pedals are alike but for a few screws here and there. Here is an idea of what to do.

The first thing is to get the bottom off so you can see what needs to move. Get a set of Allen wrenches and a 1/2 inch open end wrench ready. You will have to loosen the screw up on the pedestal that holds the string wrapped around the brass barrel on the pot. This is usually just a regular flathead screw driver slot.

Once you have a little slack in the string turn the brass barrel on the pot until you can see the little black Allen screw in it. Loosen this Allen screw a bit until you can slide the barrel off of the shaft on the pot. You won't have to undo the string, leave it

wrapped just like it is on the barrel. This way you won't forget how it was wound on the barrel. If you get it all wrong your volume pedal will work backwards.

With the brass barrel loose and off of the shaft, and the string still wrapped nicely like it was, use your 1/2 inch wrench to loosen the nut holding the pot on its mount. You can lay the brass barrel down in the pedal carefully,, leaving both hands free to do this job. Have your new potentiometer ready to go back in the exact same spot.

Take each wire off the old pot with a soldering iron one at a time and put them on the new pot as you take each one off. This way you won't forget where each wire went. There are only three wires. You could easily make a drawing of where each one goes.

Now comes the fun part. Install the pot back on the mount just like the other one w as. Rotate the shaft all the way to "LEFT" with the shaft pointing at you. Slip the brass barrel back on the shaft, but don't tighten anything yet. Push the back of the pedal all the way down, towards the back like it was going to be in ""Off" position. This raises the front of the pedal up high, right? Make sure the shaft stays rotated all the way to left, tighten the string around the brass barrel making sure you haven't let it come loose one wrap. Pull the string tight and set it with the screw on the pedestal. Now tighten the Allen screw on the brass barrel making sure that as the pedal is all the way off, that the shaft is also rotated to the left all the way.

Work the pedal up and down checking to see if the shaft rotates and the string is working all the way up and down through the pedal travel.

If you did it wrong you will see what went afoul. You may need to loosen the barrel and reset it to get more travel in the pedal, or you may need to tighten the string a little. Look at the pictures here if you have any doubt. About the only thing that can happen is that you lose that string and get it back on the barrel wrong. Just watch that you see how the string comes up on the left side, wraps around the barrel once, then wraps around the set screw,once, and then back the other way coming out on the left side again to the pedestal and the set screw for the string. Play with it, you'll get it back right. If you have fingers like wagon tongues you may need to enlist the help of your wife.

Only use a 500K, J taper pot. If you use any other kind you won't like what you get. I keep one in my seat all the time just for this very fun filled occasion.

Nobody likes to do this job. It takes a little time, and you have to be careful. But you can do it. You don't need to be a rocket scientist. You have to do it.

Footnote by John Fabian of Carter Steel Guitars: This article appeared in the November 1991 issue of The Pedal Rod, a Jeffran College Newsletter. Jeff Newman was kind enough to allow us to use the article on The Steel Guitar Information Resource web site.