Pedal Steel Guitar

[BenRom]

Hi All,
This is what I do for a retirement hobby. Check out my web site at www.benrom.com
The pedal steel guitar, unlike the lap steel, has many metal parts made mostly from aluminum, but some steel and some brass. A lot of the mechanism for changing the pitch of the strings is underneath the guitar. The heart of the pedal steel is the changer which has one individual raise and lower finger for each string, activated by a raise and lower arm that pivot to enable a raise or lower via pull rods, bell cranks and cross shafts. It also has pedals and knee levers to enable the player to do the pitch changes while playing.
As you can imagine, my TOS milling machine plays a huge role in the building of these fine instruments.

 

[davidh]

you build them from scratch ? ? ? wow is all i can say. i have wanted to be able to play one of those since i was a kid, and even had one from a friend that did know how but i was totally unable to make good sounds on it. maybe my adhd had something to do with it. anyway, its beautiful. . .

 

[DMS]

Wow, nice work there.

 

[BenRom]

Thanks guys.
David, yes I make almost everything. It doesn't make economical sense for me to make the legs. These are purchased from a guy in Ohio. Anything round is made by a buddy with a lathe.
I make the pickup myself. The strings and tuning keys are bought.

To illustrate some of the work involved. Here are pics of the brass changer finger in different stages of fabrication: