Carter SD 10 1997 changer springs?

[Stan Townsend]

My '97 Carter sd10 E9, pedals A and B seem super sensitive if my foot gets even close to them, throwing the tuning off. Is this from use over the years, or perhaps springs getting old?
Maybe I need heavier strings?
I use D'Addario NYXL 11-38 PEDAL Steel strings.
Any ideas? Thanks.
(If so, where can I buy the proper replacement Springs?)

[Tucker Jackson]

Hullo, Stan. Is this a new problem?

If not, welcome to the normal workings of an all-pull guitar with smooth action. Carter has one of the smoothest mechanisms out there, egged on by it's shorter 24" scale length (i.e., a little less string tension than some other brands that have the more common 24.25" scale length).

But really, it's the same on every all-pull I've ever played. You can't touch the pedal even a little or it starts to move the strings. It therefore becomes a 'best practices' thing: don't touch the pedals until you're ready.

I'm sure you know the springs at the changer are 'lower return springs.' They have two jobs: to bring strings back up to pitch after they've been lowered -- and to hold the lower-finger tight against the stop-plate the rest of the time, when the strings aren't being lowered.

Therefore, how tight the springs are might affect how stiff a lower lever is, but wouldn't come into play when doing a raise. When doing a raise, the springs should not be involved and should not be stretching out at all -- if they do, that's bad and creates a slightly different issue: the inability to get the raise fully up to its target pitch.

You could try the heavier set of the NYXL strings, and potentionally re-rod the pedals at the bellcrank to have a "shorter but stiffer" action(move the rods away from the crossbar). Those two changes might help a little, but even if you maximize that and make the pedals a tad stiffer, you still won't be able to lightly rest your foot on the pedals or it will detune the strings.

[Bobby D. Jones]

I have seen the bottom of a few Carters, But never worked on 1.
First have you changed shoes, And you do not have feel of the pedals as you did before?
If it started all at once. Check up around where the pedal rods hook to the cross rods, Some guitars have small slender springs to return pedals, And gives a little free play before the pull starts.
Check on the cross shafts. Some guitars have a spring that circles the cross shaft and hooks to pedal rod connector or a bell crank. Which returns the pedal and gives a little free space before the pull on string starts.
Good Luck on finding this problem and cure, Happy Steelin.

[Tucker Jackson]

Thanks Bobby, good comment about new shoes messing with you.

FYI, Carters are super simple: no extra springs on the pedal rods, nor raise-helper springs on the cross shafts.

Just the required 'Lower Return' springs -- so, they're not implicated in the problem described here.

[David W.D. McCormick]

I don't think there's a way to have slack before the longer pull engages because the pedals sit there and rely on gravity, so the moment you touch them the raise starts happening. I say longer pull because you could always time the shorter pull to engage later than the longer pull thereby creating some slack in that pull. For example you could set up the rods so the 6th string pull engaged later than the 3rd string pull thereby giving you slack before the 6th string engages.

Alternatively you could adjust the rodding to make the pulls stiffer, which might help a bit with your tactile feedback. See attached reference diagram.