[Boatanchors] Dial Stringing - Magic Solution To Cord Slippage

[Greg Mijal]

Wow!
I am definately going to try this method tomorrow.
Thanks!
Greg
WA7LYO
Kinston NC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael D. Harmon" <mharmon at att.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 5:21 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Dial Stringing - Magic Solution To Cord Slippage


> Hi Folks,
> 
> I work on guitar electronics frequently for a friend of mine who has a 
> steel guitar shop here in St. Louis.  Almost all of the older volume 
> pedals use a cord arrangement to move one or two pots when the pedal is 
> pressed down, raised up, or moved side to side.  I have seen every kind 
> of material used in an attempt to eliminate cord slippage.  Black tar, 
> belt dressing, beeswax, you name it.  Some of the stuff works better 
> than others.  Most of the "solutions" have one thing in common - they 
> all usually make a BIG mess!  It's not so much of a problem until you 
> have to replace a volume pedal pot.  A good steel player will cycle a 
> pot hundreds of times in one night's performance, so periodic pot 
> replacement goes with the territory.
> 
> My wife is a violinist, and one night I was grumbling about having to 
> clean up the belt dressing mess inside a volume pedal with GooGone, and 
> she suggested violin rosin as an anti-slip solution.  I tried it and I 
> will NEVER go back to anything else!  You can get a small block of rosin 
> at any music store or violin shop (you don't need the "concert quality" 
> stuff - the cheapest rosin will work just as well), and a small block 
> will last forever.  Just hook the end of the dial cord on something so 
> you can pull it taut with one hand, and run the block of rosin back and 
> forth over the length of the cord a few times to get all sides of the 
> cord in contact with the rosin.  Your dial cord will never slip again!  
> In fact, you have to make sure you've got everything aligned before you 
> put tension on the cord, because when you do tighten the cord, it WILL 
> NOT MOVE!
> 
> I don't claim to be the "inventor" of this method, but it seems to be 
> the world's best kept secret.
> 
> Mike Harmon, WB0LDJ
> mharmon at att dot net
> _______________________________________________