Looking for Bellcrank Ideas

[Skip Ellis]

I just bought this guitar and turns out, although it does play well and sounds nice, it's a "Franken-steel" put together by Bobbe Seymour out of whatever misc he had lying around: Rittenberry body, MCI changer, ShoBud nasty 'cast' knee levers, and, I think, misc bell cranks including ShoBud and Zum. I'd sorta like to standardize things and re-rod it to my copedant and get rid of the Franklin pedal and move everything over to where it used to be. Look like somebody moved one knee over for some reason. I do have a lathe and small milling machine so looking for bellcrank ideas that I can make out of aluminum - maybe the old barrel type MSA type or something other than those silly carburetor clips that ShoBud used. All ideas/suggestions appreciated.
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[Jerry Overstreet]

Looks like those are Fessenden bell cranks.

If I had the machine tools and was going to make bell cranks for those Super Pro type shafts, I'd probably go with the Mullen type cranks that slip over the shaft, no need to disassemble anything, and use a small set screw to hold them in place.

Should be fairly easy to make.

FWIW, I used some of these on my old Artist with Super Pro hex shafts and used a toothed disc push on retainer. No carburetor type clips needed and the discs bite tight on the rod. No need to drill holes in the pull rods or other prep. Just bend 90 degree and slip one of these retainer discs on.

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[Skip Ellis]

Pretty good idea! I do like the old MSA type as you don't have to bend the rod - it just goes through the barrel and is locked with the set screw. Not sure how hard it would be to make the Fessenden ones - I had a Fessy a few years ago and that setup was absolute genius. I'm gonna check out how many I need as I'm going to remove some things so I might be able to just buy a few Fessenden type - there's quite a few on there already. I'll just have to set and stare at it for awhile.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Yessir, I know how you feel about the double sided bellcrank with the set screw lock. I like those too. Easier to set up, pull rods don't have to be a specific length.

That's a good idea if you can work that type for those cross shafts. Best of luck sorting it all out Skip.

[Barry Coker]

I make a lot of the old MSA style cranks I started with a 3/4" x 3/8" 6061 aluminum flat bar cut it 2" long lined up my holes. Drilled and milled shape then used a 1/8" slitting saw to cut the slot. You could make the Mullin style shaft end with a split top section like the old MSA's

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Barry

[Stuart Tindall]

Here are some I designed and built around the Millennium