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Optimizing tightness of body screws on your Emmons Push Pull
Does your Emmons push pull "bloom" when you strum it and pedal it hard? Do the harmonics seem choked, or do they jump out and sustain? If not, some screws may be too loose and others too tight.
Did you guys and gals with Emmons push pull steel guitars know that by tightening all of the screws holding the frame to the wood body, including the tail piece and the 7/64" hex head screws on the sides of the changers, then fine tuning the floor pedal stops to stop the pedals just a degree or two after the raises and lowers max out, the guitar will "bloom" when pedaled on low register notes? This effect is especially strong on the C6 "Boo-Wah" pedal (usually P8).
Setting the raise fingers to hit the body at a full pull to pitch is important for sustain and positive raise pitch. Your push lowers should cause the fingers to hit the upper stop screws in the changer. The springs that give slack may need to be readjusted for enough clearance to let lowers and raises move the full distance to the screw or body stop positions. Of course, half pulls, like E to F on string 4 can't hit the body, but the E to F# should. Strings that don't hit the body at the cutout in front of the changer won't bloom or sustain as well as those that do make hard contact.
After doing this, you can then begin to fine tune your harmonics and sustain on high strings by slightly backing off all of the aluminum neck screws (8 per neck). There is a happy place where the screws are not all the way tight and not too loose where the harmonics will play better. However, the more you loosen the neck screws, the more audible is the cabinet drop when pedals are mashed. I usually find this setting to be at about 1/2 turn each backed off of tight contact.
Your mileage may vary. If the harmonics and their sustain don't improve, tighten the screws up again. My guitar is a 1983 Rosewood, with 9 knees and 8 pedals, and a pair of Bill Lawrence LXR-16 humbucking pickups. It chokes the harmonics when the neck screws are totally tight against the body. Backing them off slightly improves the tone and sustain of the harmonics on this guitar. Cabinet drop when mashing pedals 1 and 2 is just barely measurable on a meter (~1/2 cent) and hard to tell by ear alone.
I hope this helps someone else. Don't get mad at me if it makes no improvement, as your guitar is already as good as it will be. If it does help, you can thank me and share your results.
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