Can A Push Pull Play Like An All Pull?

[Bob Snelgrove]

I love the way my Franklin plays, I love the way my 78 P/P sounds.

I sat behind Jay Dee's P/P long ago and it was like butter, never felt another P/P that smooth. I have a Mike Cass 76 P/P that plays OK but nothing like Jay Dee's!

What and who is behind the magic to make a P/P play smooth as silk?

thx

bob

[Dennis Detweiler]

Good question. I sat down at a PP years ago and found the pedals much harder to push than any guitar that I sat down to at that time.

[Richard Sinkler]

I know Frank Carter worked some on Jaydee's push pull.

[Darvin Willhoite]

My new Resound65 plays about as good as any all-pull I ever played. Darrin at Emmons set it up perfectly even though it is a little crowded underneath. I use 8 knee levers, two of them are RKL's. Plays as smooth as butter, and sounds great.

[Jason Putnam]

Just had mine setup at Emmons. It plays as easily as my Mullen so yes it is possible!

[Bob Hoffnar]

I’ve owned and played both Franklin and Emmons PP’s

They do not play the same or sound the same. And I wouldn’t want them to.

A Franklin is like a Ferrari. Perfectly balanced , clear and fast. Nothing better.

A PP emmons is like a tractor that will always pull you out of the mud. Perfectly strong, full and clear on every part of the neck . Nothing better.

I currently own a couple of the new emmons and an old bolt on . They are set up pretty well but don’t feel like my Franklins used to.
If you want to get your emmons to play more easy get some other emmons techs to go over it. One thing I did was simplify my set up and get rid of a couple lowers I didn’t need. Another thing is look at the extra helper springs on your rods and fine tune the changer so that you don’t need them.

The Franklin is a particularly awesome steel. The changer fingers use a different fulcrum point than any other instrument and it makes it possible for the Franklin to do all sorts of things. With that the Franklin also has perfectly balanced even overtone ratios. This is the sum of its parts. Emmons PPs also have that same elusive quality. Just at a different que point.

I would enjoy them for what they are. You should be able to get your emmons to play more easy but no way will it play like a Franklin.

[Charlie Paterno]

JayDee told me years back He did not lower any notes on his A-B pedals. He also said He drilled another hole on a pull crank on pedal three to shorten the travel. Said his C neck pedals could be set up better than they were.

[Jim Cooley]

I'd say it depends upon the setup; how many pulls on each pedal and knee lever, and who does the setup work. The more you load up any pedal or knee lever, the greater the chance that playability will suffer. I have played push pulls and all pulls that were clunky and felt like I needed a come-along to engage knee levers. I have had steels that play very well. My Derby and MSA all pulls play extremely smoothly; as well as any Mullen I've sat behind. I had a 1972 Emmons cuttail that played almost as well. I have an Emmons Resound that plays as well as my all pulls.

[Dave Grafe]

Tommy Cass set up my Push-Pull and it plays as well or better than most of the all-pull guitars I have sat behind. It is certainly fine enough to take to any gig, but it will never play as smoothly and effortlessly as my Zumsteel. It's simple physics, the all-pull with 5- or 6-hole bellcranks and a 3-up/3-down changer has far more versatility in terms of tuning, timing and torque than a push-pull guitar with at best two bellcrank pivot points and two attachment points on the changer finger. Add to that the arcane tuning methods required to have more than one raise or pull on a given string and it's easy to see why the all-pull guitars prevail in modern use.