Thundering footsteps of an ant climbing a wall

A

aydee

Platinum Member
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So today I sensed/felt/imagined/hallucinated that my 4 year old Pearl Eliminator seemed a tad unresponsive.

Many adjustments later, ( and cutting a very long story, very short ) I decided maybe the spring has had it.

Im no monster double pedal player or anything like that, though I do use a fair amount of foot on it.

My question is;
what is the average life of a pedal spring? And in modern pedals with all their fancy adjustments, how much of a role does it play in speed and responsivenss?


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I'm sure the average life span will vary by player, but I think it has everything to do with pedal responsiveness since it's the only part that brings the pedal back to its neutral position. As far as lifespan goes, I always keep the exact same spares with me in my stick bag and if it snaps, I can change it. Perhaps if you're doing alot of playing, change it out on a regular basis, like maybe every three months?
 
@Bo- yea, its one of those things.. should change be every 3 months, 1 year, 3 years... im clueless....when is loose, loose. These things are so well made one wonders, if its all in your head...

@Swiss- I would'nt have worried either, except that Im feeling a marginal difference, and nothing else has changed.

@audiotech- No I havent... how often should one lubricate it?


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God, I have never changed the springs on my pedals...ever on ANY of them. I am pretty hard on my pedals, but I've always had meduim to medium high tension on them.

I suppose if you crank the springs down at a high tension, they may stretch out and perhaps need to be replaced. But you should be able to tell...if you have them at a high tension in the first place, they would become looser and looser over time...you may re-tighten them to get them back to high tension.... but pretty soon you wouldn't be able to get them tight anymore if they were streched out all the way, you know what I mean? It just seems very unlikely this would happen at all. Aren't those springs made out of some kind of alien space metal or something?? they are pretty strong. lol

It would be relatively cheap to replace the spring and see what happens..you can always put the old ones back on if it doesn't feel right.

Somebody suggested cleaning the pedals/oiling the spring. It's not a bad idea. Nothing wrong with a little freshing up and getting the grim off. On my older pedals I squirt a little WD40 on the springs and other areas after wiping it down. Work the lubricant in and wipe it down again. The lubricant can attract even more dirt if you just leave it on there. Also look at the mechnical moving parts for dirt and also make sure all the screws and nuts and everything is tight. Just basic maintanence is needed.
 
I have a Dixon double chain drive double pedal and gig fairly regularly. I have my springs fairly tight so when doing quick doubles and triples with one foot the foot board stays tight against the bottom of my foot and doesn't slap. I have been using it almost 14 years now never replaced or repaired anything on it yet. Have never lubricated it either as the bearing are sealed and have enough grease in them and spraying any lubricant on them will not do anything for them but attract dust and dirt.
 
aydee said:
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My question is;
what is the average life of a pedal spring? And in modern pedals with all their fancy adjustments, how much of a role does it play in speed and responsivenss?
Click to expand...

Springs don't really wear out. If a spring was poorly spec'd for the application or poorly made, it could eventually fatigue and break, or possibly stretch slightly, but even then, once you re-adjust the tension, it will still perform the same.
 
Abe, try to take the pedal apart, clean it thorougly with a mild degreasing agent and rebuild the pedal, it will give it the response and smoothness it had when it was new, only lubricate the part which needs to, the spring doesn't need to be lubricated. :)

During the process, check all parts for possible defects :)

Incidentally, I replied in a thread a little while ago on to clean a pedal with a few pictures as well: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=950685&postcount=9
 
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