Stiff tuner

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Stiff tuner

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tele

Posts: 1469
Joined: Aug. 17 2012

Stiff tuner

The tuning machine on my high E string is very stiff. It's new tuners and it seems like the pull of the string makes the roller teeth push against the worm a bit too much and it makes it very stiff to move. They are expensive fustero tuners... I suppose with time it might become better... But is there anything I can do to make it more loose? I have already applied oil and it doesn't have a screw on top of the knob to loosen it up.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 25 2013 14:43:48

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3079
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to tele)

Are you sure that loosening a screw on top of the knob would help?

Check for friction areas on the rollers, maybe they are too tight against the holes/not really at the same place as the holes.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 25 2013 16:16:57

tele

Posts: 1469
Joined: Aug. 17 2012

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to Sr. Martins)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rui Martins

Are you sure that loosening a screw on top of the knob would help?

Check for friction areas on the rollers, maybe they are too tight against the holes/not really at the same place as the holes.

I don't know, at least in steel string guitars the knob loosens the force required to move it. I have checked all the areas

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 25 2013 16:29:53

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3079
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to tele)

Yes, that also happens on electric guitar tuners but I guess these machine heads are different, some dont even have a screw, its just a plastic button on a square piece of metal so I guess that has no influence.

Maybe it has

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 25 2013 16:33:35

shaun

Posts: 176
Joined: May 11 2012
From: Edmonton, Canada

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to tele)

I had the same thing on the guitar I got last year in March. I didn't do anything about it. I just put up with it. It seems to have loosened up now. The last two times I changed the strings it felt normal.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 25 2013 17:50:33

n85ae

Posts: 877
Joined: Sep. 7 2006

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to tele)

Have visited this subject several times myself.

This is a perplexing problem, some time you take the tuners off and fiddle until they
are slick as butter, and reassemble the tuner on the guitar, and again ... One
particular knob is stiff for no explainable reason. Take a look and see if the roller
is binding against the wood in the guitar head with tension on the string. Things
like this can drive you up the wall. Often the tuner itself is not the real culprit.

One time I rigged a fixture in a drill press and artificially ran the hell out of a
tuner to get the gears broken in together, smooth as silk after, yet wood binding
against the roller caused a stiff knob.

Regards,
Jeff

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2013 1:22:52

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1708
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Stiff tuner (in reply to tele)

If it's the kind of tuner where the roller turns in a hole, it could be binding in the hole, so the hole might need some adjustment (enlargement).

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2013 1:23:17