fixing a sloppy tuner hole job

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turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

fixing a sloppy tuner hole job

Hello - I have a slot head flamenco with machine tuners. Said guitar came with decent quality tuners, but they weren't all smooth, and the guitar struggles to stay in tune. One knob in particular had more resistance then the rest (the G string), and the tuner knobs had a lot of play when turning..

Anyway, I upgraded, and as I removed the old tuners to swap them, I see the barrel holes that were reamed are shall we say less than perfect. 5 out of 6 are clean, but the D string tuner on the inside slot looks like the luthier took a disco nap and didn't realize he was pushing down on the drill, so the perfectly round hole is not so round..As for the even spacing of the group..again, not so perfect. Clearly a jig was not used.
Ironically, the performance of the old tuners was fine on the D string. The G was the one that was tight. Whatever

Otherwise it's otherwise an excellent guitar.

But I can see that in a perfect world tuner barrels and slots would harmoniously align. No so much here.
So my question: what are the allowances for tuner barrel holes? Do they need to be spot on perfect so the barrels slide in w/out an inch to spare?

If I make sure the barrels aren't pinched, but in some places there are holes that are a bit too big, is it OK?
Or should I have the whole headstock filled and re drilled?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 18 2017 8:40:29

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: fixing a sloppy tuner hole job (in reply to turnermoran)

quote:

ORIGINAL: turnermoran

5 out of 6 are clean, but the D string tuner on the inside slot looks like the luthier took a disco nap and didn't realize he was pushing down on the drill, so the perfectly round hole is not so round..As for the even spacing of the group..again, not so perfect. Clearly a jig was not used.
Ironically, the performance of the old tuners was fine on the D string. The G was the one that was tight. Whatever

It's difficult to get the roller holes to be perfectly parallel and spaced correctly without a jig of some sort. Even free handing on a drill press can be problematic. I suspect the out-of-round hole on your guitar is the result of someone enlarging it to eliminating binding. You may need to do something similar for the "g" string. In a perfect world tuner rollers should slide effortlessly into the holes with only slight relief but they should never be tight since humidity changes can cause the wood to expand and cause binding.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 18 2017 14:42:53

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

RE: fixing a sloppy tuner hole job (in reply to jshelton5040)

Thanks!

upon further inspection though, I see that the D string hole is so big the far end of the roller is floating in space.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 18 2017 17:40:14

estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: fixing a sloppy tuner hole job (in reply to turnermoran)

There is a fix for that, a veneer can be wrapped around the inside of the and glued in. Then it can be smoothed with sandpaper on a correct diameter dowel.

If you want to bring bring it over to Oakland while I'm here for a few more days I can look at it for you and suggest a way to go.

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https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 18 2017 18:00:29