Official Luthiers Forum!

After the kind members of this forum went above and beyond the call of duty in answering a question that, to all of you, must have seemed glaringly obvious (viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=44311&p=586041), I thanked the responders and said goodbye, thinking that as a nonbuilder I didn't have much of a place here. Haans kindly then said this:

Well, OK, since he offered, I could certainly use some advice concerning a couple of different issues. They're completely unrelated so I'll ask the second question in an entirely different post. In this post, let's deal with a broken instrument. I have an old mid-tier Takamine (GA-101). I was letting my nephew use it, and he was practicing like a demon, though not sure why that would have broken one of the tuning pegs. Nonetheless, that's what happened; the 5th-string peg no longer works (peg turns but no longer meshes with the round gear well enough to turn it past a certain point, so no tuning is possible, let alone string replacement). The peg strip is not loose or anything, so as far as I can tell, that peg is simply done for. And since all three pegs are connected to the strip, the whole thing (all three pegs on the bass side) needs to be replaced.

I have never had to do this before. I've had a lot done to my electrics over the years, but I own two classicals and neither has ever needed anything except a bridge reglue (once). So two main queries:

1. Is replacing a peg strip straightforward enough that I can do it myself, or are there hidden pitfalls that make this an operation for one of you folks?

2. I'll have to buy a new set of pegs no matter what. And I would much rather that this not happen again, therefore good quality is paramount even if I need to pay a bit extra for it. So what brands/product numbers are good, or should I try to get manufacturer hardware straight from Takamine? On the other hand, if there isn't much difference in tuning-peg quality between bargain brands and and more expensive manufacturers, well, that'd obviously be good to know. Am willing to pay more if the cost is worthwhile, but if it isn't, .

1) I should think so. Basically, unscrew the old one, and replace with the new. Just be careful not to strip the screws or the screw holes.

2)I can't recommend a specific part number. You could contact Tak or take it to a local music store for help. Mid price tuners are usually adequate.

It might not be a bad idea to have a shop give it a once over.

Rub the screws on a bar of hand-soap before you screw them in. This will lubricate the threads and you are less likely to strip the head.

Bob

Ironword, If you could post a couple of photos, that might be helpful. Is it a classical guitar?
Most all tuners are standardized, you could check here for specs.

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Par ... _Machines/

If the worm gear and round gear appear to still be in decent shape you may only need to tap the worm gear holder over a bit to make them mesh again. Another possible problem is that sometimes the worm gear will loosen up in the holder which will need to be tapped down to remove "slop" in the fit. Depending on the design of the tuners there are simple fixes which may cure the problem. A picture if possible, may help us offer better advice.

I can't add anything that hasn't been said already, but I certainly agree that it would be great for non-builders to hang around and throw in their two cents once in awhile.

Agreed,
If you think about it, there are a lot of us builders building for non builders

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

As I'm stopping back in here (years later! ) I see that I never repaid the courtesy of these answers. Just to let y'all know, I was too much of a wuss to follow up on Clay S's suggestion (and at that point I also had more money than time) so got some fairly nice $60-ish Gotoh's and, encouraged by meddlingfool, put them in myself with perfect results. So a very belated thanks!