Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm working on three bass necks for a customer. Upon removing a neck and all the hardware for a re-lacquer job using amber tint, I notice the gears are horribly loose. All of them.

These are off a Fender type Mighty Might neck. The tuner has Japan made into the casting. They have pressed in bushings on the topside and four screws attaching them from behind.

Here is the odd thing, the post wiggles side to side one sixteenth of an inch or about 2 MM. I removed a screw holding the gear and there is round hole with two flats to make the shaft turn the gear. I can flip the gear over and it completely tightens the gear onto the shaft. However it seems a bit tight.

Okay, any bassheads out there that know what I'm experiencing. I'm not sure the guy who put this bass neck on put the gears together wrong. I want to know for sure. Thanks.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

The sprocket should not tighten all the way up to the plate like it does
when you turn it over. You'll notice that the post should be turned down
to a diameter equal to the hole in the plate just before the smaller end
diameter in which the flats are ground. This is what the sprocket is
supposed to tighten up against, not against the plate. On a higher quality
tuner the length of that collar should be almost exactly the same as the
thickness of the plate to prevent the post and gear from pinching the
down on the plate when tightened. It really doesn't matter than much for
most instruments. I think you're only noticing the problem because it is
off the instrument and has no tension on it.

You could replace the tuners with something a little better (those
Mighty-Mights might be just a small step up from Pings), but I wouldn't
think it to be necessary. You'll usually find a fair amount of wobble in
Schallers, Grovers, Gotohs, etc., anyway. One of the beauties of tuners is
that they can be pretty darn cheap and sloppy and still be fine. Once they
are installed, the face grommet will serve as an additional bearing to
steady the post and the string tension will automatically tighten all the
worm gear / sprocket lash to one side. As long as it turns smoothly
(which is often a problem on cheap tuners) it will serve as well as any
machine. Put them back on and string it up, and you probably won't be
able to find any problems.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

What David said.   They tighten up when installed, and the pull of the string on the post pulls the gear into the worm, too.   Lube them with Tri-Flo or a bit of lithium or moly grease before you install them.

Thanks guys for the response. I wondered if there were an outside chance that someone monkeyed with the tuners flipping the gear in all four tuners. It makes sense that they should operate freely, but these had a lot of side play off the guitar, as you said David.

I noticed some oil on the headstock so someone had lubed these tuners at one time. I have some lithium grease and will touch a bit of that on the shaft Rick, when I put them back on.

The other neck I'm working on is also a MightyMite Neck. The bushings unfortunately drop right in no pressure at all. Should I glue in wood shavings or something in the hole or just glue them in? Thanks in advance.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I'd wrap the bushings with copper foil tape.   Don't glue them for the sake of a future luthier...

Hmmm, I don't have copper foil tape, but I do have some metal tape for A/C unit sealing. I could trim it to width possibly. Won't hurt to try.

I bet that Mighty Mite was shooting for folks using sealed tuners which have the nut and washer on top?

Luthiery is one hassle after another, just to make a player happy.

Thanks for the ideas Rick.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com