installing new tuning pegs

Kaneohe til the end

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i decided i hate friction tuners. end of story.
i bought new grover geared tuners, and i run into a slight speed bump. youll see what i mean. yes, those are glasses.
HPIM0327-1.jpg

the new "seat" as i have been calling it, is too big for the original hole. is it safe to sand down or should i take it to a shop and have the hole widened?
 
Good upgrade. Judging by the bushing you are showing, the Grovers you have seem to be of the open geared variety. In the shop these holes would commonly be enlargened with a hand reamer. You need to go up to 23/64" or slightly smaller than 3/8". I really wouldn't use a drill bit for doing this as the bit might grab in the hole and take a chunk out of the wood. Luthier reamers for doing this are expensive-about $45. In lieu of a reamer I think you can do an adequate job of enlargening the holes with a simple rat tail wood file available at any hardware store. The bushings are press-fit. If you get the hole too large, simply apply a very small drop of white glue to the bushing when installing.
BTW, I love all the holes in the headstock. What the ****?
 
Kaneohe,
I've tinkered around a bit with changing out friction tuners for geared ones. What I failed to check was the height of the string post. The friction tuners I had were very short in comparision to the grover tuners, so, when I installed the grover tuners, the string height was too high and did not apply any pressure on the nut. Since I had already drilled out the hole (yes, drill bits pull chunks off), I couldn't return to the friction tuners unless I refilled and redrilled the holes. I searched for geared tuners with a shorter string post with no luck.

I've had grover friction tuners on a few of my ukes and found that in time, they start slipping and the only way to keep them from slipping would be to replace the fiber washer or tighten the screw so tight that restringing was a workout.

Switching over to geared tuners has been wonderful for keeping my ukes in tune. It does add significant weight to the head, which some people dislike. For me it's a good tradeoff.
 
BTW, I love all the holes in the headstock. What the ****?

Kamaka gave this to my grandpa after his HFD unit responded to a fire at the factory. I don't know what happened, but my gramps or someone else tried to convert it to a 6 string. So there was 6 tuning pegs, but only 4 pegs in the bridge. MGM cleaned it up and filled the extra 2 holes with wax.
 
ulu, why not just cut the top of the tuner posts off and drill a new hole using a drill press at the correct position? Also, use a grinder or file and round off the sharp cut at the top of the posts. Then, you'd be good to go...e.lo.......
 
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E-Lo, I thought of cutting and redrilling but gave up before even trying. Didn't want to mess perfectly good tuners.

Chuck, we'll see, this tenor has issues. It was a 6 string which had too narrow of a neck for all the strings, came with no saddle, the finish started wearing to the wood on the neck, and the top is bowing. I made a new nut, redrilled the bridge, made a saddle, resprayed the finish, and chopped off two tuners, now it's a 4-string. Did a shoddy job at all of this but the uke was already unplayable. I'll stick to playing, and not building/tweaking.

Kaneohe, keep us updated on your tuner upgrade.
 
E-Lo, I thought of cutting and redrilling but gave up before even trying. Didn't want to mess perfectly good tuners.

Chuck, we'll see, this tenor has issues. It was a 6 string which had too narrow of a neck for all the strings, came with no saddle, the finish started wearing to the wood on the neck, and the top is bowing. I made a new nut, redrilled the bridge, made a saddle, resprayed the finish, and chopped off two tuners, now it's a 4-string. Did a shoddy job at all of this but the uke was already unplayable. I'll stick to playing, and not building/tweaking.

Kaneohe, keep us updated on your tuner upgrade.

Will do, I think this is going to my weekend project. I definitely should check the posts as well, to see if they're too big. I would have never thought of that on my own.
 
Ulua, I just remembered. I have some mini grovers that are a bit too short for one of my custom ukes I built. Maybe we could just trade...e.lo...
 
Uluapoundr, You ever have humbug with you ukes, bring 'em by the shop for repair. I work for fish you know!


Ha! I'll get you some fish either way. Thanks for the offer, this uke is a mess. I'd be embarassed to show you what I did ;). I'll visit you, but will leave the credit card at home...for now.
 
Ha! I'll get you some fish either way. Thanks for the offer, this uke is a mess. I'd be embarassed to show you what I did ;). I'll visit you, but will leave the credit card at home...for now.

imagine how much fish it would take for one of his ukes. you cant get that much fish if you circle oahu.
 
imagine how much fish it would take for one of his ukes. you cant get that much fish if you circle oahu.

Actually fish prices are quite high right now so if I get out on the boat, catch a couple 100 lb ahi that would get me about $800 which could be my downpayment. I also got crab shoulders, calamari rings, scallops, and head on shrimp in the freezer, that might get me a case, ha! Seriously though, sharing fish, mangos, lychee, and vegetables from the garden is the island way, whether it be in exchange for uke repair, or just spreading aloha!
 
Shoots, times like dis, I wish was back dea . . .
 
Actually fish prices are quite high right now so if I get out on the boat, catch a couple 100 lb ahi that would get me about $800 which could be my downpayment. I also got crab shoulders, calamari rings, scallops, and head on shrimp in the freezer, that might get me a case, ha! Seriously though, sharing fish, mangos, lychee, and vegetables from the garden is the island way, whether it be in exchange for uke repair, or just spreading aloha!

I still don't think you could catch that much on oahu. Last couple times my dad and I went we only caught a couple small papio, which is better than nothing. That's probably my favorite fish, good fight, good to eat.

But you're so right, were lucky to live hawaii. My whole neighborhood knows each other and its pretty much all old japanese people, so almost everyday someone brings something by, azukigohan, papayas, bananas, mangos, fish etc.
 
Chuck this was an inexpensive repair to make it work as a four string. I o\put wax in the holes to fill the void and not filler or wood...one because we we talking inexpensive and it can be removed if a real repair to it wanted to be done such as headtock recapping etc. I'd say getting the frets redressed new friction tuners, new strings and nut adjustment and a complete body refinish for 30.00 is fair....LOL
 
so, as promised, this is the final product. some wood glue was used, but it turned out okay. looks a little weird, but very functional and now i can tune it without getting mad.
HPIM0328.jpg
 
You got your strings on the wrong side of the post.

You'll need to know this, especially if you end up stringing in your new job?
 
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