Tuner Screw Broken.

BostonU2

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What’s going on everyone?

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Electric Ukulele. I’ve had it 5 years and I love it. This instrument is very sentimental because I feel it helped propel my musical talent to the next level. It’s made me better at guitar especially, so I am eager to fix this as appose to buying a new one. Is there any way to remove this broken screw without using a drill press? Where can I find new hardware that matches the old? I’m a single dad of three kids so I don’t have a ton of time to search thru the old forums for answers so I hope people don’t mind me asking.
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Well, I’m no luthier, but it looks like you’re talking about the set screw that keeps the tuner in place.

I might try to live with it. If not, why couldn’t you remove the other set screw at the bottom of the tuner, remove the tuner, and that might get enough clearance to take a pair of pliers to get a grip on the screw and you can work it out. I might tape off the headstock to protect from scratches
 
The purpose of these 2 screws in the plate of the tuner is to both secure it against the headstock, as well as prevent it from rotating.

The other screw at the bottom of the tuner plate should be just fine to prevent rotation, and the pull of string tension should be enough to keep it secure against the wood on the back of the headstock. You may notice it a little loose when changing strings, but that will go away once the string is tuned to pitch.

Unless for purely cosmetic, sentimental or OCD reasons, I'd leave it alone unless a journey down the rabbit hole with the proper tools and lots of patience are available to you...

Otherwise, if worrying about the structural integrity is keeping you awake at night, you might put a drop or two of superglue over the hole and into the hole and keep the uke face-down so it drips into the remnants of the screw shaft, for about 24 hours to make sure that the glue is fully cured and penetrated.

Keep in mind that this 'solution' is not easily reversible later without a solvent to remove the superglue - something like acetone (nail polish remover) which is also likely to strip off the clear gloss finish, and maybe also the color stain on the wood underneath.
 
Dremel tool with cutting disk, cut a slot carefully in what remains of the screw and screw it out.
 
Dremel tool with cutting disk, cut a slot carefully in what remains of the screw and screw it out.

I like that idea though I wonder whether a junior hacksaw might work just as effectively - harder to do without damaging some finish though.

Bill’s idea of filing flats on the screw sides and using vice grips to rotate it out (anti-clockwise) sounds good too though you might want to use one of the smaller versions of those grips.

I wonder how much metal is available to work with. If the lack of originality isn’t an issue, and if the old screw won’t shift, then I’d be tempted to remove the tuner, add an additional screw hole and replace as needed ......
 
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Hey everyone, thank you for the replies.

I should have mentioned that I have an extensive mechanical background so I'm pretty handy. I do have the tuner off and it is sheered to low for vice grips. My dad recommend the idea like you, the creating a screw slot for a flathead but the screw is really too small for that. I was going to leave it alone but it's the c strong and it's out off tune after a song. I'm the one who snapped the screw. When I changed the strings, i notified the tuner was hovering above the wood on the side where the screw snapped. I tried to tighten it down and didn't use much pressure and it snapped. Tried restringing it and like I said, it wouldn't stay in tune. I'm thinking I have to drill it with a super fine drill bit. Then peal away the leftover metal in in the threads with a scribe.

I didn't want to attempt it until I was sure theres no other way. It sounds like there isn't so maybe I'll try drilling this week. Any suggestions on where to get replacing tuners? preferably drop ins.
 
If you go for the drill, try a left handed bit. They rotate the same way the screw comes out. Sometimes they grab and spin the whole thing out for you. Good luck!
 
Thanks for all the replies. The left handed bit is not a bad idea. When I get a chance to try the drill press, I'll update everyone with my results and lessons learned in case someone comes across the same problem in The future.
 
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