I've made plenty cbgs and mostly just for fun, but I sell the odd one to keep the habit going. Unfortunately I was contacted by my latest buyer to say one of the tuners had broken. The little cog mechanism isn't turning any more. Now I've no idea if he just wound it too tight, or it was faulty, as it was tested fine before selling. I've had a couple break, a small percentage.
He only bought it about 3 weeks ago so I'm feeling a bit guilty. I suppose it's the nature of cbgs that you are winding strings tighter in some cases and it puts more strain on the tuner.
Are there any tuners out there that are extremely robust yet a reasonable price? Can you recommend any, or is it a fact of life that a small percentage will break?
Replies
i was looking at a few of your photos and you may want to double check your installation of the tuners.
ideally the tension of the string should pull on the post so the gears are pulled together. if you install the tuner the other way they can be pulled apart and the gap puts a lot of pressure on the tips of the gear and they wear and jam quickly. the issue is more pronounced if the post hole is over sized.
it is hard to tell from the photos but the beatles fretted_3 cbg seems to have them installed correctly...there are others where it looks like you may have reversed them.
not sure that this is the cause of your customers issue but in my experience reversed tuners always seem to fail.
nice builds
cheers
ets
You are absolutely right, I've been in a bit of a hurry sometimes and slapped them on without thinking. It's something I won't be doing again.
Finding decent cheap machineheads can be a problem, I've had good and bad luck with the open type..some are utter junk, others pretty decent. I've sourced some stuff from China and made about 250 guitars at my workshops using them with no problems, so I may start selling them. I've also had some nice open back ones from VanGent in Holland...better quality and not too pricey. As for closed back sealed tuners, again, they can be very variable...my current faves are VanGent...top notch - similar quality to Schallers (which can be typically £60 a set of 6) but cheaper..not as cheap as the Chinese stuff of course, but so much better in terms of quality...speak to me if you are interested - I may import another batch. I'm leaning towards sourcing stuff locally and from EU wherever I can (like my fretwire)...it's not cheap...but it feels the right thing to do...more ethical and a bit more local than relying totally on the far east.
Thanks John, I try to buy local too but sometimes you just can't get what you want over here. I checked your website to see if you sold any so you might want to add some to your shop. Once I get a product I'm happy with I usually stick with the same supplier like I do currently for my boxes, pickups and fretwire. I've sent the guy a replacement, thankfully he seems a decent bloke and put it down to experience, he was outwith the 14 day return policy I put on it poor guy.
The way I'm looking at it is that I only make 2 or 3 a month, so it will probably make sense to buy decent quality ones and I can justify £15-20 for a set of 6. The ones I was using I had used on about 15-20 guitars but recently having about 3 fail (only one on a sold guitar) is quite a big percentage.
I've found open gear tuners too flimsy for even the most basic CBG, but you don't need to spend a ton on decent sealed tuners.
If you don't mind waiting, I've used these Cheap and cheerful ones from China on my last 40+ builds and I've had just one fault. More often than not, the screw that holds the buttons together needs tightening a tad, but other than that, they're smooth. There's a few UK sellers that offer the same ones if you need them quicker.
Sealed tuners are a nice luxury to have on a CBG. Open tuners for me seem to need tuning adjustments more often. When I started building I stripped out a few open tuners from not having the holes drilled out at a perfect 90 degree angle to the headstock. If the angle is off you run the possibility of the tuner flexing and thats when the soft brass looking gear strips out.
At least Gitty sells replacement gears . . . Just received 4 sets of their open gear tuners, they're longer than I thought they'd be... now I have to rethink my head design...
John
I'll have a look at those thanks. I can't justify £50 or anything but definitely don't mind £15 if I've got peace of mind that they will work, and of course 6 tuners equals two cbgs ;-)
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next