Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
Doing some housecleaning for company coming up from the Bay Area this weekend... any of you guys familiar with "flat surface disorder"? Where every flat surface become covered, then layered with "stuff"... It happens to some of us. If I look on wifey's tool shed work bench, I'd have to say she's got "flat surface disaster" (it's ten times worse that anything I could stand), but she'll scream if I go near it...
Anyway, I'm taking some guitars upstairs, and I haven't given the Guild a "Whole Lotta Love" since I dove into that doubleneck project, the one that needs the 18 crap tuners changed out for Grovers, a pair of pickups have been sourced, things are progressing...
But I need to finish the Guild too, get that pickguard cutout and on there, without something exploding this time...
So, I get it out of the case, it's a little early and I'm a little bleary eyed, but man this thing sounds like a pile... So I start tuning, and retuning, and can't hold a tune worth $hit it seems, hmmmm...
It's the high E strings I swear one is slipping! And these are the baby Grovers, they're supposed to be good tuners. I mean this is supposed to be a good guitar, right?. It's got a new set of SIT 10-46 and they are played in a little.
So, I go get the appropriate Phillips to adjust the tuner tension and find out that about half the tuners on each side have frozen adjustment screws, I mean seriously frozen. This is a problem, because many of the tuners are just too loose, they turn way too easy and I suppose could be slipping a little? I get some lighter fluid, a film camera repairman's godsend I found out when I use to hang around a camera repair class back in the 90's, it was virtually the only one of it's kind in the country at the time, it's gone now...
The lighter fluid doesn't work, it's time to try something else.
Guitar goes out to where I keep all of my sprays. I like PB Blaster, but I use something else now, $10 a can... Scheaffer's Penetro 90, that amazingly smells a lot like Diesel... reminds me of the old Liquid Wrench, before they changed it two or three times and tried to make it smell like ladies perfume ;-(
So I do a little spraying, and praying ;-) And tapping with a hard plastic mallet. An old codger once told me (instructor in the Heavy Equipment program I went to) "there's only two things that break old rusty fasteners loose, heat, and vibration", hence the gentle tapping with the plastic mallet, a little heat from a cigarette lighter under the tuner buttons might be next.
Remember, this guitar is from Florida and probably the moisture (and or body sweat) affected the tuner screws.
Well these are some really stubborn buggers, and I don't want to break one, because that is just about instantly a junk tuner, unless you think you can drill out a busted screw that small...
I had the guitar out in full sun hanging out the back of my trusty old Impreza wagon, and with enough spraying, and tapping, and finding a really top Phillips (Snap On with a bigger handle) I finally got every last screw to break free, backed them all the way out, and fully lubed the threads.
Some were actually rusty to the point of needing to be removed and screwed out of a wad out 000 steel wool to clean up.
This could probably prevented if Grover put a dab of grease on each thread as a corrosion preventative, but I imagine at some point, they would probably like to sell you new tuners.
While the screws were all the way out, I mini dooshed (spelled this way because the site doesn't like actual word) the each tension washers are with a tiny shot of CRC Brakleen (the red can) and blew that off, to make sure the tension washers and they're adjoining surfaces were free of oils that could make the tuners slip.
After all screws had been cleaned as needed and lubed with the same stuff, Scheaffer's, I tightened them fully, at which point the tuners are tight, and it only takes a fraction of a turn the other way, just breaking loose from all the way tight really, to get a combination of holding and working fluidly when needed.
I got the guitar out of the sun, cleaned up my mess and retuned the guitar, and wow! It stays in tune, so even if I suck the guitar still sounds good, it's in open D tuning.
I'm starting to realize why this guitar got no love and got passed around from one guy to the next, it wouldn't stay in tune.
Anyway, got some playing time in, and she started coming back, like this thing does after a couple minutes, opening up, and all was good.
Something odd about this guitar, and maybe that's jut because it's acoustic and you don't get carried away with amps, settings, etc... but every time I've played it I come up with (discover) how to play a certain riff that previously eluded me.
So that seems to make this one a good learning tool, also, you really need to put some effort into playing it to get it to come out right, it's basically like a workout program or tool for guitar players.
Here's a few pics I took as a reminder and for the folks here.
Check and lube your tuner screws before it's too late ;-)
Grover "Tune-up".
Rusty screws, the bass side was worse for some reason...
A really good Phillips in perfect condition and "the right stuff" to loosen the rust. Be patient, don't break a screw or you will be replacing a tuner. These 12 String Grovers are kind of scarce as singles, and the new ones (Taiwan) don't look as nice as the ones on older guitars.
The replacement set for a 12 string is part #; 205C12
Anyway, I'm taking some guitars upstairs, and I haven't given the Guild a "Whole Lotta Love" since I dove into that doubleneck project, the one that needs the 18 crap tuners changed out for Grovers, a pair of pickups have been sourced, things are progressing...
But I need to finish the Guild too, get that pickguard cutout and on there, without something exploding this time...
So, I get it out of the case, it's a little early and I'm a little bleary eyed, but man this thing sounds like a pile... So I start tuning, and retuning, and can't hold a tune worth $hit it seems, hmmmm...
It's the high E strings I swear one is slipping! And these are the baby Grovers, they're supposed to be good tuners. I mean this is supposed to be a good guitar, right?. It's got a new set of SIT 10-46 and they are played in a little.
So, I go get the appropriate Phillips to adjust the tuner tension and find out that about half the tuners on each side have frozen adjustment screws, I mean seriously frozen. This is a problem, because many of the tuners are just too loose, they turn way too easy and I suppose could be slipping a little? I get some lighter fluid, a film camera repairman's godsend I found out when I use to hang around a camera repair class back in the 90's, it was virtually the only one of it's kind in the country at the time, it's gone now...
The lighter fluid doesn't work, it's time to try something else.
Guitar goes out to where I keep all of my sprays. I like PB Blaster, but I use something else now, $10 a can... Scheaffer's Penetro 90, that amazingly smells a lot like Diesel... reminds me of the old Liquid Wrench, before they changed it two or three times and tried to make it smell like ladies perfume ;-(
So I do a little spraying, and praying ;-) And tapping with a hard plastic mallet. An old codger once told me (instructor in the Heavy Equipment program I went to) "there's only two things that break old rusty fasteners loose, heat, and vibration", hence the gentle tapping with the plastic mallet, a little heat from a cigarette lighter under the tuner buttons might be next.
Remember, this guitar is from Florida and probably the moisture (and or body sweat) affected the tuner screws.
Well these are some really stubborn buggers, and I don't want to break one, because that is just about instantly a junk tuner, unless you think you can drill out a busted screw that small...
I had the guitar out in full sun hanging out the back of my trusty old Impreza wagon, and with enough spraying, and tapping, and finding a really top Phillips (Snap On with a bigger handle) I finally got every last screw to break free, backed them all the way out, and fully lubed the threads.
Some were actually rusty to the point of needing to be removed and screwed out of a wad out 000 steel wool to clean up.
This could probably prevented if Grover put a dab of grease on each thread as a corrosion preventative, but I imagine at some point, they would probably like to sell you new tuners.
While the screws were all the way out, I mini dooshed (spelled this way because the site doesn't like actual word) the each tension washers are with a tiny shot of CRC Brakleen (the red can) and blew that off, to make sure the tension washers and they're adjoining surfaces were free of oils that could make the tuners slip.
After all screws had been cleaned as needed and lubed with the same stuff, Scheaffer's, I tightened them fully, at which point the tuners are tight, and it only takes a fraction of a turn the other way, just breaking loose from all the way tight really, to get a combination of holding and working fluidly when needed.
I got the guitar out of the sun, cleaned up my mess and retuned the guitar, and wow! It stays in tune, so even if I suck the guitar still sounds good, it's in open D tuning.
I'm starting to realize why this guitar got no love and got passed around from one guy to the next, it wouldn't stay in tune.
Anyway, got some playing time in, and she started coming back, like this thing does after a couple minutes, opening up, and all was good.
Something odd about this guitar, and maybe that's jut because it's acoustic and you don't get carried away with amps, settings, etc... but every time I've played it I come up with (discover) how to play a certain riff that previously eluded me.
So that seems to make this one a good learning tool, also, you really need to put some effort into playing it to get it to come out right, it's basically like a workout program or tool for guitar players.
Here's a few pics I took as a reminder and for the folks here.
Check and lube your tuner screws before it's too late ;-)
Grover "Tune-up".
Rusty screws, the bass side was worse for some reason...
A really good Phillips in perfect condition and "the right stuff" to loosen the rust. Be patient, don't break a screw or you will be replacing a tuner. These 12 String Grovers are kind of scarce as singles, and the new ones (Taiwan) don't look as nice as the ones on older guitars.
The replacement set for a 12 string is part #; 205C12
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