My sta-tites don't

Darryl Hattenhauer

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On a 1964 T-100, I have a set of original Grover sta-tites. Those folks at Grovers have a sense humor. When you tune these up or down, there is a lot of play in them (more than in my fingers). Apparently the shaft Grover gave us doesn't directly engage the gears (which work--or rather fail to work--on the principle of the 1950s Chevrolet powerglide transmission: slip and slide with powerglide. That was the gearbox for those who couldn't afford a Ford Fordamatic).

Now then, what was I was saying (before you got me veering in my own post)? Oh yes. It's a bad.... I'm talkin' about shaft. If you grab the button (What a pansy design. Done at Renault?) when it's aligned from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock (Is it the reverse below the equator?) and get to twistin' (like we did last year. Do you remember when? Things were really hummin'.) the button will be aligned at about 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock (am? pm? I don't know. Is it pm and am below the equator?) before the pitch raises.

Is there a way to fix this before my attention deficit disorders?
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Captain John,

There is no slipping of the shaft inside the button. It looks like there is a tad too much space between the teeth of the gears; or maybe the threads on the shaft have been worn down so that they are too small for the gap between the teeth of the gears. After all, these things are older than Disraeli Gears.

Major Confusion

PS I just realized that while I'm whining about this, millions of people are in agony.
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Dane ,

By all accounts, the recent Waverly and Grover sta-tites are far better than the old ones. But if I use sta-tites, it will be to keep a guitar original (or restore it to original) in which case I'd use oldies. But there sure are a lot of pro guitarists replacing the old ones with the new ones, especially on instruments they use to play out.

hf
 
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