Tightening Up Open Gear Tuner on ‘79 D25M

[Central Florida Folkie]

Hi, Friends:

For those who’ve read my previous post, you know I’m absolutely smitten with my D25M. I have one and only one gear (the low E string) on the open gear tuners that has some slop in it when I turn it. I’ve tightened the gear screw as much as possible, but that doesn’t seem to wanna hold. I want to keep this guitar as original as possible so I’m not really in the market to change/upgrade the tuners; especially since the other 5 work just fine and she stays in tune.….is there a trick I’m missing to tighten up that one gear, or do I just live with it and enjoy the vintage vibe?

Happy Tuesday, All!

 

[chazmo]

Moving to tech forum.

 

[Central Florida Folkie]

Moving to tech forum.

Thank you!

 

[Nuuska]

When you say "SLOP" - do you mean the fre play when you change direction of turning ?

There is almost some play with gears - especially on these mass-produced no-precision things.

If my memory serves me right - the construction has two "hooks" holding the wormscrew against helical gear - if you look closely - are those hooks exactly like on others - if not careful bending might help.

Another method is taking a caliper and measuring across helical gear plus worm screw - if the measurement on your E-string tuner is bigger than on others it might indicate the reason. Meaning that wormscrew is slightly further away from helical gear - thus the SLOP.

But since there really is no problem - I'd think twice before attempting to bend those hooks - better safe than sorry.

 

[Central Florida Folkie]

Yes, Nuuska….free play, indeed. I see what you mean about the “hooks” and I’d be hesitant to mess with them. I think I’ll just live with it and enjoy them as is. Thanks for responding!