Loose Tuners On a Jazz Bass

[brooklyn]

How can I tighten them up? The Phillips screws in the back do nothing. Someone mentioned super glue on the gears once. Help?!

[stedtale]

Originally Posted by brooklyn

How can I tighten them up? The Phillips screws in the back do nothing. Someone mentioned super glue on the gears once. Help?!

How are they "loose"? Loose from the headstock, or are the keys too loose in the machines?

[brooklyn]

Sorry for not being more specific. The keys feel loose in the machine gears.

[brooklyn]

Thought I'd try again. I did'nt get an answer last post.

The tuner machines feel loose when tuning. Someone told me that applying a little super glue to the machine gears solves eveything, but I wanted some advice before I gunk up and destroy them.

Any advice is appreciated.

[62bass]

Most tuners have an adjustment screw to tighten them. What kind of tuners are they?

Don't use glue-it'll just dry to an ugly mess that's almost impossible to remove later and it won't work anyhow. Adjust the tuners the way the manufacturer intends. If they're decent quality tuners it'll work. If they're cheap junk you should replace them.

The only quality tuners I've had problems with were a set of Grover ultra lights on my Godin acoustic electric bass. I adjust the tightening screw and they start to slip a few days later. One of these days I may replace them. I haven't heard from others that they have a similar problem with these Grovers so this may just be a bad batch. 3 out of the 4 slip.

[62bass]

See your other thread. Is this an American or Korean bass?

The old style tuners Fender uses aren't the most refined design. They seem to ba all or nothing but they usually work.

Some of the budget tuners are just cheap junk and should be tossed. It's also possible for them to wear out from a lot of use.

[Linas]

Use the search function. hambone answered this question just one page back.

"The solution for both of you guys is the same. Under the worm gear and sandwiched between the spur gear and the chassis, there is a small, spring steel plate that has two functions: to keep the worm gear trapped in it's cradle and to put friction on the shaft of the gear to give the tuner some resistance and keep it from rattling.

TO TIGHTEN: dissassemble the tuner and put a slight curve in that steel plate with a set of pliers so that it keeps the worm gear shaft in tighter.

And for you Linas, do the opposite! By taking out just a fraction of the arch in the plate, you'll decrease the tightness of the tuner.

And FYI - this type of tuner is the cheapest design and execution allowing the same tuner to be reversed for use in lefty's. Keep that in mind when you are considering Schaller BML tuners as replacements. They are made the same way and are subject to the same problems the SX tuners have. It's amazing but Schaller makes crap now. A better quality tuner is any of the Gotoh vintage tuners. Those are very well made and don't have the cheap retainer spring of these others.

Hope this helps."