I recently picked up an Ashbory silicone-stringed bass. Unfortunately , the G tuner did not rotate (frozen) , the D bound up a bit . The A and E worked acceptably, but of course there's no way to play it now.
Looking at the tuners (photos below) it's clear the problems are a binding issue, caused by differences in string post height over the headstock, which creates the largest part of the binding. The second problem is binding of the worm gears , held against the tuning-post gear by the stamping which holds the tuner to the headstock . Seems like excessive sideways force on tuning keys was used in an attempt to overcome the binding of the tuner posts. I have a hard time believing this has worked in , like, forever. It needs a new set of tuners. Looking for suggestions , the Ashbory thread offered nice starting points but I've hit a dead end. Maybe Someone has seen tuners like this : a 5/16" hole (more or less, not very round) in a 9/16" thick headstock . The big string posts have a female thread, maybe 5mm and the post has the mating male thread.
Seller has offered a refund for parts needed.
Searches on Ebay, Reverb and Amaz*n on "Ashbory tuning machines" have come up empty . Still waiting for Fender to get back on availability of parts . How do I find the last bag of Fender Ashbory tuners , or who can ID them as actually from something else ? Or some other clever solution ?
Here's the problem :
Note the bottom of the string posts at the headstock. G on top, E on bottom. The E turns, the G doesn't, because of biding on the headstock. The D has so much axial runout that it's proud of the headstock surface, but once loaded, it cants to one side and binds.
Headstock with two string posts removed. Note binding marks on G , not on A .
Gearing of the tuners view, in case anyone thinks they know those bodies and can ID the mechanism. Maybe it's a Uke tuner or more likely a Fender part ?
One cheap fix would be to stuff something into the female thread of the G and D tuners just to keep them from bottoming out , but the gear lash and wiggliness of the tuning keys plus already hassle makes me want to put tuners in that actually work .
Anybody got any ideas ?
Thanks!
Looking at the tuners (photos below) it's clear the problems are a binding issue, caused by differences in string post height over the headstock, which creates the largest part of the binding. The second problem is binding of the worm gears , held against the tuning-post gear by the stamping which holds the tuner to the headstock . Seems like excessive sideways force on tuning keys was used in an attempt to overcome the binding of the tuner posts. I have a hard time believing this has worked in , like, forever. It needs a new set of tuners. Looking for suggestions , the Ashbory thread offered nice starting points but I've hit a dead end. Maybe Someone has seen tuners like this : a 5/16" hole (more or less, not very round) in a 9/16" thick headstock . The big string posts have a female thread, maybe 5mm and the post has the mating male thread.
Seller has offered a refund for parts needed.
Searches on Ebay, Reverb and Amaz*n on "Ashbory tuning machines" have come up empty . Still waiting for Fender to get back on availability of parts . How do I find the last bag of Fender Ashbory tuners , or who can ID them as actually from something else ? Or some other clever solution ?
Here's the problem :
Note the bottom of the string posts at the headstock. G on top, E on bottom. The E turns, the G doesn't, because of biding on the headstock. The D has so much axial runout that it's proud of the headstock surface, but once loaded, it cants to one side and binds.
Headstock with two string posts removed. Note binding marks on G , not on A .
Gearing of the tuners view, in case anyone thinks they know those bodies and can ID the mechanism. Maybe it's a Uke tuner or more likely a Fender part ?
One cheap fix would be to stuff something into the female thread of the G and D tuners just to keep them from bottoming out , but the gear lash and wiggliness of the tuning keys plus already hassle makes me want to put tuners in that actually work .
Anybody got any ideas ?
Thanks!
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