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Double Bass Tuning Machine Restoration

ritchietime

ritchietime

Sep 18, 2007
122
1
Brooklyn Ny
#1
Hey guys. I recently bought a new bass by Patrick Charton and I love it. One thing that's driving me crazy is the tuners. They are very pleasing to the eye but they buzz, rattle and slip around. Two of them are slightly bent. I have tightened all of the screws and given the gears a few squirts of WD-40. this helped alot but I think they need professional help. Does anyone know where I could get these tuners "restored"? I would really like to stay in the NYC area for the obvious reasons.

Thanks!
 

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#3
From what you are describing, it sounds like they were poorly installed, and damaged as well. Because each tuner is installed in two pieces, the post/gear and the worm gear assembly, if they are rattling, buzzing, slipping etc. there is a good chance that they are not positioned correctly. If the two parts are not perfectly aligned, they can be loose enough to create this kind of problem. As for the bent keys/worm gears, you want to have that addressed as well. This likely means replacing the key. My D tuner is bent just enough that you can't really see it, but changing strings is a chore because it is extremely stiff.

If you bought the bass from a shop or luthier, that would be the first place I would go to rectify the situation. The bent keys can be swapped out for new ones, and a good show of faith would be for them to do this free of charge if it was indeed purchased that way. As for what might be a poor installation, it might mean removing the worm gear assembly and repositioning it properly if that indeed is the problem. Otherwise, they might be able to do a few adjustments and make it go away.
 
#6
There is a chance that the keys could be bent straight. If the bend is outside of the worm gear portion which seems to be the case from the photo, the shaft could likely be straightened. If the gear portion is bent, I am assuming it wouldn't be an easy operation as bending it would mean the teeth on the worm gear would get wonky. The teeth on the side that needs to be compressed would end up closing together and the teeth on the opposite side would stretch apart, so you would have to bend the shaft straight and then rework the worm gear so they would turn smoothly. The first case is a relatively easy fix, the second is a real pain in the butt.

Realigning the tuners (if that is necessary) would require removing the part that holds the worm gear, filling the screw holes, and then drilling new ones very close/partially on top of where the old ones used to be. I am guessing that isn't as fun and easy as it sounds, and it doesn't sound like either of those things to me. This isn't something I'm particularly experienced with though, so there might be some less invasive options out there.
 
#7
ritchietime said:
I bought the bass as-is knowing that the tuners were funky. I wonder if there is a way to bend the tuners back to where they should be and have them re-fitted with the gears.
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Hit and miss on straightening bent tuners. I've had some successes, but almost as many cases where the tuner broke in the process. If it's a quality tuner to begin with, chances are in your favour for a correction. But too often with inferior tuners, they break under the strain. So give it a try, but be prepared to replace the tuner.
 

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