Wooden Tuners?

[DLemos]

Has anyone tried making wooden tuners before? I mean from the shaft, to the gear, to the knob- Not metal tuners with wood accents.

My second thought would be to make tuners that are similar to violin or viola tuners, where it is just a peg with a knob. I am not sure how long they stay in tune though?

 

[IWieldTheSpade]

As far as geared tuners go, the shapes required would probably leave the timber quite brittle and liable to break due to short grain in places.
For pegs, I'm not sure if they've been used in the past for uprights, but I would imagine that they would be prohibitively large for an electric headstock. I could see tuning being a nightmare too and definitely needing finetuners at the bridge end.
There are half wooden, half metal tuners for uprights available though:

What's your motivation here?

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Just don't try to make them like metal gears. Look at old wooden mill gearing for how to make wooden gears that work when made of wood... Miniaturizing those will be fun.

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Un-geared simple pegs may be a bit difficult to adjust. Certainly most of the V/V/C crowd that use plain pegs also use "fine tuners" IME. Not sure how far back double-basses with geared tuners go, but I can't recall ever meeting one with plain pegs. If you don't already know, V/V/C pegs are tapered pegs in s tapered hole, which is a good deal of how they come up with the friction to stay put.

 

[DLemos]

My idea was to make the entire bass out of wood, rather than out-sourcing for the parts. It seems you may be correct with the limited grain capabilities. I guess I must stick with my Grover tuners for now. Thank you guys for your insight!

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

My idea was to make the entire bass out of wood, rather than out-sourcing for the parts. It seems you may be correct with the limited grain capabilities. I guess I must stick with my Grover tuners for now. Thank you guys for your insight!

Doubtful, but friction pegs, like a violin, again doubtful of success.

 

[DLemos]

I feel- like you said- I would get to the assembly portion, where the screw threading finally meets the gear, and no magic would be present- I mean, it might turn it a little bit, but 100% consitancy seems a little far fetched.

 

[Ninevolt]

Maybe a hardwood with wood hardener treatment? Ebony would look good. I don't know if it would help small intricate gears n whatnot keep from breaking. Just an idea.

 

[Jisch]

My father makes wooden clocks out of birch ply. The complexity of these things is insane, never mind the perfection required to get a clock to run. His clocks run well throughout the winter, but as soon as it gets a little humid they stop working. Of course clock gears have a lot less stress than tuners.

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

Has anyone tried making wooden tuners before? I mean from the shaft, to the gear, to the knob- Not metal tuners with wood accents.

My second thought would be to make tuners that are similar to violin or viola tuners, where it is just a peg with a knob. I am not sure how long they stay in tune though?

Phenolic might work, not metal and comes in colors that mimic wood, plus usually looks like it has grain, cosmetically.

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

Has anyone tried making wooden tuners before? I mean from the shaft, to the gear, to the knob- Not metal tuners with wood accents.

My second thought would be to make tuners that are similar to violin or viola tuners, where it is just a peg with a knob. I am not sure how long they stay in tune though?

Will there be pickups as that would screw the whole wood theme?

 

[DLemos]

I guess I mean what can be wood. I do have some spare ebony around, I was going to try to just see how far I can go with it, but it seems to be very flaky- breaking in long streaks with the grain.

 

[DLemos]

His clocks run well throughout the winter, but as soon as it gets a little humid they stop working.

Do they resume their functionality when the winter strikes again? Has he tried using less absorbent wood?

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

Do they resume their functionality when the winter strikes again? Has he tried using less absorbent wood?

Wood will absorb moisture but less so if sealed with something.

 

[DLemos]

I have tried using Seal-Lac on a drum I made two(?) years ago. It does not allow too much moisture in, but boy, did that moisture want to escape.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

It is exceedingly unlikely that the teeth or gear-pegs in a tuning machine even made from Lignum vitae or somesuch would be able to withstand the tension from the strings.

 

[Jisch]

Yes, they stop working in late spring and start working again on the late fall. I'm sure he could extend that with finish, but he's ok with how they work.

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

It is exceedingly unlikely that the teeth or gear-pegs in a tuning machine even made from Lignum vitae or somesuch would be able to withstand the tension from the strings.

More work, but multiple gears, sort of a ratio change, might take load off gears, more accurate tuning but sore wrists doing string changing.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Mostly the tooth that connects to the pin needs to be strong enough, no matter how many (or few) gearing stages you use after that, since that tooth is applying the full tension to the string. For that matter, the gear to shaft joint also needs to be strong enough. First and foremost, throw out the metal-gear design if you want this to work - and realize that they won't be very compact, because to be compact, the material has to be strong, like metal is strong. I'm pretty sure it could be done if you design it right, but that design will not (IMHO) resemble the tuners you are familiar with.

 

[DLemos]

Yeah, I am sticking with my Grover tuners for now. Too much hassle at the moment.