How To Un-bind Rickenbacker 12 String Tuners
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:49 am
OK,
SO I RECENTLY BOUGHT A VINTAGE 1992 620/12 IN IMMACULATE FIREGLO... the original owner had barely played it and it is in new condition. one of the problems I
noticed right away was that the high octave tuners were a little hard to turn
when tuning to pitch. the low e high octave string was so bad you almost
needed to crank it like turning a screw into wood.
I noticed that the tuners do not have bushings and the shafts are just
turning in the wood of the headstock. because of this some of the holes
had ovaled out a bit and would cause the tuners to bind under tension.
this was a bit of a let down because my six string 350 has the smoothest
tuners I've ever felt and having played cheaper 12 string electric's I was looking forward to playing a high quality Rick... I was in a hardware store last week and I happened to see some 1/4" shelf supports and sleeves which reminded me of some tuner bushings on older guitars and they looked like the exact size for my 620s tuners. it was $2.75 for a set of eight so I figured what the heck. so on the weekend I decided to check the fit and it was close but the bushing was a tiny bit too big to fit in the headstock. I decided to use a 1/4" box end wrench and tap the bushing in thus shrinking it and also creating ridges in the metal to help it grab better. the whole job took an hour or two and was pretty easy and now all of the tuners work beautifully with smooth action and no binding or stiffness whatsoever. remember to put a capo on your neck to prevent string loss in the tailpiece.
SO I RECENTLY BOUGHT A VINTAGE 1992 620/12 IN IMMACULATE FIREGLO... the original owner had barely played it and it is in new condition. one of the problems I
noticed right away was that the high octave tuners were a little hard to turn
when tuning to pitch. the low e high octave string was so bad you almost
needed to crank it like turning a screw into wood.
I noticed that the tuners do not have bushings and the shafts are just
turning in the wood of the headstock. because of this some of the holes
had ovaled out a bit and would cause the tuners to bind under tension.
this was a bit of a let down because my six string 350 has the smoothest
tuners I've ever felt and having played cheaper 12 string electric's I was looking forward to playing a high quality Rick... I was in a hardware store last week and I happened to see some 1/4" shelf supports and sleeves which reminded me of some tuner bushings on older guitars and they looked like the exact size for my 620s tuners. it was $2.75 for a set of eight so I figured what the heck. so on the weekend I decided to check the fit and it was close but the bushing was a tiny bit too big to fit in the headstock. I decided to use a 1/4" box end wrench and tap the bushing in thus shrinking it and also creating ridges in the metal to help it grab better. the whole job took an hour or two and was pretty easy and now all of the tuners work beautifully with smooth action and no binding or stiffness whatsoever. remember to put a capo on your neck to prevent string loss in the tailpiece.