Golden - Posted - 11/17/2009:  07:41:20

Hi,

I would like to know if the 5th string tuner should come out easy.
What can I do to make it stay?

Ron

scooter46 - Posted - 11/17/2009:  07:52:14

lRon I'd try wraping a little steel wool around the spline push it in as far as you can then tap it in with a small hammer, if that dosen't work you might have to plug the hole and redrill it (hopfully not as this is a tappered hole) or you could glue it. Larry

Learning a new skill takes time, patience and practice. Also it is very important to stay hydrated

banjo-joe - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:04:13

Take the tuner out of the hole. Glue four flat toothpicks to the hole wall
about 1/16" apart around the side oposite the fingerboard (Tightbond).
Cut the excess toothpick off even with the hole. Put one drop of glue,
on the fingerboard side of the tapered tuner part that goes in the hole.
allign, and press in using a thread spool over the button shaft.
whalla!

Banjojoe

snakeherd - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:05:32

If you're tapping it in, do it very gently. The splines are a wedge as far as your neck wood is concerned.
And the tuner doesn't have to be in all that securely. String tension will keep it solid if it fits well.

Scott

Ronnie - Posted - 11/17/2009:  08:20:35

I have an old banjo on which I have wrapped a paper shim around the 5th tuner splines and tapped it into place. It has been holding solid for years.

www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com

erstokke - Posted - 11/17/2009:  12:59:45

On my Ome, there was a paper shim and the 5th string tuner kept popping out.

I glued in two small pieces of toothpick with regular white glue. If you are going this way, be sure to test how many pieces of toothpick you need - before glueing. And remember less is more - glue that is.


My banjo is pre-war. Pre the next war
Jan Erik from Norway

uncle.fogey - Posted - 11/17/2009:  13:19:51

Get some Bondo from the auto supply store, or the equivalent 2-part polyester resin from Lowes/Home Depot and try to get the red colored hardener.

Take the 5th string tuner out, rub a little vaseline onto the splined or threaded stem that fits into the hole. This will act as a release agent. Mix a little of the bondo on a scrap piece of wood, and using a toothpick, coat the inside of the hole with it. Push the vaselined 5th peg into the hole and hold it steady until the bondo kicks - usually only a few minutes. Use the remainder of the mixed bondo on the scrap wood as a gauge of how hard it has gotten. When it has gotten hard enough to hold its shape , carefully withdraw the peg, or in the case of a Grover one, unscrew it, clean the vaseline off the peg stem and cut the bondo that has oozed out away with an X-acto Knife - it will be soft enough to do this neatly before it cures completely. You will now have a PERFECT hole for the peg to fit into. Let the bondo cure overnight for full strength. Another even better material is pattenmakers' "Tuf-Fil" in the mahogany color and density, which is available from Freeman Products, an industrial patternmakers' supply house.

This is also the primo way to shim a neck and have a PERFECT contact. I shouldn't be disseminating this information, but I'm in a good mood.



A man wouldn't need many plastic heads in a lifetime.