Do tuning pegs work backwards?

[stubhead]

I have a whole boatload of "left", normal tuners - 10 Planet Waves and 7 Schaller black locking minis. I have a reverse-headstock neck - I wanted to see once and for all if that whole thing about Hendrix's bending strings/reverse head was true. It doesn't appear anyone buying Planet Waves or black Schallers wants to save $15 to $20 by buying six REVERSE chrome Schaller mini lockers for me - I would send them my normal "left" tuners and they would send me the "rights."  (+ whatever financial incentive, depending on PW's vs. Sch's)

So. the question is, is there any reason I can't just use the Schallers backwards? There's a way to align them on this particular neck that looks fine to me. I do know the conventional way of using them, with the tuner's post riding along the top of the gear, is done so that the string pull is pulling the gear towards the shaft rather than away from it - but I believe that convention was established way before Srs. Grover and Schaller began building bomb-proof tuners. Mere string pull isn't going to re-align their molecules, for sure!

 

[mayfly]

as long as there is room to mount them, I don't see why not.

In fact, old (turn of the century) mandolin tuners were arranged 'backwards' - with the worm gears closer to the guitar body than the tuner shafts.  With those old tuners though, string tension could actually rock the shaft enough to pull the worm and selector gears apart, causing tuning failure.  Lore says this is why they were switched.  This will not be a problem for any modern cast tuner though - so ...
... I don't see why not.

 

[Cagey]

Gears are generally designed to operate in one direction. It has to do with leverage, thrust, friction, etc. But, those are usually drive gears. Tuners are essentially stationary devices, so they're much simpler. They're the kind of problem you'd hand to a new hire fresh out of school. Figure out some angles and ratios, size to satisfy torque requirements and go home to make babies with a clear conscience.

So, I guess I wouldn't worry about it too much. Tuners generally have some amount of backlash in the gears, with Klusons being the worst of the lot by far, but if the tension were reversed that probably wouldn't change. Besides, you're talking about Planet Waves parts, which are pretty high on the quality scale.

 

[fdesalvo]

...and go home to make babies with a clear conscience.

:laughing7:

 

[ezas]

Hope it's ok if I tag on this thread since it's a similar question.

I'm thinking about a RH reverse strat neck for my next build. If I use normal 6 in-a-line tuners will they tighten the same direction as the bottom tuners on a 3 on-a-side headstock, or would they be reversed with regard to which ways tightens or loosens.

 

[swarfrat]

Cagey's answer might confuse some people. Worm gears cannot be DRIVEN backwards (the string cannot turn tuning key) As far as normal operation goes, it doesn't matter which sided of the post you wind on.