Gotoh SG38 - can they be cleaned or re greased?

[Steve_Karl]

I've got a fairly ancient set of Gotoh SG38 tuners and they're not as smooth feeling and easy to get into the right place as the newest set I have.
Has anyone ever cleaned and/or regreased them or found a way to bring them back to 'just like new' ?

I've got a small grease gun used for bicycle bearings and wondered if shooting some grease into them might fix them up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[mayfly]

I think you'd have to disassemble them to grease them, which means taking off that back plate.  If it were me I'd drill a small hole in one and see if I could pry it up.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Yea ...
Some other ideas found here ... heating to melt the old grease and make it 'like' the gears again will be my first try ... but the hole drill idea is here too.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/lubricating-gotoh-type-tuners.923010/

 

[BigSteve22]

A great product you might consider is Tetra Gun spray.

http://www.tetraproducts.com/product_view.asp?ID=3

Never tried this on tuners, but it works well on other "sealed" assemblies. As long as there are no O-Ring seals around the post, you should be able to shoot some in. The carrier evaporates very quickly, leaving a Teflon, (PTFE), film behind.

Can't vouch for it's effect on grease already in place. My guess would be that it would soften up considerably, at least temporarily, but I use this on my revolver and have never had a problem with that.

Good luck.

 

[Steve_Karl]

A great product you might consider is Tetra Gun spray.

http://www.tetraproducts.com/product_view.asp?ID=3

Thank you!

 

[Cagey]

The only problem with that stuff, if you can call it one, is it's like silicone. If you get any on the finish (or anything else), you'll never get anything else to stick. So, maybe watch the overspray and keep it stored out of harm's way. On the plus side, it is very slippery.

As for the tuners, I'm not sure why, and I haven't been inside those Gotoh's to know if they do it, but tuner manufacturers often use steel worm gears against brass pinion gears, and the combination causes the metal to gall over time. If that's happened, no amount of lubricant is going to help. The gears are just grinding themselves up.

 

[Steve_Karl]

The only problem with that stuff, if you can call it one, is it's like silicone. If you get any on the finish (or anything else), you'll never get anything else to stick. So, maybe watch the overspray and keep it stored out of harm's way. On the plus side, it is very slippery.

As for the tuners, I'm not sure why, and I haven't been inside those Gotoh's to know if they do it, but tuner manufacturers often use steel worm gears against brass pinion gears, and the combination causes the metal to gall over time. If that's happened, no amount of lubricant is going to help. The gears are just grinding themselves up.

Yea ... slippery but dangerous ... I think I'll pass on that "stuff".
I hear ya on the gears possibly just being worn out.
Thanks for the input.

 

[Cagey]

Worn tuners are a real pain in the shorts. They start to behave like Klusons. Too much backlash and inconsistent tension make you overcompensate, and tuning takes longer while stability deteriorates. Fortunately, even good tuners aren't terribly expensive these days. A set of premium Schaller locking M6s shouldn't run much more than $60, and will last a good long time.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Too much backlash and inconsistent tension make you overcompensate, and tuning takes longer while stability deteriorates.

That's *exactly* what is happening. I can get it in tune with more work but it is becoming annoying.
It's probably sensible to just get a new set of Schaller M6s.