New Tele Neck day dampened by tuner ream

[fdesalvo]

Bummed.  I had a beautiful 1-piece VM Birdseye maple Tele neck arrive today.  Test fitting the tuners revealed the ream is a bit too large for these tuners.  Even the bushing nut/keeper can wiggle around on the front. Tuners are Gotoh 510s and the ream is the Gotoh/Grover ream.  Please advise.

I may a fool!  I just don't know how much play is normal - should these be uber tight?  It' snot that much slack - just a bit.  It will probably disappear once tightened.


:dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

Yes, tuners should be tight.

The problem here is that not all Gotoh tuners have the same mounting requirements. They make a wide variety of them, and good percentage of them are called "510" for some reason. It seems Gotoh loves that number. They also have several 510 bridges which are not the same.

The tuner Warmoth is drilling/reaming for when you specify a "Gotoh"-sized hole is the SG38. It's slightly larger in diameter than the 510 I looked at.

You can't put wood back, so if it were me I'd be looking for some tuners that will fit the Gotoh holes you have. Perhaps a set of SG38s?

 

[fdesalvo]

Do u think Grover's would fit?  Sucks.

 

[Cagey]

Do u think Grover's would fit?  Sucks. 

I don't know. Grover also makes a lot of tuners.

Your holes are described here, so you know what size/profile hole you're looking at. If you have a particular Grover tuner in mind, look up the specs and see if the hole it expects matches the one you have.

 

[fdesalvo]

Haha I found a solution!  Literally...

I remembered that salt is used to plump things and make them retain water, so I whipped up some hot saltwater solution.  I reasoned that water can make wood expand since it's structure is cellular, so saltwater could amplify this effect.  I simply swabbed in a few coats of the solution and now the tuners are uber tight!  :guitarplayer2:  I can go in and swab a very thin layer of titebond to harden up the expanded fibers if need be.

</madscientistmode>

 

[Cagey]

What do you suppose would happen if we plumped up a turkey breast by soaking it in a brine solution, then left the breast sitting uncovered on a plate in the fridge for day or so?

 

[fdesalvo]

Ask the friendly folks at Kirklands

 

[bagman67]

What do you suppose would happen if we plumped up a turkey breast by soaking it in a brine solution, then left the breast sitting uncovered on a plate in the fridge for day or so?

Clearly, if you're storing your Telecaster in the fridge, you have other problems to solve that supersede tuner ream looseness.

 

[stubhead]

I sure hope you let everything dry, and it remained swollen.... hold the salt in place with superglue or something! I would have suggested a series of coats of... just about anything except water! You can paint the insides of such holes with superglue (goopy/slow is thicker), lacquer of any sort, poly finish, paint, just about anything that gets hard and dry. Holes are always a crapshoot (and no big deal), start building basses for pete's sakes.

 

[fdesalvo]

Hmm I wonder what cryogenically realigned tureky would taste like.  Probably not as good as deep frying one.

 

[fdesalvo]

I sure hope you let everything dry, and it remained swollen.... hold the salt in place with superglue or something! I would have suggested a series of coats of... just about anything except water! You can paint the insides of such holes with superglue (goopy/slow is thicker), lacquer of any sort, poly finish, paint, just about anything that gets hard and dry. Holes are always a crapshoot (and no big deal), start building basses for pete's sakes.

Yeah this neck is nowhere near ready to mount haha.  Still have to finish it.  I was nervous about glue prior to this because of the stepped ream.  I was worried the glue might collect on the 11/32" step and prevent the tuners from seating squarely, but that was shortsighted.  The neck is drying and I'm going to swab on some tight bond in thin layers to harden and seal the raised wood fibers in the reams.

 

[stubhead]

Yep, just thin coats, coat the steps separately if needed...  toothpick fury! I am doubtful about the usefulness of stepped holes anyway, but as long as it's there... you just don't want extra moisture in there when it's finished. 

 

[fdesalvo]

ccasion14:

 

[fdesalvo]

Issue has been eliminated!  Worked perfectly.  Tuning machines fit very snugly.  :guitarplayer2:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Please edit the thread title to: New Tele Neck day; dampened my tuner ream

 

[Updown]

Did ya want, 'salt with your chips' sir ...........  :icon_biggrin:

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Now - there's a trick I would never ever use. 

 

[fdesalvo]

Lol I was searching for the words