Removing vintage tuner bushings?

[LushTone]

Anyone have any magic methods of removing tuner bushings for vintage style tuners? Also interested in removing through-body ferrules on the back of the guitar. Any clever methods would be much appreciated!  :help:

 

[PhilHill]

Anyone have any magic methods of removing tuner bushings for vintage style tuners? Also interested in removing through-body ferrules on the back of the guitar. Any clever methods would be much appreciated!  :help:

For the tuner bushings, I have a piece of dowel rod that fits into the hole in the peghead but is too large to fit into the bushing. Put it into the hole from the back and use a light hammer to tap out the bushing. For string ferrules I use an old drill bit the size of the hole in the body, which is usually bigger than the hole in the ferrule. Same procedure with the hammer. Don't hit them too hard though, If they don't want to come out easy, go slow and only use as much force as needed, you don't want to break chips out of the body around the hole.

 

[Wolfie351]

I use a transfer punch, but not everyone has those.  Large allen wrench, socket with extension (or just an extension), lots of stuff around the house could work

 

[PhilHill]

And I should have said, if you use a drill bit, turn it around backwards so the solid end is against the ferrule. That way it doesn't get nicked up.

 

[Cagey]

A cheap way to get a big set of transfer punches is to buy one of those ridiculously low-priced "titanium plated" twist drill indexes you see at flea markets, etc. where you get like 64 bits for $10 or so. They's almost useless as drills but they are made of metal and there are a lotta diameters in small increments. They're really not meant to be punches, but sometimes you want a piece of metal dowel of a particular size.

 

[LushTone]

Awesome! that’s what I was thinking too.

Thanks for the help!  :yourock: