Official Luthiers Forum!

I need to press in some tuner bushings in my headstock for these cute but expensive tuners:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guit ... uitar.html

I really don't want to spend the money to buy the StewMac tool for doing this as I don't think I'll be doing it very often.

Is there an "at home" method for doing this including duct tape and chewing gum?

I'm thinking a C-clamp and some backing support should do the trick - but I've never done this before - so I'm seeking your input.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I now have the stew mac rig, but before I had it, I used a backer of some cork or similar, and then pressed them in using the drill press with a large round of metal or wood in it ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I'll be watching for the correct answer since I have just been pressing them in with a deep welled socket of appropriate size. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

As long as the hole is reamed to the proper size just about anything will press them in.

I do have a fret press - would that be something to consider using?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I made a press that looks like a violin edge clamp. It has two wood cylinders that are movably disposed on a threaded bolt. One of the cylinders is moved toward the other with a wingnut. The faces of the cylinders are provided with leather. The bolt must be small in diameter so as to fit in the hole that receives the bushing without interfering with the bushing as it is pressed in. I will try to put up a pic tonight or so.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I do the same as Steve

Take a 1" x 1" x 3/4" piece of hardwood or plywood and glue a 1" x 1" piece of cork to it. Drill a !/4" hole through the center as to make a "wooden washer". Get a 1/4" x 2" carriage bolt and insert through wooden washer. Put the washer and bolt through the headstock from the back. Put the bushing over the bolt followed by a nylon washer and wing nut and tighten to press in.

Chuck

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I use UHMW nylon and a c clamp or my drill press and the Nylon bushing.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Why don't you make a spool clamp -- that should work well.

By the way, you guys have been putting out some especially nice looking instruments -- keep up the awesome work!!!

--
Simon

+1 to that,
it is not about forcing anything in,
it is about fitting counterparts.

no need for fancy press setups; you can tap them in with a makeshift wood or nylon mallet

Hi, here is my home made clamp:




It works like a charm

I've used this for at least 6 years. It's worked great for me.

http://kennedyguitars.com/_Kennedy_Guit ... press.html

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

[taken from an email I just sent to a friend, entitled "No-Swear 2013!"]

I have realized that it is just a fact of life that every time I do something NEW on a guitar build it will probably be a learning experience where I learn how to NEVER do something again.

If I take this new expectation as a matter of fact - then I will probably have much lower blood pressure - and swear a lot less.

Today's experience was with pressing in tuner bushings. I've not used press-in bushings before - have always used Gotoh tuners up to now.

So - todays' lesson is that you need to make sure the bushing clears the finish before biting into to the wood. If you don't ream the hole JUST enough - then you will exert excessive pressure on the finish to the point where it will stress crack or lift or bubble under the pressure. Today I got to see two of those happen.


I guess the good news is that 4 of the tuners went in just fine.

So.... learn from my mistakes. Keep a notebook. REAM those dang holes a little bigger!

(Thank God I've got Joe White on my side to fix these mess-ups!)

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I have realized that it is just a fact of life that every time I do something NEW on a guitar build it will probably be a learning experience where I learn how to NEVER do something again.



About 75% I hit a home run the other 25%............oh well.

I hit 66% today as 4 of the bushings went in fine....

HA

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Joe will do it up like new, these kind of problems are why I am glad I do my own finishing. No matter how much we try to avoid messing up, something can go wrong. My goal is to only make each mistake once and so far it has worked out that way.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I chucked up a piece of 1/4" all thread in my drill press and put a nut and washer on it.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Wish this forum had a "Like" button.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Fred Tellier has it right. It doesn't have to be complicated. Your thumb will do it just fine. But if you are after a mechanical means to seat the bushing, then I highly recommend the wing nut method, as has been described and illustrated by others already. DO pad your wing nut with a washer or use a cork-lined spool clamp to avoid marring your bushings. Note: The truly important part of this is to have your bushing holes reamed out just right. And that can be determined by trial and error with a piece of scrap that is drilled out to the same diameter as the holes in your head stock, and then marking your reamer with a bit of masking tape.

My fret press arbor works great for seating bushings. I place a bolt in the arbor shaft that has a leather pad glued on the head. Fast and allows a lot of control.

Overkill, perhaps, but easy to make and nice to use. SBC

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Furthermore, I had one slip and dent a headstock finish while installing bushings. Never again. Definitely pays for itself for removing bushings, though!

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Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com

With me and nitro it seems that little lifts when prepping the bushing holes are pretty common. Here's yet another way to apply butyl c to the edge and affords good control.
Get a small syringe with a 25G or preferably smaller needle. Raise a small bead on the bevel and touch it to the edge of the lift.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.