Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all, i'm getting ready to fit my tuners and need some advice on drilling.The guitar i'm making is based on a gibson L-00 and i'm planning on using waverly tuners.The headstock tapers from 1/2 inch at the top to 9/16 inch at the bottom, my question is do i drill square to the face of the headstock (the plate on the tuners may not lay flat on the back)or square to the back (the string post may bind in the bushing) iv'e never fitted waverly's so don't know how much tollerance youv'e got to play with.Thanks all Rob.

You have to drill square to the mount. If you have a tapered headstock and you drill from the face back you may bind the tuners. The hole has to be square to the base of the tuner .
john hall

_________________
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

I cant see how it will work properly either way .... either the tuner plate, or the bushing, will not be properly seated, or if they both sit flat, the post will bind. If you drill from back, how do you plan on seating the bushing from the top ?? leaving one side sitting up ??

If it were me, the headstock needs to be flat, ie. no taper. Forget the plans ....

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

I'm with Tony. You can't have both base and tuners in line with the centerline of the post if the two faces aren't parallel unless you leave the bushings sitting high. Gibson may have gotten away with it by having used stamped ferrules instead of bushings, the L-00 having been a low-end model. At least that's what mine had IIRC. And maybe they weren't after the feel and accuracy of Waverlys.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Since you already have your headstock all ready for tuner holes, i would make up a dummy headstock (just a tapered piece of wood the same dimensions as your headstock) and see for yourself if the waverlys will work with the amount of taper you have. They may very well bind, in which case, buy some other tuners (with stamped ferrules/more slop maybe) for this one and save the waverlys for a flat headstock. Or, maybe you will luck out and they will work just fine, i would want to find out for myself before deciding.

_________________
Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

That's aproximately 2 degrees off square on top. What if he opened up the space a touch on top to allow a little tilt of the bushing? You know hand clean out the hole with the next larger size drill. One only needs a 1/32" to clear that tilt. That would still allow a nice tight fit, but also give him some room to keep them from binding.

There is a bit of slop in the bushing but I agree the headstock should not be angled. I have seen them that way and the bushing will float the angle more than the post will. Also the old guitars didn't use the bushing , so you can have the old vintage look . Next time keep the headstock flat.
john

_________________
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

If you needed to, you could make a bushing-hole which was parallel to the back by clamping the back down to your drill press table and 'drilling' the bushing hole with an end-mill. The hole will be vertical to the quill, not the surface being 'drilled' into.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Brian Galloup has been building his guitars with a thickness of 5/8" tapering to 1/2" in his pegheads for years. Here's a link to one listed on Guitar Gallery: http://www.guitargal.com/cgi-bin/displa ... 2&show=153

Lot's of great pro advice above. As a rookie, I'd just add that when testing how things fit on scrap, keep in mind that soft woods can give you an inaccurate sample. I learned this just the other night. Everything worked out in the end but what seemed to slip perfectly into an old piece of spruce refused to enter the same sized hole in ebony. Made sense... after the fact. ;-)

Good luck,

_________________
George :-)

Thanks for all the advice everyone, just looked at the link for the Galloup guitar which has twice the amount of taper as mine,seems to me that the misalignment of mine is so small so as not to have that much effect.Can't try the dummy headstock option, haven't got the waverlys yet.Thanks again all Rob.