1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

[Gothic Dolphins]

I just recently got this guitar and I really love it, thin, light, still full sound, and the stock neck pick-up is amazing. The only problem is the tuners. I play with an experimental instrumental group and most of our songs are upwards of 15mins, our set doesnt stop so I dont have time to tune that often. So, my question is this, is there something I can do to stop my tuners from slipping? somekind of folk remedy to get them to stick. I know I could by new tuners an all, but Id like to keep it all stock. If anyone has an idea I would love to hear it.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: 1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

IIRC, the L6-S doesn't have the same headstock tilt angle...

But the easiest thing to try is rubbing some pencil lead in the nut slots. Especially on Gibsons, the major cause of tuning problems is the strings binding in the nut and on the saddle. What makes the Gibsons so succeptible to this is that the headstock is angled backwards AND the strings fan out to the tuners. When you bend or even increase the tension by strumming, the string pulls on both sides of the nut, but it catches, and the string doesn't return to pitch. Most people say their tuners "slip" or "suck," when it's just the string catching.

Try rubbing some pencil lead or graphite powder in the nut- see how that does- it's an easy fix. The other thing you could do is to replace the saddles with the Graph Tech saddles. I got them just because of string breakage issues, but the big noticable benefit was the tuning stability. I always thought it was normal to have to tune between every song. I ended up replacing all the saddles on all my guitars. Someday if I get the spare money I'll replace one of the nuts with a Graph Tech nut and see how I like that.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: 1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

C'mon the poor thing is 30 years old. It deserves a new set of tuners. See if you can find a set of Schallers with the tulip-shaped knobs, they will echo the originals, if I'm not mistaken.

IMO, a tuner uprade doesn't hurt the collectors value of a guitar like that. Just the same, stash the old tuners away in a zip-lock bag in case you ever decide to sell.

BTW, I remember when that guitar was new. Sanatana was an endorser. Imagine... Carlos without a PRS. Yes, there really was such a time.

 

[tone4days]

Re: 1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

Carlos without a PRS. Yes, there really was such a time.

damn straight there was a time .... those yamahas he endorsed were outrageously cool guitars

one of the guys who taught me how to play had an L6-S before he got a strat .. was a cool guitar ... very different from the big brothers in the gibby family

 

[Gothic Dolphins]

Re: 1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

Thanks for all the help, I'm not sure what ill do but Ill figure something out.

 

[ES350]

Re: 1975 Gibson L6-S Tuner Trouble.

Gotoh makes a good knockoff of the metal keystones...I wouldn't worry too much about the 'stock' consideration.