Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

S

spleenharvester

New member
Hi all,

One of the machine heads on my Vintage V300 just failed. I'm not too bothered about finding one that is perfectly matching as it's a fairly low-end instrument, but I am having trouble finding one that lines up at all. It has a 90 degree screw hole to lock the tuner in place, unlike seemingly every other mechanism ever:

28511863_408132699629070_1257438362_n.jpg

Any idea how I can go about replacing this as I'd prefer not to have to drill more holes?

Thanks
 
Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

Could you buy one that doesn’t fit and then cannibalize the guts?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Re: Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

VinceT said:
Could you buy one that doesn’t fit and then cannibalize the guts?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Unless I'm being really dense these particular machine heads seem to be sealed units, so I'm not sure that's possible.
 
Re: Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

There are a lot of 90 degree machines. Grover and Gotoh both offer 90 degree screw holes. Schaller does as well. The standard Grover Rotomatics (102's I think) aren't very expensive and may drop in. You'd have to measure from the center of the post (center of the button) to the center of the mounting hole and then go to the Grover website and check the specs, see if they line up. You may or may not have to enlarge the post holes. Finding just one may be tougher. Not sure if Grover sells individually but you can find them used ... usually overpriced for a single.

There are generics that may work. Heres some from china but they look like they are crap. Just posting as an example. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chrome-Str...172030&hash=item3acd6e3b47:g:kDcAAOSwTA9X5jlB
 
Re: Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

Cheers guys - I've found some cheap-but-hopefully-not-****-tier Wilkinson tuners that drop in sans a 45 degree hole, I'm just going to put new holes in as frankly I haven't looked at the back of that headstock in about 6 years anyway.
 
Re: Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

I found a set of locking ones with the same hole pattern
On Aliexpress for 25 bucks
6 pcs Chrome locking tuning key Acoustic Guitar tuning peg Electric Guitar machine head DIY upgrade guitar accessory
[url]http://s.aliexpress.com/z63q6feI?fromSns=Copy to clipboard
(from AliExpress Android)[/URL]

Planet Waves autotrim come this way

I have a set of non locking Grovers I'm taking off my daughter's ERI guitar
I could make you a smoking deal on those
 
Re: Replacing acoustic machine heads - matching issues

VinceT said:
Yes it is. Three methods discussed in this thread

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/how-to-repair-a-sealed-tuner.317759/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Shame I hadn't seen that, because based on how it was behaving that would probably have fixed the issue! Nonetheless I've sorted it now, I ordered some Vanson VN-01 machine heads (since they seem to be exactly the same as some well-reviewed Wilkinson heads and are a bit cheaper) for £14, made some new holes via pointy screwdriver (I have neither luthier(?) skill nor time!), banged the old screws in the old holes and it's come out looking surprisingly neat! New strings and day 1 tuning stability is excellent - hopefully they hold up long term.

tOj6gHD.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top