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DO NOT use lubricant, at least not initially. It will just soften and swell the wood and make the problem worse.
What you want to do is check whether the string post is binding on the hole
To do this:
- detune the string
- if the post turns more easily then the post is binding.
- If it is still slightly bound when the string tension is off, loosen the mounting screws on the back – just loosen, don’t remove them.
- If the post turns more easily, it’s definitely binding.
- At this point, remove the mounting screws and pull off a tuner
- use a flashlight to look in the tuner hole and look for shiny areas where the tuner is rubbing on the sides of the post holes.
If that happens, your options are something like the following:
- plug & redrill the tuner mounting screw holes so the tuner shaft doesn’t rub on the sides of the tuner post hole
- maybe ream the area of the tuner post hole where the tuner is rubbing to reduce rubbing.
If the tuner is still tight even with string tension off and the mounting screws loose…well, maybe it’s gotten humid, and the wood of the headstock has absorbed enough water to make the tuner shaft tight. The options at that point would probably involve gently reaming the tuner post holes just enough to free them. But that sounds like an unlikely circumstance, even in Florida.
Test and let us know what you find.
Chuck Erickson (Duke of Pearl) does spectacular pickguards…..just ask. He’ll make you one.
Or you could look for an Abalam sheet.
Which guitar is it for?
Hmm. Are these open-back GOTOH tuners, or closed back?
If they are open back (exposed gears):
- Are the tuner mounting screws and the tuner bushings on the face of the instrument snug?
- When either are loose, the tuner post can be pulled a bit sideways from string tension and bind against the side of the tuner post hole.
If they’re closed-back tuners (sealed tuners, no exposed gears):
- are the screws holding the buttons on sufficiently snug that the tuner shaft is flush with or a hair proud of the tuner housing?
- If the button screws are loose, the tuner buttons can be loose, and that will cause the worm gear to bind….I found that out with a set of sealed tuners a long time ago.
Maybe post pics?
Please do put up more photos – I’d really like to see that restoration.
I remember seeing it on the day I brought my guitar in for repair…..glad yours is repaired and working.
Play the remuda and remember Alex ad friendship and good music.
It’s the best way to remember him. And you’re making more memories for the future 🙂
/mh
The oldest redwood-topped instruments I know about are from the 80s, and they still sound excellent (made by Frank Fuller, several redwood/walnut things, which are really nice).
Redwood as a material is a little more brittle than spruce (I don’t know why). It’s got a very bright ring when tapped.
I would guess that properly dry redwood is going to sound good right out of the gate and maybe get brighter as it ages (and dries). In an FTC, this would probably translate to more incisive chop chords (go Freddie Greene!) and maybe more cut on the leads when coupled with the reflective granadillo on the back.
I suspect it’ll sound something like Steve Khan’s redwood-topped rosewood David Russell Young guitar on Donald Fagen’s True Companion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ULgo1MTl8 – bright and punchy but not dry.
Alternate and probably better listen: Steve Khan playing the same guitar on Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02BgGKgtjZ8&list=OLAK5uy_kwPLwg0TFcJXi2pbrxlRopJUno2C5q8QM, which is basically 50 mins of the same guitar with only Rob Mounsey’s keyboard behind him, playing mostly Monk tunes. This is pretty much a high-wire act in which both the payer and the guitar are laid bare without a lot of ornamentation.
I’m presuming the back and sides are dalbergia granadillo – there are a lot of woods called ‘granadillo,’ unfortunately, including the excellent red macacauba, platymisicum pinnatum, which I learned about from Brazilian builder Roberto Gomes. Either way, it’s probably a very reflective material and will increase brightness….
Enjoy it.
The Eastman that I had for a bit was an AR803CE. Mine had a single-pickup (neck position) inset into the top (I don’t care for the tone of floating pickups on many archtops….). It was a great instrument but someone came along, fell in love with it, and kept putting money on the table until I agreed to part with it. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have parted with it, but I used like 20% of the proceeds to pick up another less expensive archtop, and the rest is in the fund to buy whatever it is I decide I really want when I grow up 🙂
Tad – if you get a chance to check one of those out, I’d do it; that guitar was right up your alley, with a sizable neck, big rich tone, and minimal fussing with controls to dial in a good sound. They’re expensive now but not ridiculously so.
Speaking of that Mauel… 😀
And send me the scale length and a neck-shape template on graph paper; I still have a maple/mahogany octave mando body and a long scarfed neck that was waiting for input when you moved a bit east of California. It’s seasoned well…..
Hmm. My OM was built in ‘91, so a four person shop, I think.
I’ve got the Pierret classical, hand built….and a couple of the parlors that I’ve made.
I want a Wingert CM a LOT (I passed on one years ago and have regretted it since). A Robert Anderson 00-14-fret would also work, though they’re quite rare.
