issue with tuners

[William Young]

I just noticed this with the tuners on my mandolin (Grover tuners). I assume this is some sort of bushing trying to lift out of place. Any suggestions would be welcome....

[Richard500]

Yes, they’re only pressed in, and are creeping out. Not a serious problem. Should not affect tuner operation. If it’s a fancy veneer, leave it to a good technician since if they’re installed wrong, you might do damage pressing them back in. If they’re just very loose and push in easily, you might want to go after them next time the strings are off, following advice you will read here.
If the tuners bind or slip, the installation itself may have been a little wrong.

[William Young]

Richard--Thanks for taking the time to reply. After my "panic" stage had passed, I did a search and found a very helpful thread (with a picture almost identical to mine). I will just try to press them in when I do a string change this weekend. If they creep upward again, I will try the plumbers tape remedy. And if that doesn't work, I might try swabbing the hole with a bit of titebond. Anything beyond that, I will seek out a luthier.

I bought this mandolin about 1 1/2 years ago, so I am new to the instrument. That said, I have hauled a Gibson acoustic guitar through my life and am no stranger to stringed instruments. I should have done a search first. My apologies....

[jim simpson]

Welcome and no need to apologize. Posting questions and getting answers helps everyone on here learn. Now you'll have to post some more pictures of your mandolin!

[HoGo]

I'd suggest removal of the tuners and use a phillips screwdriver with hard rubber/plastic handle as a fixture to seat the bushings without risk of banging on your headstock. Just insert the screwdriver into the bushing and "hammer" the handle with fine blows till the bushing seats. You can lay the headstock across your knees for this, it should not take much force just few controlled taps.
I see that some posts are strangely angled in your pics... Make sure to check the holes after this inserting the tuners from the front side. If they will go down to the plates without forcing them the holes are OK. (you may need to nudge the very tips of posts into the bushings if the plates are slightly bent but at the root they should show no jamming).

[EdHanrahan]

... if the plates are slightly bent ...

Just my amateur observation that, hopefully, shouldn't apply to a quality instrument. But you never know ...

Some tuners have, for lack of a better term, "welding nubs" on the back side where the worm holders/bearings are welded to the plate. And such nubs may protrude a bit from the -supposedly flat- plate. Frequently, just the screw pressure holding the plate is enough to force those nubs to recess themselves into the wood, but not always: either (some?) nubs are too large, the wood is too hard, and/or the screw pressure is inadequate. Thus, the plate does not seat flat againt the back of the headstock, and some of the resulting wavyness is tranferred to the posts, or at least the posts' tendency to not sit fully upright & parallel to each other.

I've resisted the urge to simply grind the nubs flat (having zero knowledge of welding) but have manually used drill bits to deepen the divots that the nubs fit into, thus allowing the backplate to sit flush.

[William Young]

Thank you all for taking the time to offer advice. I am changing strings now and the bushings seem to be returning to their normal position with a small bit of persuasion. It will be interesting to see if they stay in place. I will say that the last few days have been exceptionally cool here, and the central heat has dropped the humidity indoors. The weatherman says we should return to normal weather starting tomorrow--along with the humidity, so my poor mandolin might soak up a bit of this moisture and hang on to the bushings with more resolve.

The mandolin was made by Richard Beard in North Carolina. I was told by a real mandolin player that it seems to be a fine instrument. He played it up in the dusty areas of the fretboard where I rarely stray and was impressed. He said the neck was straight, the action good, and the tone excellent. I will post a picture since Jim asked. I seem more drawn to Celtic/Irish than bluegrass and have learned a few tunes and posted them on YouTube. When I get a bit braver I might post one or two in the SAW or Newbies group.

Thanks again for the advice. This is really a great forum....

[Rob Roy]

I set bushings (with the tuners removed) using a small piece of 3/8" dowel and a tap from a small dead blow hammer, well supported from below. After wrestling with the same issue on an earlier mandolin, I now set bushings using a 3º reamer, leaving them snug enough that they have to be driven home the last mm or two. For ones that keep pulling back up, I've had success with pulling them and putting a very small bead of white glue around the inside of the hole and letting it dry before resetting the bushings. That's a beautiful oval mando and I bet it has a great tone for Celtic. Enjoy the adventure!

[sunburst]

I'd suggest removal of the tuners and use a phillips screwdriver with hard rubber/plastic handle as a fixture to seat the bushings without risk of banging on your headstock. Just insert the screwdriver into the bushing and "hammer" the handle with fine blows till the bushing seats.

Being an "old timer" myself, I remember when wooden spools were just about as common as popsicle sticks. Lots of people had Singer sewing machines and made and mended clothing. Thread came on hardwood spools (often birch) and when the spools were empty they were fair game for projects, becoming tool handles, furniture parts and so forth.
A method many of us used was to remove the strings, put the center hole of the spool over the string post and hit the spool with a hammer to seat the bushing without removing the tuners.
If we even know anyone with a sewing machine these days the empty spools will likely be soft plastic and no good for this purpose (or other projects), but we can drill an appropriately sized hole in a piece of hardwood and use it to seat the bushings in the same way we used a spool back in the 'good ol' days'.

[HoGo]

Being an "old timer" myself, I remember when wooden spools were just about as common as popsicle sticks. Lots of people had Singer sewing machines and made and mended clothing. Thread came on hardwood spools (often birch) and when the spools were empty they were fair game for projects, becoming tool handles, furniture parts and so forth.
A method many of us used was to remove the strings, put the center hole of the spool over the string post and hit the spool with a hammer to seat the bushing without removing the tuners.
If we even know anyone with a sewing machine these days the empty spools will likely be soft plastic and no good for this purpose (or other projects), but we can drill an appropriately sized hole in a piece of hardwood and use it to seat the bushings in the same way we used a spool back in the 'good ol' days'.

But you need to rest the headstock on something and with tuners on you risk breaking the knobs or bending them or at least deep imprinting of the tuner plate (especially DIY guys). I prefer removal of tuners so I can check the spacing from the other side. It's just few screws.

[sunburst]

...(especially DIY guys)...

As an old timer again, yes, we sometimes forget that the things we consider common sense, we had to learn early on.
However, if we need to hammer so hard as to imprint the tuner plates in the back of the peghead, perhaps we should remove and properly fit the bushings (a process also fraught with potential for damage for the DIY guys).

[Sue Rieter]

Popsicle sticks? Great for garden markers, but very tough to find these days.
I have some of those spools, though

[MikeEdgerton]

Popsicle sticks? Great for garden markers, but very tough to find these days.
I have some of those spools, though

Most craft stores have them and there are these.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=popsicle+...f=nb_sb_noss_1

[HoGo]

I have some of the old spools as well but ours seem to have 5 mm hole which is too small for tuner post to fit in.
Popsicle sticks are common item in art/craft stores now but when I was a kid you would have to buy an ice-cream to get popsicle stick.

[Sue Rieter]

I stand corrected on popsicle stick availability.

[pops1]

Yea, I bought a pack of popsicle sticks a couple of years ago to make flying windows for my grandson. Still have a hundred or so, well maybe fifty, but seems like a hundred. A bunch anyway.

[sunburst]

I still cool off with popsicles in the summer and keep the sticks. I have a bunch in the corner of a drawer in the shop. Handy for stirring epoxy, making temporary jigs, all sorts of shop jobs, especially single use/ throw it away things. I'm surprised other people have trouble finding them!
Spools, on the other hand...

[Richard500]

I just turned 76. Circa my youth, spools were the source of many toys; popsicle sticks valuable lumber; bottle caps, clothing and hat decorations; roller skates, cargo transport; rolls of capgun caps, education in chemistry; and for anyone over about five, the precious, necessary jackknife.

[allenhopkins]

You can buy 20 wooden spools, assorted sizes, from Walmart on-line. Costs $18.

Still in demand for crafts; I can remember kids' magazines like Boys Life showing gadgets one could make with wooden spools.

[MikeEdgerton]

And if that doesn't fit the bill this should.