Slotted peghead

[JamesBryan]

Anyone entered this arcane field? Working on a Selmer-style peghead. Anyone know of pre-drilled tuning machines or had experience in setting up existing machines [positioned sideways]. Thanks! JB

[Bill Snyder]

If memory serves me correctly Schaller makes some, but they are not marketed in the United States.

[Jim Garber]

Touchstone Tonewoods in the UK has them. I spoke to one Canadian maker who tried to get them in North America but Schaller won't sell them for some reason.

Jim

[Paul Hostetter]

I see no reason why you wouldn't do the mandolin gears as most makers of Selmer copies do their guitars: use regular gears and install the supplied bushing turned upside down and installed on the inside of the slot:



Aside from this you need only drill a new chamfered hole in the shaft.

[JamesBryan]

Right, will look into both options, thanks! Jim

[Paul Hostetter]

The gear schematics I showed above are Grovers, which are pretty MOR machines.



Fairly much like Schallers, they're quite decent and easy to find. I prefer Gotohs, which work the same way.

The one thing to be careful about in laying out and cutting the slots in the headstock is that the end of the intended gear shafts don't end up with the machined recess around the original stringhole showing inside the slot. If the string ends up in that little dip, it can easily pile up down in there and bind the shaft. You want that string safely resting inside the bushing. Note that the end of the shaft has the same OD as the shaft itself, so the very tip rides inside the bushing well.

One of the most popular gears for Selmer-style guitars is the sealed Kluson. These shortened individual 6-in-lines would work well on a mandolin:



Selmers featured the original sealed gears, and the Kluson-types (usually made by Gotoh, though Kluson itself is back in business) are a logical substitute.

[Bill Snyder]

I don't remember the brand or which instrument they are on, but I got some tuners that already had two holes in the shaft. I think they were some "economy" tuners I purchased at one of the local music stores.