View Full Version : Waverly tuning machines
For those of you who haven't had a close look a Waverly tuners, here are some nice pictures I got of them on my most recent mandolin. Enjoy!
Ben Wilcox
www.brw-instruments.com (http://www.brw-instruments.com)
Here's the front. The bushings and posts are simple but elegant and the MOP knobs look great.
Ben Wilcox
www.brw-instruments.com (http://www.brw-instruments.com)
Tiderider
Nov-16-2006, 5:38pm
The tuners do look elegant but that headstock is exquisite, and your attention to detail is impeccable.
lee
Dale Ludewig
Nov-16-2006, 6:40pm
I agree Ben. They're beautiful, expensive, and worth it if you've got the money to buy them. I have them on one mandolin of mine that I've kept for myself. I can put leave it out, put it in a case for a couple weeks. Strings stay in tune. Except for the A's. Even those are close.
testore
Nov-16-2006, 7:15pm
I don't give a #### about the tuners, nice headstock.The tuners wouldn't look that good on a lesser mando, great looking flowerpot....or what ever you want to call it.
evanreilly
Nov-16-2006, 9:00pm
Here is a stripped down set of busted Wverly tuners.
One of the Shafts is broken; any ideas as to how to repair it, or whom?
Thanks for the compliments guys. I call it the "Torch" inlay, it's my standard inlay these days.
Evan,
You say the shafts are broken? It looks like one or two are bent in the picture. Do you have all of the other parts? A shaft could be straightened. The shafts are stainless steel I believe, which is a tad hard to work with. You may want to contact Waverly and just ask them. I've never asked them about repair so I dont' know if they do that sort of thing or not. A competent machinist could manufacture any of the replacment parts but it would probably be pretty pricey. If you have all the lock collars, gears and other parts and they aren't to worn out you may just be able to get a local machinist to straighten the shafts for you. I'd still email Waverly first though.
-Ben
tattiemando
Nov-17-2006, 2:07am
I love that headstock,the inlay and the binding look really sharp. The Waverley's look fantastic. Nice photography too. Please post more closeups of your mandolins.
Michael Lewis
Nov-17-2006, 3:02am
Evan, for those original Waverly machines I would contact Tony Williamson for a reference. Those are all bronze or brass and can be repaired.
Yeah if they are brass it's much easier to repair. Totally different design than the new ones but they are still cool tuners. What did they come off of?
tattiemando, I'll post some more pics of an oval hole mado in another topic. You can also see more pictures on my website. I'm just starting to add the high res photos to the galleries, so most of the pictures don't have links to the large photos but some of the new ones can be clicked to get a 1024x768 version.
-Ben
testore
Nov-17-2006, 11:04am
Are Waverly's really that much better? Worth the $$ ?
It's a serious question, not trying to be a smart ###.I've just never played with any.
Well, it's largely up to you to decide. The DO function better in my opinion and I believe they will last longer than other tuners. I also find them very beautiful. Ther ARE a lot more expensive though. If you have a good set of say Grover tuners and your strings are properly stretched and you tune the string UP to pitch, you will get pretty good tuning stability. It will stay in tune better with the Waverly's (in my experience) and the smoother tuning action makes it easier to get perfectly in tune. Is it worth the $$? That's a question that I believe only you can decide for yourself. The important question is, do they work better. Yes I think so, but the value part of the equation is up to each individual.
Hey everyone. Thanks for your replies.
I took a look at this post from some other smaller monitors and noticed a problem that I wanted to mention. The message board seems to automatically resize the images depending on the width of your browser or screen resolution. I noticed that on a 1024x768 monitor that the images had all been automatically shrunk and there wasn't anything I could do to see them at their full size. My usual resolution width is 1440 so I don't have a problem and I did not anticipate it when posting these nice large pictures.
I recommend that if you would like to see the true quality of these images that you do a few things. 1: If you have a higher screen resolution make sure that automatic image resizing is turned off in IE. Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Multimedia > uncheck "enable automatic image resizing. 2: Right click > Save Picture As > add a .jpg extension to the end of the file name > then open the image you have saved in a viewer or IE and you can see the full image at original resolution. 3: you can see the large images by navigating to my website at http://www.brw-instruments.com/FT-MS.html and clicking on Gallery. In the gallery you can click the thumbnails to see larger images, and then you can click those larger images to see the full size 1024 x 768 versions of the pictures.
I'm sorry about the reduced quality because of the automatic resizing but I wanted to post some large pictures so that you could see the details. Unfortunately the board scripting does it's best to make sure all the content fits on your screen and therefore resizes the images. If anyone knows anything I am missing or has questions about navigating on my site for the pictures just let me know.
Thanks again,
Ben Wilcox
evanreilly
Nov-19-2006, 2:49am
Thanks for the leads on repairs.
Dave Dearnley
Dec-05-2006, 12:09pm
Are Waverly's really that much better? Worth the $$ ?
It's a serious question, not trying to be a smart ###.I've just never played with any.
I can't speak for mandolin tuners. #I was a dumb*** and had Grovers put on my Mowry. #They're good, but now I wish they were Waverly.
I do have Waverly tuners on my Collings D1A and they are the best I've ever had on a guitar. #They work flawlessly, stay in tune and look great.
It's only a matter of time before I replace the Grovers with Waverly and I'm toying with the idea of having some put on my Gallagher!
Dave
Jim Garber
Dec-05-2006, 12:17pm
Are these currently made Waverly tuners for mandolin still available? They don't seem to be a Stew Mac catalog item. Any reason?
Jim
Jerry Byers
Dec-05-2006, 12:32pm
You have to call Stew-Mac to order Waverly's for your mando.
Bill Van Liere
Dec-05-2006, 1:10pm
Ben
Nice to see the move to Waverly's. I think that would be about the only improvement that could be made to BRW 51. I much prefer the Waverly tuners on my Brentrup compared to the BRW, there is a noticeable difference. Worth the price to me.
mandomick
Dec-05-2006, 4:43pm
Another +1 for the Waverlys. I have BRW #32 a J16 Model with Schallers I believe, and #50 which is an F5 Model with Waverlys. Both are very stable as far as staying in tune but the Waverlys feel much smoother when tuning.
telepbrman
Dec-06-2006, 12:54am
Great info and pic...dy.
Heres some Waverly's from the old days.
the other side,and real pearl buttons