Had a screw loose

[R. Kane]

I was playing my MT2 at the keyboard this evening, and the screw from the first tuner button dropped onto my desk. I checked the others, and they were mostly all loose. Of course I'd never checked them in the year that I've had this Collings.

I can imagine the hundreds of other places this could have happened and I never would have known or found it. Would I have used vise grips to tune the string when the button fell off?

I've seen and ignored a recurring thread on the same subject here, but, like they say on Car Talk, don't drive like my brother...in other words, check 'em.

RK

[mandroid]

A little dab of Loc-tite, threadlock will do the trick. the blue stuff is good, then you dont have to tighten it down more than snug, and risk stripping it.
just a little bit on the threads will do it.
I lost one screw that holds the gear to the shaft, and cured a less than great fitting replacement that way.
and the nuts that hold the speaker stands together. .

[Paul Hostetter]

If it's a newer Collings it has the newer Gotoh machines. This is not typical of any machines, and I find this disturbing, because I'm having my doubts about the general direction of Gotoh in general. It seems their most recent improvements haven't been improvements. Loctite is a reasonable cure, but you shouldn't need a cure for this. Hmmm.

[jim_n_virginia]

Hey your lucky it came off someplace you could find it! My screw AND tuner button fell off while I was at a bluegrass festival sitting around a campfire at night and I didn't even notice it until I went to tune and NO TUNER BUTTON!

Crawled around for hours looking for it in the sand and no dice I was BUMMED!

Next morning this gal friend of mine was walking around barefoot and picked something up with her toes and I heard her say... "look I found a little pearl bead" I ran over there and sure enough she found my tuner button THANK GOD!

I couldn't thank her enough! I spent another 1/2 looking for the screw but it was in vain. Spent the rest of the weekend having to keep the stupid tuner button in the case compartment and I had a VERY HARD time finding a gold replacement screw!

Big Joe of Gibson saved me and sent me one for free. I couldn't even get a tuner screw from the company that made them (Grover) because they get them overseas and only have enough screws for each machine, or so they told me.

Now I periodically check for looseness.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[mandolooter]

wow..man I'd be swappin out tuners I think.

[Nolan]

I had the same experience with my new grovers... lost a screw. #The button didn't fall off though and Danny Roberts sent me a new one. #He said just check them every once in a while.

Hey Jim, you could always tune with a set of gold plated vise grips? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Brian T]

I found that a small dab of silicone (same stuff that is used on the boots of sparkplug wires) works great. The screws go in easily and are not locked in the way they are with loc-tite. A friend of mine that used to ride dirt bikes gave me the tip. I tried it on my Gibson and it worked great. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Paul Hostetter]

A cardinal rule of string instruments is: no silicone near it, ever. It can wreak havoc with lacquer down the line. I believe it works for loose screws, but it's not a cure I'd comfortable with because of the silicone-vs-lacquer issue.

[Lane Pryce]

Although I have been told I have a few loose screws my mandolin has never had one! On my old F9 the Grover button screws would loosen every now and then. I cured that with a smidgen of clear fingernail polish. It breaks loose very easily if needed and dries quickly too. Lp

[Brian T]

A minute amount on the threads of the tuner screw is going to have a hard time migrating to the finish. You can literally touch the screw on it and it will be enough. The silicone I'm referring to is thick like vaseline, not like the spray silicone you use on rubber and weather stripping. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dagger Gordon]

I've also had some trouble with this on a MT I got in October. 2 screws have come out.

[Gail Hester]

I've had this problem with every set of Grovers I've used and one set of Waverly's. As stated above, Permatex/ Loctite Blue fixes the problem and you can still remove the screw to get the buttons off if you need to.

[mandroid]

And should you need to loose the screw, with loc-tite, a bit of heat like the tip of the soldering iron will let you unscrew it, again , so its not epoxy like permanent.

[mandolooter]

My wife said I had some screws loose so I hid the Loctite...

[Emonortem]

I've had a decent amount of trouble with my Grovers coming unscrewed. The guys at Gibson were good to help me out in that department, also.