question about tuners

[banjofish]

I have a morgan monroe a model mandolin and was thinking of updating the tuners to a better quality...Can I just buy a new set and swap them out..or are the holes different for different brands of tuners..

[Ivan Kelsall]

Well,do you know which brand of tuners are on your mandolin right now ?. I know that MM use Grover tuners on many of their models & they aren't bad tuners at all. Why do you think you need to change them - are they a bit stiff ?. If stiffness or some other relativley minor thing is causing you a problem, go to this page & adjust your tuners as per the advice. I did this on both my mandolins & they tune like silk,
Ivan
Frets.com > Index page > Of interest to musicians > Tune up your gears > Sheet 3 of the info.
Sorry,but the URL didn't work for some reason,i'll post it anyway - just in case it works for you.

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenMaint/Gears/GearTune/geartune3.htm

[banjofish]

they are called perolid or something like that..And yes I know it wont change the tone..of course not..Its just cosmetic and new ones are fairly inexpensive..Just wanted to know if all tuners have the same hole pattern. jeeze.....

[mandrian]

The simple answer is no then!

[Franc Homier Lieu]

Well,do you know which brand of tuners are on your mandolin right now ?. I know that MM use Grover tuners on many of their models & they aren't bad tuners at all. Why do you think you need to change them - are they a bit stiff ?. If stiffness or some other relativley minor thing is causing you a problem, go to this page & adjust your tuners as per the advice. I did this on both my mandolins & they tune like silk,
Ivan
Frets.com > Index page > Of interest to musicians > Tune up your gears > Sheet 3 of the info.
Sorry,but the URL didn't work for some reason,i'll post it anyway - just in case it works for you.

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenMaint/Gears/GearTune/geartune3.htm

Thanks for that tip Ivan. My Eastman 505 has decent tuners but they are stiff, so I have been meaning to look into what can be done.

[FLATROCK HILL]

they are called perolid or something like that..And yes I know it wont change the tone..of course not..Its just cosmetic and new ones are fairly inexpensive..Just wanted to know if all tuners have the same hole pattern. jeeze.....

I'm guessing that there was a reply that has since been deleted.?.

[multidon]

You are probably refering to "pearloid" which is not a brand of tuner but a plastic made to resemble pearl. Many tuner knobs are made of this material which some call mother of toilet seat. Looking on the Morgan Monroe site they do not specify the brand of their tuners. They just say "open gear tuners". Ivan it seems to me if they use Grovers they would say so. They specify the brand of the tailpiece but not the tuners. My guess is they use imported Grover copies. If that is the case genuine Grovers might be drop in replacements or not. No way to tell until you try. I advise anyone who wants to replace tuners to be prepared to drill at least some new screw holes. And if you are afraid of screwing up take it to a luthier.

[mandroid]

The hardware may be fine..
maybe the hole spacing in the headstock causes Binding of the tuner shafts , by being Off.

It happens .. you might have a repair tech check that..

[allenhopkins]

1. Measure the spacing of the tuner holes.

2. Compare against the spacing specs for brands of tuners on the Stewart-Macdonald catalog page, (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Mandolin_tuners.html) or elsewhere where mandolin tuners are listed (Allparts, (http://www.allparts.com/search.asp?search=&keyword=mandolin+keys) etc.).

3. Make your choice based on this info.

Tuners usually don't need replacement for mechanical reasons, but can be "rehabbed" with lubrication and adjustment. If you are doing it mainly for esthetics, get the same spacing, since intervals do vary.