Stiff tuning peg

[seankeegan]

I recently got a set of stew Mac restoration tuners fitted to my mandolin. One of the E tuners is REALLY stiff.

Any advice for getting it to loosen up? Would wd40 work?

[mandolinclash]

Hi Sean
It's possible that the cog screw could be too tight. De tune the string, loosen and re tighten the screw but snug tight.
See if that works.

[Willie Poole]

I have used powdered graphite and that seems to always work for me...Buy it at any hardware store in a small tube, mostly used to put on door locks to keep them operating smoothly...Some people use pencil lead which is graphite...

Willie

[Rodney Riley]

What I use after reading about it here on the Cafe is Tru-Flow lubricant. Get it at bicycle shops. Won’t dirty your hands/fingers like the graphite.

[Ray(T)]

First thing should be to establish whether it's stiff both on and off the mandolin. If it's only stiff when it's fitted, you have a mis-alligned hole(s) somewhere.

[seankeegan]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. Lossening the screw a tiny amount and a small bit of lube did the trick. The peg is working perfectly now with an easy, smooth action.

Really appreciate people taking the time to offer advice. This website is a fantastic resource; so helpful.

[HoGo]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. Lossening the screw a tiny amount and a small bit of lube did the trick. The peg is working perfectly now with an easy, smooth action.

Really appreciate people taking the time to offer advice. This website is a fantastic resource; so helpful.

I would check the tuner per Ray(T)'s suggestion anyway. You may have faulty tuner with too little space between the cog wheel and the lip of the post for the plate in which case loosening the screw is possible fix (though I would prefer removal of the cog wheel and filing off as much material from bottom of the wheel to get exact gap for the plate) But if your tuner holes are misaligned, loosening will help initially but the wheel will slowly abrade the plate on one side and the lip of the post on the other eventually damaging the plate or the gears that are forced to mesh in misaligned position.
ALso make sure to apply a drop of thread locker to the screw as it can get lost if it's loosened.