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Stumbled across this thread after working with a student. Found a very good solution.
One of my high school students stumbled across a beautiful '75 Precision in great shape that he uses to play in ensembles at school. Long story short, he decided to change strings on it (which is probably the first string change on this bass in about 25 years) and asks me for help. We get the 'G' off and it's kinda hard to turn. The 'D' is REALLY hard. The 'A' is impossible. Won't move. We try WD-40, gloves, pliers, everything. I'm checking the internet to no avail. We go down the hall and ask the guitar teacher of 40 years what to do and he says two words: VALVE OIL. Valve oil like you would use on a trumpet or trombone to lubricate the metal-on-metal process of brass instruments. We grab some valve oil from another student and his pegs are as normal as they were in '75. One or two drops on the gear, a little twist and everything moved fine. Easy cleanup.
Now, I'm not saying that this will work on any kind of tuner or any kind of bass, but it sure did work on an old Fender with vintage clover-style tuners that were utterly stuck. YMMV.
One of my high school students stumbled across a beautiful '75 Precision in great shape that he uses to play in ensembles at school. Long story short, he decided to change strings on it (which is probably the first string change on this bass in about 25 years) and asks me for help. We get the 'G' off and it's kinda hard to turn. The 'D' is REALLY hard. The 'A' is impossible. Won't move. We try WD-40, gloves, pliers, everything. I'm checking the internet to no avail. We go down the hall and ask the guitar teacher of 40 years what to do and he says two words: VALVE OIL. Valve oil like you would use on a trumpet or trombone to lubricate the metal-on-metal process of brass instruments. We grab some valve oil from another student and his pegs are as normal as they were in '75. One or two drops on the gear, a little twist and everything moved fine. Easy cleanup.
Now, I'm not saying that this will work on any kind of tuner or any kind of bass, but it sure did work on an old Fender with vintage clover-style tuners that were utterly stuck. YMMV.
Smooth_bass88
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That's absolutely great. I was on a session last night with my 1962 Jazz- the tuners are so stiff on that thing- it was taking me forever to tune between takes. Thanks for posting that.
Might have to pull the tuners, put a drop of Rim Oil (has Teflon in it)(buy it at a gun store or Walmart) on top and bottom of tuning shaft (wipe off excess) and then put some Johnson Paste wax on the inside of the bushings and tuning shafts. Use a Q-Tip for the J wax.
Other than that, you can turn, turn, turn, turn the tuner shaft until it gets lubed up and turns easier. Do that before you re-string.
Both of these products are "must haves" for maintaining a bass and they are excellent for other projects too!
Good luck!
Other than that, you can turn, turn, turn, turn the tuner shaft until it gets lubed up and turns easier. Do that before you re-string.
Both of these products are "must haves" for maintaining a bass and they are excellent for other projects too!
Good luck!
Be careful with how much wet lube you use in certain areas. I learned the hard way if the lube gets in the holes where the tuning pegs pass through the wood in the headstock, some lube might wick into the wood under the finish on the headstock, leaving what looks like a wet mark under the finish on the wood.
I still have the bass and it never effected the playability or sound, but does look a little weird. Luckily it's a great player
I still have the bass and it never effected the playability or sound, but does look a little weird. Luckily it's a great player
Here's the updated link to that video:
I have a 1974 Precision Bass with the same issue, intuitively I disassembled the entire tuner, polished / de-burred the flat gear on both sides and cleaned the oxidation off the base plate. Still the issue is in the Key / Plate interface, very very stiff, I've used a number of solvents and even dish soap with minor results, I happen to have some Valve Oil here, which initially helped free up the mechanism, but eventually the friction returned. I then tried a combination of Molybdenum based grease and valve oil as a penetrant.
I'm having incremental progress with the methods above, but I would also advise using a liquefied abrasive to remove the oxidation on the Key shaft and baseplate. I've been using Novus #2 and #3 plastic polish and letting it dry after seeping in, then rinsing with Simply Green cleaner and water and then more Molybdenum based grease and valve oil.
I think the root cause is the oxidation of the chrome plating on the Key shaft and the baseplate 'loops' that hold it in place. If those two pieces could be separated it would be much easier to address.
My 2¢ more accurate tuning opinion...!
I usually set my string posts so the slots run (kinda) parallel to the deck and the leaves (kinda) lining up with the headstock. This results in the leaves being (kinda) at right angles to the headstock, making it much simpler to get leverage on them when brought to pitch. If the leaves are more aligned with the headstock I have trouble making fine adjustments so (kinda) perpendicular to the headstock makes it simpler to get that last little bit of flat when tuning up.
The tuners on my '75 P were very stiff, especially the G tuner. When my luthier did a refret I asked him to try to make those work better. He disassembled the tuners and removed 40+ years worth of dust, dirt and oxidation. I don't know what lube and cleaning chemicals he used, but now they work smoother.
