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This is the second one that I have had break down on my. Guy coming all the way from Texas to pick up his new guitar Friday and the dam tuner broke again. I have no experience with banjo tuners except for the Rickard ones which seem to be holding up just fine.

These are the ones I am talking about in gold: https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardw ... -pegs.html

I tried adjusting the screw on the knob but I don't think that has anything to do with these since they are Planetary. None the less that does nothing. When I tune up it gets to a point and slips and detunes. The peg head holes were drilled to spec and the thickness of the peg head is as well.

Am I just doing something stupid here? Have any of you used these tuners and had issues with them? I know it's a bit of an oddball on guitars but these are 30's Martin OM style guitars.

Stewmac is of course great at customer service and will replace it but still... I've had too many bad Experiences with Waverly the last couple years with these and Sloane tuners.

Regards.

I've used bunches of them on banjos, but those are under a lot less tension than a guitar. The screw in the middle of the knob is where you can adjust the slippage--it increases the friction that holds the tuner in place. It will definitely slip if that screw is too loose. The Rickard ones, having a higher ratio to begin with, are less prone to slippage to begin with.

I've had to shorten the screws before on some tuners (not necessarily Waverlys). If the screw is too long, you can never get the tuner tight enough to hold. What I've also done in the past to keep planets from slipping is to add a small fiber or leather washer between the knob and the metal cap piece on the back of the tuner to effectively shorten that screw.

Hope this helps.

Dave

That does help thanks. I had thought about guitar string tension load but they do sell them as guitar tuners too. So I cranked on the screw as far as I dare go being afraid that I would crack the plastic... Well probably well before that. But in a manor of words how much force do you need to actually put on them? The other 5 are pretty much just snugged up I would say with room for more force on the screw.

Hard to say. I've had to snug some down pretty darned tight. I've also cracked tuner knobs...

Dave

I recommend Gotoh banjo tuners. Last year, they replaced the Waverlys on my 1930 OM-28 and I never looked back. Not only do they work flawlessly, they are lighter than Waverly.
By design, all planetary banjo tuners have a 4:1 ratio, which is not high enough to prevent slippage without adding some friction.

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John

+1 on the Gotohs. I've used them for a long time too.

Dave

That's another thing I like about the Ricard tuners is the 10:1 ratio. I guess they are "Cyclone" Versus Planetary. I don't know exactly what that means though. But they are pretty smooth.

Lightweight is definitely a plus.

https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardw ... -of-4.html

Here is Frank Ford showing a giant version of his cycloidal tuner that he made for a bass guitar. Can't slip. I put a set on a Stauffer neck and they are smooth and very high quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfs--w3lorw&feature=emb_logo

Ed M

Fantastic! I really love simple videos like that which are so self explanatory.