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Hi there, I'm just a very new builder from NZ and on my second guitar at the moment, I was curious as to what size hole people drill for a Waverly slotted peghead tuning machine? The rollers are 6.32mm but I wasn't sure whether to drill a 6.5mm hole so the rollers still turn easily or drill a 6.3mm hole which would be tight?
Cheers guys

6.32 mm is equivalent to 0.2488189 inches, and this strongly suggests that the tuners were designed for a 1/4" hole. A 6.5 mm hole would be a bit sloppy and a 6.3 mm hole would definitely be too tight. Are imperial sized bits available in New Zealand?

Fellow kiwi here, but located in Canada. I expect you measured your 1/4” bit as 6.3mm. It’s actually 6.35mm. When you drill, you’ll likely end up with a hole a hair bigger than 1/4”, so the tuners should fit fine. The Waverly’s I’m sure are intended to fit a 1/4” hole — Yanks don’t fabricate much using metric. (Do you actually have a 6.5mm bit — I wouldn’t expect to find one at Mitre10!)


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Thanks mate, good to see another kiwi on here haha[THUMBS UP SIGN]
I got a 1/4 " bit from Mitre 10 mega here and used that but they still seem a bit tight!
It was actually a lot harder to find a 1/4 " bit as Mitre 10 didn't have a huge range, most bits here are in mm and I'm a joiner and builder by trade so I have a full set of drill bits with a 6.5mm bit but the sets go up in 0.5mm increments and I thought 6.5mm would be a bit sloppy.


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Hi Barry,

Thanks for the information, much appreciated as I still have a lot to learn haha!
I found a 1/4" bit at Mitre 10 over here but the selection of imperial bits is a bit scarce and harder to find.
I drilled the holes at 1/4" but it seems a bit tight still!
Maybe some wax in the hole might help? The tuners will actually spin around when turned without fixing screws in them.

Cheers,
Mike

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It won't be so tight when you cut out the rest of the wood.