Machine heads and maintenance

Bob-Dubery

Most machine heads these days have a little screw in the head of the button. Clearly this does more than fasten the button to the rest of the machine head, they can be used to loosen or tighten the feel of the machine head.

So is there any need for regular adjustment or maintenance? Is too tight or too loose a bad thing?

Heath

Dont' know about any one else , but every 2 or 3 months i give anything with a quick tweak to make sure they still tight and so forth ...... found on the machine heads if you getting a rattle or a strange sounding buzz tighthen the screws .

AlanRatcliffe

As you say, they are basically there to set the tension and feel of the tuning machine, so there's no need for regular adjustment. Over a long time, as the rack and pinion gear wears a little, it may need a tweak to bring the tension up to your liking again, but otherwise, no adjustment neccessary.

If the tension is set far too loose, it allows too much play in the gear, so that it wears quicker than it should. Overtightening has the same result as the friction at the gear is then too high. Generally though, what feels comfortable to turn and feels solid enough to hold the string in tune is well within the normal adjustment range.

deanBailey

As I understand if you tighten the screw a bit it does increase the tension but this aids in precision tuning when you have unsteady hands.

When you just can't seem to nail that green light on your tuner (on the neck Pickup of course), maybe your heads are a bit too loose and your fingers are not as accurate as you might think ?

Malkav

As far as I know it's there for tension and can be used to remove the head of the tuner in case you'd like to make a cosmetic change (e.g Ebony buttons instead of chrome).

Also as far as I've been taught by master Gareth (vintage vibes) the most stable position for tuning owing to harmonics is the middle position pickup selection.

Vintage-Vibe

Yo ho - some argue that the neck pickup is more stable for tuning/intonating than the other positions - my logic is that the middle position is literally in the middle of the tonal spectrum, so to speak on a 3 pickup guitar - I think MORE important to note is the use of an accurate tuner, eg BOSS TU-12H or Peterson range.
The other thing is you really need to fret the 12th fret notes at the same angle & as hard/soft as the owner/player of the instrument in question - not always easy/possible.

AlanRatcliffe

Chad Adam Browne wrote As far as I know it's there for tension and can be used to remove the head of the tuner in case you'd like to make a cosmetic change (e.g Ebony buttons instead of chrome).

Yes - and also to take up slack when the tuner wears.

Also as far as I've been taught by master Gareth (vintage vibes) the most stable position for tuning owing to harmonics is the middle position pickup selection.

Beg to differ. Bridge pickup is the most stable because it is the most harmonically pure tone - the fact that the string is constrained in it's motion at the bridge gives you a tone without most of the overtones.

+1 on the TU-12H Gareth - best investment I ever made.