Repair on the cog of a tuning peg?

[deleted]

Howdy all. I discovered a guitar at my Mom's house recently. My mom doesn't know where it comes from ( ??? ), and I've always dismissed it because I thought it was probably some cheapy.

It has to be tuned low because the cog of the fourth string clicks back when it gets to a certain tension, and because of that the strings are quite loose and make more of a twang than I'm used to. I referred once to it as a Honky Tonk guitar. There's also a lot of bend on it, so it's quite tricky to play.

Because of these aspects I never took it too seriously, but one day I was visiting my mom and I swapped from my guitar to the "Honky tonk " one and my mom said it sounded much nicer. So I actually took a look inside the sound hole and the label said "Ibanez". And while I was looking I spoke in to it and I realised that the vibration on the sound board was much stronger than on my guitar.

Is this a common way of testing the reverberation of a sound board?

Either way, whether it is a real Ibanez or not, it will be worth it to fix that little cog, or whatever it is that causes it to lose tension. Does anyone know what the procedure is to fix this, not that I want to do it myself, just so that I know what to ask for if I speak to a repair man.

It has caused me to wonder where it came from. It's been there for so long, I can't remember when I first noticed it. I always thought it was my sister's guitar, till I realised my sister HAS her guitar at her place. Then I thought my mom had bought it for herself, because at one point she wanted to learn guitar too, but she told me that's not the case. So, it'll just be one of those unsolvable mysteries( which kind of suits me).

DonovanB

It is probably worth fixing. You can replace the tuning heads. You buy the whole unit and change it out. I've done it a few times. sometimes the holes don't match up but you fill those with a dowel (or matchstick is my quick fix)

[deleted]

Thanks Donovan

AlanRatcliffe

Yup. Quick and easy to replace the whole set. Well worth fixing - the Ibanez nylon guitars are underrated, but they have had some great models through the years.

[deleted]

Whoopiiieee, I changed the tuning pegs, put on some new strings, and have been playing it in a little. Felt a little despondent when it buzzed a bit at first. I thought there might be something in there making it buzz. Turned it around and gave it a good shake and out fell a dried snake skin. It wasn't what caused the buzz obviously, I had to stick my hand in and tighten a little screwy thing, now it's all ready!!

I'll post a clip of it as soon as possible, but in my sheer joy I cut my nails too short.

The action is very low, while it makes lots of aspects easier, like hammer on's, sometimes I feel like I have to tiptoe more. Overall, the sound is a lot more mellow and mature. There's still a lot of bend on the notes, I'll have to learn to control that better. But it's nice to have a new guitar.

arjunmenon

Congrats Viccy! :goodtimes:

DonovanB

Well done.

Viccy wrote: There's still a lot of bend on the notes, I'll have to learn to control that better.

huh? bend? I guess you'll have to erabolate on that one for me... ???

singemonkey

Viccy wrote: I thought there might be something in there making it buzz. Turned it around and gave it a good shake and out fell a dried snake skin.

Now that is a guitar with mojo... ?

If a black rooster feather had also fallen out it would probably have played itself in the middle of the night ?

Enjoy. Your guitar needs a bit of a rest - it must be exhausted after so many years of non stop use.

[deleted]

huh? bend? I guess you'll have to erabolate on that one for me..

What I mean is that it seems to have a lot less tension to my other guitar, so where I could basically hang on the stings with my LH and the note would sound the same, this one gives in a bit and slurs up, very nice and I'm using that more in my playing now.

There's a big problem with the top E and it slides all the way off the fret board sometimes, whoops. I just have to learn to hold my hand more steady and not hang on like I could with my other guitar (Yes, I know I'm terrible at explaining things, I hope I made some sense though).

Now that is a guitar with mojo

Exactly what I thought. The first thing I thought was "rattle- snake?", because I was thinking about the buzz.

Enjoy. Your guitar needs a bit of a rest - it must be exhausted after so many years of non stop use

Yes, many years of nostalgic playing. Time to start a new chapter though! Exciting!

Fingerpicker

Viccy wrote: Turned it around and gave it a good shake and out fell a dried snake skin. It wasn't what caused the buzz obviously, I had to stick my hand in and tighten a little screwy thing, now it's all ready!!

That is so funny. I have these visions of someone playing the guitar for years with a very tolerant snake inside and not knowing it was there. I will make sure to shake my guitar every time I play, like we used to check our boots for scorpions in the army.

Did you ever find out what the "screwy thing" was?

singemonkey

Fingerpicker wrote:
Viccy wrote: Turned it around and gave it a good shake and out fell a dried snake skin. It wasn't what caused the buzz obviously, I had to stick my hand in and tighten a little screwy thing, now it's all ready!!

snake inside and not knowing it was there. I will make sure to shake my guitar every time I play

Do the rattlesnake shake. It worked for Peter Green.

[deleted]

Did you ever find out what the "screwy thing" was?

From what I understand bridges are usually glued on, but this one seems to be screwed in, and the bit that was buzzing was a nut (if those flat things are nuts) on the bolt. Perhaps it was once an adjustable bridge, but not anymore because it seems pretty glued on now. Or it's just a cheap way of attaching a bridge, I don't know.

DonovanB

I think photos are in order... ?