Sperzel Locking Tuners

[stratoskier]

Greetings,

I bought a set of used Sperzel staggered height 6-in-line tuners for a project guitar awhile back. I just got around to putting them on, and I have a problem with the 3 lower ones. On all 3, turning the gnurled knob all the way fails to drive the little internal pin up far enough to lock the string. In fact, the knob doesn't turn far enough for the knob base to lay flush with the housing like they usually do. Turning the knob all the way, you still can't see the pin enter the hole in the post (the hole where the string runs). Bummer...

So it looks to me like somehow the thing the knob threads into (the gizmo inside the housing) must have gotten backed out too far. The question is, how on earth would you get the internal parts back deeper into the housing? I'm guessing that I've diagnosed this right, but I may be way off. Anybody got any suggestions? One thought was to make a new pin longer than the existing one (cut a finish nail or something), but that's a pretty lame solution.

Thanks,

Bert

[frank falbo]

In the short term, can you switch the bottom three with the top three, so they have thicker strings in them? Or are they staggered post heights, and therefore "unswitchable?"

You can take a Sperzel mostly apart, perhaps you could see in there then, although I realize the part you want to see is pretty much enclosed. The thumbwheel is designed not to come out all the way. Maybe try some lube in there to see if the pins are just stuck.

[stratoskier]

Hi Frank,

I figured if anybody answered it would be you! Well, I diagnosed the problem some more, and it turns out that the threads on the thumbscrews of the lower tuners are bunged up. If I substitute a thumbscrew from another tuner, they all work fine. I emailed TK Instruments who seems like the main dealer of custom Sperzel tuners and parts, and was told that they probably don't sell the thumbscrews separately. So I may try to clean up the threads, but I expect they're an oddball thread and I may not be able repair them. Oh well, the moral is that whenever I buy used hardware I should immediately check it out thoroughly.

Bert

[javacody]

I would contact sperzel if I were you. I bet they sell replacement thumbscrews. The thumbscrew is the only piece on the tuner that could really get lost.