• From: Tennessee
  • Registered: 2008-08-03
  • Posts: 125

Topic: Tuners

Hi fellow chordians, I've got a question about a tuner on my old cheap(this may be the key word smile) mandoline. The A strings will not hold their tuning. I can get it into tune, but as soon as you put your fingers on the strings,,,it's out,,,very frustrating. I'm not a very good player but I've had this mandoline for  several years and thought I'd pick it up and start playing but this tuner issue is driving me crazy. Is there a way to fix these tuners or do I just need to replace the tuner(s) with new ones?

"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did." Yogi Berra
"It's like deja vu all over again." Yogi Berra
and my personal favorite Yogi Berra quote: "Ninety percent of this game is half mental."
  • From: Western Oregon,US
  • Registered: 2008-07-22
  • Posts: 2,498

Re: Tuners

Hey Fatstrings,

  I'm not too familiar with Mandolins, but I would assume that they use the same kind of machines as any other steel stringed instrument.  Usually the machines last a real long time, or at least until the worm or sector gears get so worn that they skip under tension (kind of like a stripped bolt).  The other possibility and one that I have had with guitar strings is that when the wire is wound around the spool at the bridge end and dallied around the standing end they can start to un-twist.  If you keep tuning it up usually the string will eject from the peg with some force and eye hazard!  Leaving the little brass spool rattling around in the body of the instrument.

  A visual inspection of the tuners will let you see if they are worn out and just need replacement, but the string thing you can't see until the thing goes ballistic.  Have you put new strings on recently?  I have had the problem 3-4 times in 30 years and it didn't seem to be brand specific.  Just a thought.

Take Care;  Doug

"what is this quintessence of dust?"  - Shakespeare
  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: Tuners

Sounds like the tunning pegs to me as Doug said they do wear out after time depending on the quality of the tunners, my gibson mandolin was made in 1898 and stays in tune you can hear it on all the recordings I use a mandolin on (most recent is the session at traxx) I would check into the cost of replacing them if you plan on playing it more smile

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • From: Tennessee
  • Registered: 2008-08-03
  • Posts: 125

Re: Tuners

Thanx for the reply(s),,,These strings have been on there for quite some time. I think buying new tuners and strings might be the way to go, as Russell said, surely(and I'll stop calling you shirley lol ) tuners for a mandoline are not extremely expensive.

"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did." Yogi Berra
"It's like deja vu all over again." Yogi Berra
and my personal favorite Yogi Berra quote: "Ninety percent of this game is half mental."