jkmacman - Posted - 01/04/2011:  07:12:45

I have a very old mandolin. it's not a gibson but its very nice instrument bequethed to my wife from her's aunt's husband who was a doctor in nyc.

i play tenor and 5-string banjo, but often i play the mando when i want to pick a little quiter,or if i am goindg some where and don't wanna carry a heavy banjo.

the tuning pegs get stuck, can i put a few drops of lubricant in the gears. i have stuff i put on a bike chain is that suitable?

UsuallyPickin - Posted - 01/04/2011:  07:23:26

No bike chain lubricant is to heavy. A light sewing machine oil, 3 in 1 is one brand. Fishing reel oil sold in sporting goods departments is also good. Something light in color ... as light as cooking oil. One drop on each gear / worm intersect next time you change strings so it is spread evenly. R/

un5trung - Posted - 01/04/2011:  07:39:56

I have the same problem with two of the tuners on my vintage Gibson. In a related post concerning arthritis and tuning someone mentioned using a string winder to achieve the torque necessary to get the tuner moving which, so far, has worked for me. Best of luck --

mandoteacher - Posted - 01/04/2011:  12:16:13

my wife uses wd40

Edited by - mandoteacher on 01/04/2011 12:16:32

jkmacman - Posted - 01/04/2011:  13:37:29

i think i have some wd-40 around, back in the day i had one of those tuner mechanisms, mine was orange. i play mostly celtic with the mandolin, as its the same tuning as my tenor banjo, for a bluegrass sound i would definately opt for the 5-string since that's why i was borne with.

for celtic: i think (tenor) banjo and accordian sound good together, yet mando & diffle seems nice, perhaps i should play more mando since I married a fiddler

Red Henry - Posted - 01/04/2011:  17:29:43

Tuners on old mandolins often become difficult to turn, but don't force them-- adjust them. If your tuners have screws holding the spur gears in place on the back (most do), those can be used for tension adjustment:

Turn the mandolin over and put a small drop of oil on each tuner, at the junction of the spur gear and the worm gear. Then, use a screwdriver to make sure those four spur-gear screws on each side are tightened enough to hold themselves in securely, but not enough to bind the tuner so it won't turn. (If the tuners are old and corroded or just stuck, you might loosen all four gear-screws on each side and turn each tuner's shaft a lot of times-- with a string-winder if necessary-- until they all turn smoothly, and then tighten each screw again until it's snug.)

Re-check the gear screws from time to time to make sure they aren't either too tight for the tuner to turn easily, or loose enough to fall out.

Also, while we're on the subject of making the instrument easier to tune, you might put a bit of graphite (pencil lead is inelegant but works fine) in the bottom of the A and E strings' nut-slots whenever you change your strings, or every few months between changes, especially in the summer. This will help the strings slide through the nut properly, and keep you from false alarms wondering if you need new tuners.

There are some instrument experts in the country who can give much better advice than this, but I speak from just playing mandolins a lot for a long time!

Red

Edited by - Red Henry on 01/05/2011 02:23:06

srselby - Posted - 01/04/2011:  19:26:12

Word of caution: as you go back before 1900, instrument concert pitch standards were lower. A was less than the 440 cycles used now. If an instrument dates from 1860 or earlier (and many hand-me-down Italian mandolins do), their original pitch could have been 1 1/2 tones below modern concert pitch. It is possible to break an old mandolin by tuning to modern concert pitch unless an experienced luthier has 'certified' it.

Red Henry - Posted - 01/07/2011:  04:17:30

Good point. And it also brings up how the old Gibson mandolins, in particular, were designed to play at a different pitch than what they're tuned at now. But I suppose that's for a different thread!

Red

Mandolin Ant - Posted - 01/07/2011:  06:52:47

My Darlin' has an old Harmony. Made back in the 40's. A couple of the tuners are REAL hard to turn. One of them is kinda of chewed up. Looks like whoever had it before her tried to use a pair of pliers to crank it. Luckily, they didn't break it! A little 3 in 1 might help as suggested earlier. Maybe an adjustment in combo with some light lube will help.

Red Henry - Posted - 01/07/2011:  10:08:33

Sometimes it might be easier to just replace the tuners, but when that is not possible we need to find some way to loosen them up. I once had a mandolin with some old Klusons on it, which were really difficult to turn. So I took them off the mandolin, lubricated them, put each strip in a vise, and used an electric drill with a tuning key-socket in it to turn each key some hundreds of times. That did help make them all easier to turn.

Red

Edited by - Red Henry on 01/16/2011 18:16:27

Philphool - Posted - 01/16/2011:  14:31:54

Here's a link with more than you'd ever want to know about tuner maintenance, and tells why Tri-Flo lubricant is good. NFI

lutherie.net/tuner.maintenance.html

Scroll down the page.

Phil