Do open back tuners need to be lubricated periodically?

[GTRGUY005]

If so, how often and what is the best lubricant?

[JayBee1404]

Popcorn me please...

[GTRGUY005]

Oops...I didn't realize with was one of THOSE topics.

I guess it's up there with...

Should I oil my fretboard?
Is it OK to take all the strings off when changing them?
Safe to hang my guitar on the wall?
Martin vs. Taylor
Humidity
Zager
etc....

[JonWint]

"TUNING MACHINE MAINTENANCE
Tuning machines normally need very little care other than
periodic lubrication. Enclosed machines, the type with a cover
over the gears, are lubricated by the manufacturer, but the
open type should be lubricated once or twice a year. Just put
a little household petroleum jelly on the end of a toothpick
and place the jelly in the gears. Be careful not to use too much
because it catches dust which can wear out the machines."

Courtesy of Martin: https://www.martinguitar.com/media/9...-guide_web.pdf

[JayBee1404]

Stew-Mac claim that their Waverly tuners don’t need any sort of lubrication but, being old and an ex-engineering apprentice instilled with the ‘old-school’ principle that ‘if it moves, lubricate it’, I give the Waverlys on my two Martins a tiny smidgeon of Vaseline, applied using a tooth-pick right where the worm meets the gear, maybe once a year or so.

[Monts]

I've used Tune it lubricant made by Music Nomand, just a drop, works well.

[redir]

For open back tuners I like to use a "dry" lube like Tri-Flow. Open back tuners collect more dust in the air and it will stick to grease. For the closed back Kluson type tuners with the little grease port I will use a synthetic bearing grease used in bicycle hubs and that sort of thing. Since I have several bikes and ride often I have this stuff around. But it seems that anything you can get in a bike shop works pretty well.

In the end though any of those mentioned so far will work

[Brent Hahn]

I recently bought and then sold a guitar with open Waverlys on it, and a couple of them were binding. But it wasn't because they needed lube, near as I could tell, it was because the metallurgy wasn't up to snuff. The threads were, for lack of a better term, "soft." Like Home Depot screws compared to the screws you'd find in a 50-year-old piece of furniture or a vintage German microphone.

[Frank Ford]

I'd be very surprised to see Waverly gears made with inferior materials. Stainless worms running against brass cogs are classic low-friction pals.

They are, however very sensitive to precise alignment of mounting holes and can jam easily if the post hole isn't exactly vertical, etc. They are lubed at the factory and generally don't need much attention.

Most open gears live their entire lives without any lubrication at all - what a hardship for their worms, cogs and bearings!

Here in the repair shop we do a LOT of restringing for players, and it's customary for us to add a drop of oil to all the moving parts of open gears when we do that service whether or not there is a complaint about how well the gears work.

Periodic lubrication would be a good idea - say twice a decade, for example. That would provide an order of magnitude more lube than most open tuners ever see. Nothing quite like that grinding feeling with 40-year old open gears that were never oiled.

Our favorite lube is NOT dry - it's Tri-Flow, an oil with teflon added, which comes in convenient clean little bottles. It can collect a bit of dust, but I've yet to see any real problems in that regard. Any excess dribbled on the finish is easily and safely wiped off.

Now, if you go to the beach and stick your guitar peghead in the sand, you'll get some serious grit in the mechanism, but you don't do THAT, right?

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Frank Ford

I'd be very surprised to see Waverly gears made with inferior materials.

I was surprised, too.

[Silly Moustache]

All of my flat tops have open tuning machines, and most are Waverlies. I think I was told to buy/use triflow on the old Collings forum, so I got some - imported from the US.

Waverley machines maybe the industry standard but they are not perfect, and do failoccasionally as I have experienced - Stewmac replace without fuss, but that may not help on the night! Some of mine were a little clunky on a recent string change - time foe a touch of something thinks I.

[redir]

I love Waverly but I must say I have been having issues with them lately. Specifically their Sloane tuners and the Banjo tuners. But yes Stewmac will replace ASAP no questions asked so it's hard to complain about the service. And it could have just been a bad few sets but it's all been within the last year.

[leew3]

+1 for a sparing application of Triflow. a little dab'l do ya!

[GTRGUY005]

Thanks for the advice. I’m going to look into Tri-flow

[Simon Fay]

As Frank mentioned, Tri-Flow is what you want to use. Just a drop or two and not very often - once every few years is more than sufficient for the limited amount of movement a tuning gear will receive in that timeframe.