steel-string slot head

[keith angus]

Can anyone give me a source for bushings/inserts to install in the string-post holes on a slot-head steel string that is using GOTOH open-gear tuners? Any P-3's (Pesky Potential Prob.'s) to watch out for when installing these? Thanx...Guitarelic

[William F.Eden]

 I just use the same ones I use for any solid head piece that fit the tuner shafts  .Bill............

[Paul Hostetter]

If you're starting from scratch, and the headstock wood is substantial, you shouldn't need bushings at all.

If you insist on using them, there are some nice solutions, such as:

In this photo you see a double set of bushings for each machine. The one on the outer face of the slot (which you see on the bass side) is completely unnecessary, except for aesthetic reasons. The one on the inner face does a real job, and the only way to drill the correct hole for that is from the outside, which leaves identical holes on both surfaces.

The tuner housing itself is really all the support the shaft needs at that end, so that outer bushing is decorative at best.

The one on the inside (what you see here on the receiving end of the treble-side tuners) has a reason to exist. Spacing and alignment of the holes you drill is critical, as you are creating potentially unforgiving friction surfaces.

The better solution, time-tested and so on, is the way Martin and many others have done it for generations:

Just drill your holes carefully. I also feel 3-plate tuners are way better than three singles.

The reason for the Dupont solution was to accommodate the end of the shaft that was originally intended for a flat headstock, which has a different shape, as you can see in the lower right of this diagram.

[Kerry Krishna]

Paul, that was a terrific post ...Again! 

[Russell Vance]

Agreed - more applause - I learn more in a minute here than I do in day everywhere else.  Rusty.

[Dan Pennington]

And drill the tuner shaft holes BEFORE you rout the slots.  Prevents blow out inside the slots.  Difficult to repair.

[keith angus]

Gentlemen: Thanx ever so much for the incredible and informative response! I love this site; the knowledge & EXPERIENCE available here never fails to amaze me. I guess I should have been more exact in my post, however. What I'm dealing with is a 'STRATFORD'  D made in Czecho' and  it seems that the slot-head was built cutting theslots FIRST and then drilling the post-holes as there is some unslightly 'Blow-out' inside the slots. Also, Furch's shop installed some long tubular  inserts into the inside (center) holes that protrude along ways into the slots forcing some of the string windings (D&G) sideways at an (I.M.H.O.) undesirable angle.  So; WHERE can I obtain the type of shallow saucer shaped bushings that I see in the pix that were posted? Thanx again...Guitarelic

[Paul Hostetter]

Old bushings in busy shops usually end up in a small box somewhere. Ask your local busy shop.

You really might do better by plugging and redrilling the holes accurately and skipping the bushing idea altogether. 

[Christian Johnson]

Try Allparts.