Anyway, ages ago, we did a whole series of posts on troubleshooting tuning problems. Right at the start of that, I mentioned that, if your guitar tuning slips as you play, it's almost certainly not the tuners that are the problem. Remember?

Well, it's true. While I'm going to talk a little about tuners not operating properly, that's typically something that causes problems actually getting in tune in the first place. Sticky, seized, dirty, sloppy tuners can make it a hassle (or even impossible) to tune up but, if you can get into tune, they still don't usually slip much.

No, I'm talking about those tuners that resist you as you try to tune up. Those tuners that just won't turn easily. In the worst cases, you'll worry that applying enough torque to actually move the string will be enough to break the tuner. There have been a few occasions I've had to cut a string under tension because I was too worried about breaking a tuner button if I forced it. Incidentally, I don't recommend this but, if you ever have to do it, take precautions to protect yourself and the guitar.

Most of the time, though, tuners just work. They're pretty simple devices and, considering what they go through, they tend to do their jobs incredibly well for very long periods of time. It's pretty typical for most players to never really worry about any sort of maintenance for their tuners. They just work. But sometimes, they don't. In some cases, that's because they were rubbish. Cheap tuners are a false economy. In other cases, age and environmental conditions combine so they start to seize.

So, what can we do?

Well, here's the first thing NOT to do: Do NOT—I repeat with bold text, NOT— squirt or spray them with oil. And especially don't be tempted to dig out the WD-40. Go on… Put it back in the cupboard.

Seriously.

WD-40 lubricant pools under tuner plates — Oils (especially WD-40) can seep into places you’d rather it didn’t seep.

Oils (and especially WD-40, which isn't really an oil) will just run and wick into places you'd rather oil wasn't. The image above is the headstock beneath a 3-tuner plate. Those are little pools of WD-40. It's wicked under the finish and into the wood. This really isn't good for finish or wood. The screw-holes were punky and softened in this case. This can be rectified but it's obviously much better to not have to deal with. Don't squirt oil on your tuners.

If you suspect your tuners are seizing or sticky, first slacken off the strings. Then try turning them again. If they're significantly easier to turn with no string tension, it might be that the problem doesn't lie with the tuner mechanism itself. More on that another time. For now, let's assume the tuners are still difficult to turn. Remove the tuners completely from the headstock. If there are press-fit bushings around the front, keep an eye on them. More than once, I've crawled around the floor trying to find one that fell out after string and tuners were removed.

Cleaning and lubricating open tuners

Let's deal with the open-backed tuners first; those with the gears exposed. Some models will have a pressed cover that fits over these gears when the tuner is screwed to the headstock (like the one below). It comes loose easily to reveal the workings.

removing guitar tuner cover for cleaning — Removing tuner cover

Start with a good cleaning. Naphta, or lighter fluid, is your friend here. Of course, I have to warn you that it's nasty stuff. It's obvsiouly very flammable so take precautions. It's also not something you really want on your skin, in your eyes, or in your lungs. At a minimum, work outside, and wear gloves and safety glasses.

Buy a cheap toothbrush and, using the naphtha, really clean these things. Scrub as much as you can into all the nooks and crannies. Much of the time, this will be enough to let things move a little more freely. If they tuners are really caked up, soak them in a jar, submerged in naphtha, overnight. Then repeat the toothbrush cleaning.

If you've still no joy, it's a pretty simple job to disassemble these tuners. You'll want a good-fitting screwdriver to remove the screw holding the round, pinion gear to the string post. Once done, everything should come apart like below.

disassembled tuner showing bearing surfaces to clean and lubricate — Bearing surfaces - clean here

Another cleaning with naphtha and toothbrush. Let them dry and then use some fine sandpaper (at least 1000-grit) to clean the metal-to-metal contact/bearing surfaces. The points indicated with arrows will rub as the tuners operate. Sand off whatever corrosion or roughness you can. Do both sides of the tuner plate. I'd really recommend working up through higher grits of sandpaper if you can—go to 1500 or 2000. Even use some MicroMesh to really polish these surfaces.

When you've gotten things as shiny as you can, give everything one more naphtha brushing to make sure there's no sanding residue hiding anywhere. Once dry, you can reassemble. Here's where we start our lubrication journey. Stop! Step away from that damn WD-40! We're going to add such a miserly amount of lubricant that, next Christmas, we may end up visited by three, oily ghosts.

And we're going to use something like Tri-Flow, which is a teflon/PTFE lubricant. Yes, it has some synthetic oil in it, but (a)it's not much and it's designed to evaporate off, leaving the PTFE stuff behind and (b)we're not using much anyway. You see, oil is not your friend for these jobs. It's messy, it seeps (see above) and it just sits there, gathering dust and stuff.

We'll use our PTFT lube and just apply the smallest drop to the post and the gear—where they contact the plate. A tiny, tiny drop. Then, we'll reassemble the tuner before checking to make sure nothing has seeped or pooled. Wipe it up with a cloth or cotton swab if it has.

All of this cleaning, polishing, and our incredibly frugal lubricating should have gone a long, long way towards a tuner that operates more freely. There are two more things to consider here to go the last mile.

First the worm gear. Let's drip another single drop of our PTFE lube in there. Then, turn the tuner a number of times to distribute it around the worm and the pinion gear. Using a string winder helps do this quickly. Again, only the smallest amount of lubricant here. No pools.

Last points for lubing are the little hooked mounts for the tuner post.

Reassembled guitar tuner showing post lubrication points — Lube the posts here

The tuner post bears against these little hooks as you tune up or down and it's actually a prime spot for trouble. It's hard to do anything with other than clean with our naphtha-brush and add a little PTFE lube too.

So do that. One drop only to each. Then a good winding on the post to distribute it. Again, check for any seepage.

Tri-Flow is available all over the place in a little applicator with a thin nozzle. It's great for pin-point applications like this. If you can't get that, spray or squirt some PFTE lube into a small container and use a toothpick or similar to apply a drop at a time. Don't lazily just spray everything in sight.

A last reminder: Avoid other oils and greases here. No Vaseline. No silicone-based stuff. No bloody WD-40. Actually, I think WD-40 makes a specific PTFE lubricant. That should be ok but just not the 'standard' WD-40. It's great for many things but not for most guitar work.

And that should do it. All going well, you should have a nice, spinny tuner. These open tuners are relatively straightforward. Next time, we'll look at some more complicated stuff.

This article written by Gerry Hayes and first published at hazeguitars.com

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