Zircote / Adirondack Style 5 Terz

[charangohabsburg]

Maybe I am just a bloody ignorant, but I never before heard or read of, or have seen bushings on slotted pegheads. Maybe my ignorance is due to that I come from the classical guitar, where the nylon tuner cylinders don't cause much friction with the wood, and also come from the charango where non custom made tuners always suck because of overall poor performance (keep in mind that in Bolivia, even strings are a mayor contributor to the total cost of a charango, and that most tuning machines for charangos cost about the same a a set of strings...).

Now I am curious about two things:

1. Are metal tuning posts told to be sometimes a problem regarding too much friction or wear?
2. Allen, were your bushings (those you installed never again) made of metal?

[Allen]

Yes they were metal and were pressed into the middle web of the head stock. Looked like any metal bushing that you would see with tuners that require a precisely drilled hole and a press fit. It was the first time I had done a slot head and they came in the pack so just assumed that they had to go in. As you can imagine, pressing them in that location was a real challenge, and one I'll never do again. I really don't see a need for them.

[charangohabsburg]

Yes they were metal and were pressed into the middle web of the head stock.

Oh, that sounds like there was just one bushing per tuner post, leaving the outer hole in the headstock somewhat oversized... If this is true then maybe the bushings were provided in case someone would want to mount the machines like this:

Charango Waldo Panozo, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2011_D70_3732.jpg (44.48 KiB) Viewed 4881 times

[Allen]

I never really thought of that option, but then again I'm not really the type of guy that thinks that far out of the box.