Hi all,
I found some information on CBGs (this forum, for example) a few weeks ago and have started building my first one!
However, I have one question about tuners and bushings. I found some epiphone tuners (similar to the one on the picture below), but without bushings. Are the bushings very important or do you thing I can live without them? I'm not really exactly sure if the bushings are mostly cosmetic or if they help keeping the string in tuning or something like that.
Kind regards,
Jonas
Replies
Absolutely not necessary... I do it ALL the time on my slide kits...
The tuner in the picture of your post probably doesn't accept or need bushings, Jonas. If there's no thread on the tuner post to receive a bushing then you don't need to add one. I've built guitars using tuners with and without bushings and it's never been an issue. If you want the aesthetic look of bushings maybe look for some washers in the size of your tuner post (over in the UK we'd call the drill bit for most tuners I've found either a number 6 or number 8 drill bit. I think that's millimetres). If you're not interested in the aesthetic of tuner bushings you're good to go.
Enjoy the build my good man! All the best.
Bear :0)
The lack of a bushing should make no difference for tuning. That said keep your string windings to a minimum and don't overlap them and always tune 'up' to a note.
All right, that sounds good. I could of course always just buy some bushings at the local guitar store, I guess. But is the bushing then primarily a means to protect the wood and to make sure that the string tension doesn't enlarge the hole of the tuners?
Bushings help prevent binding. Probably not needed but they look good and they're inexpensive so why not use them?
No, it's just that no shops have them, so I would have to order them online. I'm just being a bit impatient because I already have some things from C. B. Gitty waiting for me in the customs in Copenhagen. But maybe my guitar shop have some used ones anyways, that is not just on their webpage.