Embiggening tuner holes on a headstock

[58Bassman]

I bought a Squire Paranormal Offset Tele and as I expected, the tuners are less than great. I can turn the low E 45° or more before the capstan starts to rotate, so I picked up a set of these- Fender 0990818000 (link at the bottom) locking tuners, which need larger holes at the backside of the headstock. I used a reamer for the first one, but will need to grind some material off, to prevent making the hole larger at the face of the headstock and the ferrules fit the original holes, so I want to maintain the diameter. I would rather have straight holes, rather than tapered and I know drill bits exist for this- they have a straight pilot (the ones I have seen aren't meant for precision) and the drill itself starts a bit back from the tip. I'm going to start the next one with the reamer and once it's large enough, follow that with a drill bit in a holder for a tap (for threading holes), so it's not driven by a machine. I may use a Forstner bit if my smaller ones are the correct diameter.

I sold my Strat Plus last year and it had LSR tuners- if I had known the store I sold it to was going to lie to me and take them off so they could make more on the sale, I would have dropped the $65 and kept those- they were the best tuners I have ever used.

I was never a fan of slotted tuners and I really liked the lack of lash in the LSRs, so I'm hoping these will come close to those WRT not needing to retune.

What do youse use?

Locking Stratocaster®/Telecaster® Tuning Machine Sets | Parts

Locking Stratocaster®/Telecaster® Staggered Tuning Machines (Black) (6)

www.fender.com

 

[WalthamMoosical]

How much bigger do you need to make the holes? In such situations where the "tapered" part of "tapered reamer" is not what I want, I instead wrap sandpaper around a dowel and run that around inside the hole. (If you need to enlarge the hole by a lot, this method might be too slow & tedious.)

 

[Peegoo]

You can use a stepped "cone" or "Christmas tree" drill. These are designed to cut holes in thin materials, but if you get one that has long sections (like the little one below), it works for headstocks if you drill from the front and then the back.

The beauty of these is they won't 'screw' themselves into the wood and pull chips out of the face of the headstock.

 

[Greenmachine]

I might use a drill press and a Brad point drill bit.

 

[trandy9850]

Don’t use a drill of any kind to ream out the holes…use a rat tail file….slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Boreas]

Tapered reamer has been my tool of choice for hundreds of years. Just keep flip-flopping front to back. It is very zen and satisfying. But if you are in a hurry, use a drill press - taking every precaution to avoid chipping.

 

[ChicknPickn]

 

[Freeman Keller]

I'm with Boreas and Chicken, the correct tool is a reamer. Depending on the style of tuner you can either use a tapered one to enlarge the entire hole or a special one for press in bushings. They are expensive and unfortunately different manufacturers use different sizes - I had to buy three for the tuners I use. But this is the correct tool and you will not damage your head.

 

[Boreas]

I'm with Boreas and Chicken, the correct tool is a reamer. Depending on the style of tuner you can either use a tapered one to enlarge the entire hole or a special one for press in bushings. They are expensive and unfortunately different manufacturers use different sizes - I had to buy three for the tuners I use. But this is the correct tool and you will not damage your head.

View attachment 1084446

I have one like Chicken posted. I think it was only about $15. Probably because guitars are not mentioned on the package. Just a plain-old reamer that I also use to modify Bigsbys to install bearings. Different than less-tapered peghead and bridge pin reamers needed by luthiers.

 

[Chuckster]

Use a round-edge reamer, not a standard metal reamer: it's rounded so the hole stays centered.

 

[RogerC]

I use a specially modified brad point drill bit. I used one for the larger diameter and then chucked it in the drill press, and with my Dremel held in a vise, I ground down the end to the smaller diameter needed. It works perfectly and wasn't hard to make at all.

 

[brookdalebill]

View attachment 1084408

Yeah, dat’ it!

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I have both step drills and a reamer like shown in post #7 by Chickn'...which I would use would depend upon the situation. The reamer is best for minor tweaking. The step drills are best for actually changing the size of the hole up a step such as one might need to do if moving from some older format of tuner to a modern 10mm design.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I use a specially modified brad point drill bit. I used one for the larger diameter and then chucked it in the drill press, and with my Dremel held in a vise, I ground down the end to the smaller diameter needed. It works perfectly and wasn't hard to make at all.

Here is the commercial version. The blue tape is a depth flag

 

[2HBStrat]

I bought a Squire Paranormal Offset Tele and as I expected, the tuners are less than great. I can turn the low E 45° or more before the capstan starts to rotate, so I picked up a set of these- Fender 0990818000 (link at the bottom) locking tuners, which need larger holes at the backside of the headstock. I used a reamer for the first one, but will need to grind some material off, to prevent making the hole larger at the face of the headstock and the ferrules fit the original holes, so I want to maintain the diameter. I would rather have straight holes, rather than tapered and I know drill bits exist for this- they have a straight pilot (the ones I have seen aren't meant for precision) and the drill itself starts a bit back from the tip. I'm going to start the next one with the reamer and once it's large enough, follow that with a drill bit in a holder for a tap (for threading holes), so it's not driven by a machine. I may use a Forstner bit if my smaller ones are the correct diameter.

I sold my Strat Plus last year and it had LSR tuners- if I had known the store I sold it to was going to lie to me and take them off so they could make more on the sale, I would have dropped the $65 and kept those- they were the best tuners I have ever used.

I was never a fan of slotted tuners and I really liked the lack of lash in the LSRs, so I'm hoping these will come close to those WRT not needing to retune.

What do youse use?

Locking Stratocaster®/Telecaster® Tuning Machine Sets | Parts

Locking Stratocaster®/Telecaster® Staggered Tuning Machines (Black) (6)

www.fender.com

A bastard file...

 

[58Bassman]

How much bigger do you need to make the holes? In such situations where the "tapered" part of "tapered reamer" is not what I want, I instead wrap sandpaper around a dowel and run that around inside the hole. (If you need to enlarge the hole by a lot, this method might be too slow & tedious.)

I don't actually need taper- changing from the vintage style tuners to the locking tuners requires boring the hole to 10mm from 7mm, but not all the way through because the new ferrules fit the smaller holes. While I could do it using my drill press, I would need to put it on its stand and set it up again- with my bad knee, that's extremely difficult and for me, it would be dangerous. I suppose I could have made a guide and probably will if I need to do this again.

I have a drill bit that's extremely close to the size needed for the tuner to fit, so I used the reamer to make the hole large enough to start the drill bit and ran the drill in reverse, so the bit wouldn't draw itself through the hole and tear out on the top of the peghead. I use pilot point bits, which have a scoring edge, similar to brad point bits. I could have used a depth stop, but that would have required searching for some that fit the bits.

 

[58Bassman]

A bastard file...

You take that back!

How about a fargin' bastige file?

 

[58Bassman]

Here is the commercial version. The blue tape is a depth flag View attachment 1085305

I know someone who owns a machine shop- I think I'l talk to him about grinding a drill bit so it has a pilot at the end. I'll make depth stops from HDPE or something that won't mar the finish.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I don't actually need taper- changing from the vintage style tuners to the locking tuners requires boring the hole to 10mm from 7mm, but not all the way through because the new ferrules fit the smaller holes. While I could do it using my drill press, I would need to put it on its stand and set it up again- with my bad knee, that's extremely difficult and for me, it would be dangerous. I suppose I could have made a guide and probably will if I need to do this again.

I have a drill bit that's extremely close to the size needed for the tuner to fit, so I used the reamer to make the hole large enough to start the drill bit and ran the drill in reverse, so the bit wouldn't draw itself through the hole and tear out on the top of the peghead. I use pilot point bits, which have a scoring edge, similar to brad point bits. I could have used a depth stop, but that would have required searching for some that fit the bits.

I know someone who owns a machine shop- I think I'l talk to him about grinding a drill bit so it has a pilot at the end. I'll make depth stops from HDPE or something that won't mar the finish.

The one that I showed are the StewMac units that I referenced earlier. There are several sizes to fit the different size bushings used by different manufacturers (wouldn't it be nice if there was a standard?). They all have a 1/4 inch pilot and then the reamer at the size for the bushing - the largest is 9.98mm (remember that the bushings have fluting that locks them in place).

The reamers are expensive but like any good tool, they are the correct way to do this and mine have paid for themselves easily.

Peghead Bushing Reamers - StewMac

Our custom-sized counterbore reamers ensure that your press-fit tuner bushings will fit correctly.

www.stewmac.com

 

[58Bassman]

The one that I showed are the StewMac units that I referenced earlier. There are several sizes to fit the different size bushings used by different manufacturers (wouldn't it be nice if there was a standard?). They all have a 1/4 inch pilot and then the reamer at the size for the bushing - the largest is 9.98mm (remember that the bushings have fluting that locks them in place).

The reamers are expensive but like any good tool, they are the correct way to do this and mine have paid for themselves easily.

Peghead Bushing Reamers - StewMac

Our custom-sized counterbore reamers ensure that your press-fit tuner bushings will fit correctly.

www.stewmac.com

The problem with reamers is that the taper can mess with areas that don't need to change, like my Squire. The tuners are in, I fought with it a it but I was careful. If I have to do it again, I'll plan ahead and make a clamp-on guide for the drill bit, with a depth stop.

I was being impatient- if this had been for a customer, I would have done it differently.

Now that I have done this, it showed me that I really need some drill guides and depth stops for my brad point and other bits.