PSA: 10 minute, £8 MASSIVE improvement to headless bridges

DrBob

I did this to my R trem and would agree that it’s deffo an improvement with the one caveat that with these trems it’s already quite easy to wind the tuner a bit too far when you’re trying to get the claw out from under the plate to change strings and have the tuning claw come off the end of the thread. 

By adding the washers you are effectively shortening the threaded section inside the body of the trem and making it even easier for the claw to jump off if you’re not careful. 

Offset

Eeeek.  Washers/bearings have arrived but when I tried to remove the first tuner on my Synapse, the claw detaches but the tuner just spins freely and doesn't unscrew from the bridge itself.  Any ideas?!

mrkb

Fit my spirit GTpro fine- great upgrade on the original dual plastic washers set up p. Many thanks!

Offset

I must be doing something suitably fuckwitted - will have a more concerted bash this weekend :-(

Keefy

Ooh that’s worth a try. One of my many back-burner projects is to strip down my Spirit and lube the tuner threads with candle wax but I’m waiting on a string adaptor from Bax Shop.

Any tips for getting the vibrato to stay vaguely in tune or is that a lost cause?

mrkb

Keefy said:

Ooh that’s worth a try. One of my many back-burner projects is to strip down my Spirit and lube the tuner threads with candle wax but I’m waiting on a string adaptor from Bax Shop.

Any tips for getting the vibrato to stay vaguely in tune or is that a lost cause?

I had lubed the entire tuner assembly with Vaseline, and it was still difficult to turn. These make really easy to adjust.

I don’t use the trem, the little arm that locks the trem in place is pushed into the back of the trem block.

I only use it when away from home on business trips or holidays, so don’t need trem.

mrkb

Offset said:

I must be doing something suitably fuckwitted - will have a more concerted bash this weekend :-(

On mine the tuning heads just pull straight out once they’ve been unscrewed from the string retainers, but mine is the cheaper licences version of the trem.

Offset

mrkb said:

Offset said:

I must be doing something suitably fuckwitted - will have a more concerted bash this weekend :-(

On mine the tuning heads just pull straight out once they’ve been unscrewed from the string retainers, but mine is the cheaper licences version of the trem.

Maybe I wasn't being assertive enough 

carlos

mrkb said:

Offset said:

I must be doing something suitably fuckwitted - will have a more concerted bash this weekend :-(

On mine the tuning heads just pull straight out once they’ve been unscrewed from the string retainers, but mine is the cheaper licences version of the trem.

My two are the original, USA-made ones, and they pull straight out, too. I don't know if the Synapse is different or not.

Offset

Dunno if mine is US made or not but it doesn't say 'Under Licence'.  Basic design seems the same and if @mrkb 's Spirit works like yours, I can't see why mine won't.

Now where are those pliers...

GuyBoden

Great idea. Works on my cheap bridge copy too.

I added a drop of mineral oil onto each bearing.

I always think that Ball bearings need a drop of oil to run smoothly.

Keefy

carlos said:

If you have a headless bridge that has tuners like this
You might have been frustrated at how stiff they are which makes tuning precisely a bit of an effort. Too weak a turn and the thing doesn't move; too strong a turn and it overshoots correct tuning. Thankfully, I discovered recently that there's an easy way to improve them using ball bearings. And when I write improvement, I mean a massive improvement. As accurate and precise as a top of the range Floyd microtuner and easy to do.
First, you'll need some bearings. I got these from Amazon but you might find them elsewhere. Size is F3-8M.
Remove the tuner (note that there's no need to change strings as you can put it back in the claw)

Bearings go in (you can keep the existing spacer if you want)

And back it goes

All tuners with ball bearings now and a much nicer guitar to work with. Total time less than 10 minutes.

Can you get away with fitting just the yellow metal middle sections of these i.e. the ball races themselves?

GuyBoden

Keefy said:

Can you get away with fitting just the yellow metal middle sections of these i.e. the ball races themselves?

I tried that, the brass split and the ball bearings fell out when the tuner was tightened. I found that you needed the hardened steel ball race washers either side for strength. I had a pack of 10, so I had spares to experiment.

Keefy

GuyBoden said:

Keefy said:

Can you get away with fitting just the yellow metal middle sections of these i.e. the ball races themselves?

I tried that, the brass split and the ball bearings fell out when the tuner was tightened. I found that you needed the hardened steel ball race washers either side for strength. I had a pack of 10, so I had spares to experiment.

Cool, thanks.

Keefy

Ordered.

Keefy

...and  installed. Much better, thanks @carlos !

carlos

Keefy said:

...and  installed. Much better, thanks @carlos !

I'm glad it's helped you!

GuyBoden

Thrust bearings work well on other headless guitar bridges too. Just measure the outside diameter of your bridge tuner threads for the correct thrust bearing inner diameter.

Edit: Make sure the outer thrust bearing diameter is not too large.  

Roland

These make a massive difference. It makes me wonder why they aren’t fitted as standard. Having recently played a guitar fitted with the Nova tuners, which come with ball races, I’ve just fitted a set to my Hipshot bridge. They make a big improvement. 

Flip

I'm not an engineer and probably for that reason thought that ball bearings in these devices meant some sort of race. Clearly I'm wrong but with that background can I ask this erudite group a simple question?

Does the ball bearing (singular) simply sit in between the threaded piece and the inner workings - a spacer I assume from the text?

If so, can I make a similar modification to a different type of tuner on a headless guitar I have (a unit made under licence from a South Korean firm). That is equipped with a tiny handle that is held in storage on the side of the tuning unit magnetically. Many thanks.