S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge. - Guitar Repair and Maintenance

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

devi0us — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:58:43 +0000

Thanks guys, I just went to Home Depot today and bought TiteBond II Premium Wood Glue. Tomorrow night I'll sand, glue, and clamp. Even though the tuning peg is loose, it held the string in tune before, so I guess I have nothing to worry about. I'll post some pics when I get this fixed. (I hope!)

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

dogbite — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:09:22 +0000

as long as the tuning peg holds the string in tune you should not worry. you could pickup up some tuners and replace those old ones. I looked again at the picture of the peg. It appears to me that the crack is in a metal or plastic ring that sits down on the wood and not on the peg at all. If I'm not mistaken, that circle is just a way to direct the strings away from the wood and keep them higher on the peg as they are wound onto the peg. In other words, it's just a spacer. If the tuning peg functions properly and is solid, then dogbite's right - don't worry. Worst case is that the cracked ring in the exterior part of a sleeve goes thru to the back side. And even then, even if the crack goes all the way thru to the back side, it probably won't matter. Try it and see. If it does give a problem then a new sleeve and possibly tuner would be in order.

This is a classic learning technique used for centuries. Take it apart. And then put it back together. If it still works then you're smarter than the guy who has a pile of parts in a box :-) (and you also know a LOT more about it)

Got any aspirations toward engineering???

< insert the obligatory Dilbert-as-young-engineer video here >
that is what I meant. the ring is called a ferrule. the turning post movesd inside the ring. the ring stabilizes things, and, because the hole need is bigger thn the tuning post. the ferrule hides the edges of the hole.

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

unimogbert — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:32:41 +0000

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

dogbite — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:51:02 +0000

as long as the tuning peg holds the string in tune you should not worry. you could pickup up some tuners and replace those old ones.

http://www.stewmac.com

is a nice resource.

yes, leaving out a shim will bring the strings closer to the fret board. try it and see if it works for you.

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

devi0us — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:36:36 +0000

Wow, thanks for the quick and kind replies guys. This place is very nice indeed.

I called the saddle a bridge, haha. Yes, depending on what site I was reading, it told me to glue it in or just place it back in. Since I see there was no glue there, I won't glue it back in. I did read that if I wanted lower action, I can choose not to use one of the shims? The action on this guitar is kinda high compared to my friends acoustics.

I'm going to buy some wood glue and sand the nut area down to reglue it. As for the tuning post, it doesn't feel solid. I can turn the peg with ease, there's no resistance.

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

unimogbert — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:07:52 +0000

We now have pictures of why it's recommended to change strings one at a time.

It all looks simple to fix to me. Saddle and shims go back in the slot. The nut goes back in its slot (might have to sand off old glue for flatness).

Now you know more about how your guitar is put together than most anybody you'll meet :-)

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

Ricochet — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:55:53 +0000

The saddle shouldn't be glued in. It just sits in the slot in the bridge and is held down by the strings. Saddles are usually asymmetrical, so you'll have to get it turned the right way when it goes in. (The strings need to be a little higher on the bass side.) Just a tiny bit of glue's enough for the nut. The strings hold it in place, too, it's not under any force trying to pull it off when the guitar's tuned up for playing. If you've ever thought about trying nuts & saddles of different materials, this is a good time.

Re: S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

dogbite — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:23:10 +0000

nothing too serious. oh....welcome to the forum. it is really nice around here.

looks like the glue dried out. maybe the basement was damp and loosen the glue or the basement was dry and the glue became dessicate.
anyway. that is your saddle next to the bridge., the the wood strips look to be shims. the shims probably raised the saddle up so the strings cleared the frets.
glue them back on shims and saddle. I use titebond glue,but there are other glues.
the same thing happened to the nut. a little glue and the strings will hold that in place.
the crack around the ferrule is no biggy. if the tuning post feels solid dont worry.
that's my two cents.

S.O.S. Broken tuning peg, nut and bridge.

devi0us — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:13:06 +0000

Hi guys, I'm new to this site and to guitar in general... Sorta.

Back in 2000 when I was a sophmore in highschool I wanted to play guitar. Bad. I was newly inspired by the Smashing Pumpkins' Machina album, so I went to Sam Ash and bought a $99.99 Carlo Robelli acoustic guitar. I practiced for a few months then just stopped and stored it in the basement where it saw a little bit of action once every 2 years until now.

This time I really honestly wanted to learn and stick with it. I bought myself some Elixir Polyweb light strings and was ready to string it tonight. I took off the strings one by one to find that the nut fell off, the bridge fell off, and one of the tuning pegs is cracked and loose. This was definitely karma's work. Below are some pics I took with my cell phone (sorry bad quality).

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3593/dsc06678mx9.th.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/773/dsc06679vv6.th.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/6021/dsc06682cj5.th.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6792/dsc06681wn0.th.jpg

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/284/dsc06683dd0.th.jpg

I researched self repair for about an hour before finding this here fine site. I basically understand that I need to sand the nut and nut area and glue it back with wood glue. As for the bridge, I read that it can be glued but from what I can tell, it was never glued on. There's these two wood (veeer?) pieces that were in the slot that I had to shake out and I can't tell how they were seated originally, and if you look at the 3rd picture, the bottom side of the bridge is damaged looking. There's no sign of glue on the bridge or inside the slot at all. Finally, I have no idea what to do about the cracked tuning peg circle thing. I know its hard to see, but the crack is on the bottom right-hand side of the circle where the light reflection is seperated.

I understand self-repair can be risky and a repair shop can be costly. Should I just go for a new, better acoustic then? I feel awful I never used this one to its potential. Any help is greatly appreciated guys. Thank you in advance.