One small victory - slipping friction tuner finally sorted

One small step for a seasoned ukulele player, one giant leap for yours truly - the slipping friction tuner (original, I believe) on my vintage 1920's Slingerland Maybelle banjo-uke is finally fixed, and I have done it myself...

I had already fixed it up to a point... after real problems with it when I first had the uke about three months ago, when it wouldn't hold at all, and then I couldn't even remove it from the headstock because it was stuck... but at that time with a little helpful advice and direction from my friends in the UU Forum, I got it out, stripped it down, put it back with a thin rubber washer - and it would hold in C tuning. But it wouldn't hold in D.

On advice at the weekend from a very seasoned player, (read my last posts about the GFS meeting) I went off yesterday in search of a more substantial washer, to put just below the button of the tuner, to lengthen it and give room for the screw to screw down a bit further.

The man in the local model train shop turned out his stock of little brass washers for me - but they were all too small - a bore of 2/8" is too small for the tuner to go through. Next to one of those great hardware shops - the sort that's independently owned by a little man who still stocks bits and bobs of all sorts, and an Aladdin's cave of plumbing and electrical parts...

He, too, was so helpful - fetched a drawer full of fibre washers - all far too big and all the same size - but he patiently ferreted around in the bottom of it, looking for tiny ones, and turned up a few possibles - and just one that looked perfect; smaller than my little finger-nail, made of leather, and just the size hole in the middle that meant it only just fitted, pushed on hard. What a hero! Perfect! And back at home, that worked perfectly. The tuner no longer slips, and holds the tuning so that I can tune in D if I want.



Here you can see the tuner with the washer, showing how it gives extra length for the screw at the top of the button to turn. The photo also shows one of the other tuners, which is fine.

One small success with one small job. The big job - big for me, at least - with the banjo-uke still looms large and rather scary.... and will probably have to wait a bit...

I gaze at my Slingerland banjo-uke with slight trepidation...

More problems with that friction tuner - and adjustments to the vellum and tension hooks?.....aaaaaagh!

At the GFS meeting on the weekend, I realised I'd still got problems with my little 1920's Slingerland Maybelle when I found that I needed to tune it in D for the "Thrash". The Thrash is where anybody with a banjolele or uke can get up, join the peformers at the front, and simply join in as best they can, playing the songs. It's enormous fun - but you have to be tuned in D. Why tune in D? I'll come to that later.

So - as she was tuned in C, I tried to tighten the strings up to a whole tone higher. The C string wouldn't hold it. I went on the hunt for a helpful soul with a screwdriver to tighten the screw on the friction tuner. Someone had a Swiss Army knife, and Peter Nixon kindly used it to tighten the screw - thank you, gentlemen; success, it holds. Then to the E string tuner, the one I had such a problem with when I first had the uke about three months ago. I fixed it that time, well enough to hold the E note.... I stripped the tuner down and made some little thin rubber washers, and that worked, well enough to tune the instrument in C - but it will not hold a higher note at all, the added tension is just too strong. And the screw will not tighten any more.

Dennis Mitchell, the Chairman of the GFS, is such a kind man. He was next to me in the tea queue at break, and had noticed my little Slingerland in the Thrash. I told him about the problem tuning it in D. "Come on, let me have a look at it..."

So he looked her over and gave me a complete appraisal... I need to find some tiny washers to lengthen the tuner, to give the offending screw more room, so that it will tighten a little more - should be simple enough. Apparently a model shop is the place to get the right washers.

It's the rest of it that's frightening me...
My Slingerland is a model 18, with sixteen tension hooks. A few of the bolts holding the tension hooks to the body of the uke are not flush to the wood, and need tightening up. But I need to take the strings off and loosen off the vellum before I tighten them up. When I put the vellum back, apparently I need to get the metal rim round the top pushed further down than it is at present. Dennis thought it shouldn't hold too many terrors for me......! Which was rather reassuring, but - looking at it, I think that's not going to be easy - for me, a complete banjo-uke novice. Beacause I just don't think it's going to "go"... but it needs to be tackled, so when I've psyched myself up, I shall make a start.... cross your fingers for me!
Now then, where's me tool-kit......