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Hear Ye! Hear Ye!...(Martin Owners)


merseybeat1963

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For those of you who have Martins with the vintage open back style "CF Martin " marked tuners....

listen to headstock closely when plucking strings..usually G String..

If you hear rattling..this is why..

Martin uses a little washer/ring between tuner bushings & headstock( on face side of headstock).

When bushing lifts a bit...this washer rattles.

If you pick at this washer you can see it move.

I have searched & found this issue so common.

So common that the repair guy I called was about to address this by replacing the tuners with Waverly version & removing washers for a lady on her Martin.

 

Fear not,removal of washer will solve rattle ,so you dont have to buy new tuners..they can even some how do a solution keeping washers in there I understand.

But I elected to change to Waverlys cause the Martin branded Gotoh tuners always felt cheap the moment I touched em.

 

I may sell this D42 Custom Shop guitar,and I sure rather not spend the $275 on tuner job these days, but spending $60-75 on securing washers/bushings..and not making a real improvement is wasted money.

The non gold ones (a good $50 less) are on my Huss & Dalton and those are the ones. : )

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So the Wavery replacements went in today...

For some reason there is more of an improvement in tone than the "little better" I got out of the replacement Ivory Pins & Saddle..!

The rattling is gone now that washers are removed but everything sounds tighter & bassier as well.

 

Why.. I don't know...its possible its the heavier bushing, knob & stem maybe..

But I think its the tight fit.

**Martin it seems drills the holes a touch large on these open back tuners so's to skip the individual hand reaming at final fit...

my bushings were all coming up out of holes & many online have complained they'res are so loose they just fall out if string was not there to hold them in.

Way to solve this is spec the guitar with the flimsey Gotoh/Martin Branded ones..when you get it , have a good guy put in the slightly larger bushing Waverly's with light hand reaming.

Because If you spec em from Martin they, I have read, drill the hole yet larger, and you'll still end up with loose bushings...America is becoming allergic to hand work.

 

Though I think most of the upgrade here was the tight proper hand fitting of bushings that Martin seems to fore go..

Anyone that considers the Japanese Gotoh anything more than a cheap immitation is mistaken.

Just about everything about the Waverly is more substancial than the Gotoh..its so obvious in nearly every detail.

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