Tuners, serious problem

nrssab

nrssab

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Hello!
I bought a used Warwick over ebay and it wouldn't stay in tune at all, after unstringing the bass and looking more carefully I noticed something not so pleasant. The tuners were actually moving around. I took one off and noticed that the hole for fitting the tuner is far too big, I have no idea how this could happen, the tuners are originally from warwick and one can see from the holes that there has not been a second drilling, all seems to be original.
I got some power tape to wrap around the part of the tuners that rest in the hole to make them wider. Now they fit quite well and won't move anymore. Just when I tried to fix them properly I noticed that one can't because somebody had already tried this, without an idea what he is doing, so the thread of the the nut has been turned off.
I would like to ask warwick to replace these four tuners or at least give me a discount for acquiring new ones.
Also and explanation for why the holes have been drilled with a much bigger diameter than the diameter of the tuners would be nice, are there any wider tuners that would fit better inside?

Thank you very much. Best Regards,
Norman
 
Remove the tuners, glue in new wood, drill new (smaller) holes in the same location, fit the tuners.
I don't know if you're a handy guy, if not let a luthier do it.
 
DiMarco said:
Remove the tuners, glue in new wood, drill new (smaller) holes in the same location, fit the tuners.
I don't know if you're a handy guy, if not let a luthier do it.
Click to expand...

Yes thanks, I might do that wouldn't be a big deal. But still I need new tuners, I saw on the warwick shop website that they also sell only the nut, they name them Bushings. I could buy those but 4 of them already cost 15 euros plus shipping, I would appreciate to get a discount of Warwick, or at least an explanation why this happened and if there is another purpose for the bigger holes.
Does somebody fram Warwick answer on the forum or should I contact them directly?
 
in any case you have to contact them directly. However, any warranty will be only to the original owner so I do not think you will have much success there.
But anyway do you have pics?

Our Moderator Flo works for Warwick and maybe can help - cheers
 
Yes, pics would be a tremendous help.
I dont suppose this is a vintage Thumb, with recessed tuners?
If it is, these require an insert that's been left off your bass Norman.
Now you cant expect Warwick to give you a discount because a previous owner has either failed to supply all the required parts, or has modified the bass. There's no way the factory would drill larger holes on one bass, send it out into the world to be discovered many years later by a carefull owner like yourself.
But before we go jumping to any wild conclusions, let's see some pics of your new bass & the serial number please mate.
Dont worry, we'll get this sorted.
 
Hi Norman,

When the tuners are well mounted, they stay well in the hole. Also with the strings on, they don't move at all, it should not affect the tuning.

On the other hand, I've seen stripped bushings before, and this can be a problem, yes. But still, more a visual one, because once settled, they must stay in tune.

Anyway, I am waiting for an official answer from the QC, and I will come back to you.

Best regards,

Flo
 
i can't see how one bass would have left with oversized holes.the person who puts the bass together would have rejected the neck and then they would have checked to find out how it happened.at least thats how i think it would have gone down.
 
Hello everyone,
First of all I want to thank each one of you for helping me out here. I never really have much time to spend more time on this forum but I know you guys and already appreciated the great amount of informations one can find on here.

I made some photos as asked and hoped they help explaining the situation. Notice that around the tuners I wrapped powertape to make them wider, this solves the problem of the moving around. Before I did this they moved around a lot, even when having the strings on while tuning one could move the tuners easily.

The photos can be seen here:
1. The white ring you see is the power tape:
alrlap.jpg


2. Here you see the tuner mechanic removed.
a1mpy.jpg


3. To me it seems very much that these holes were not drilled after the bass was delivered, one can still see traces from the paint in the tuner holes.
vpx73l.jpg


Now from looking at the bashings I'm not too sure if they are the broken ones, they look pretty fine to me and more as like the tuners will not allow me to tighten the bashers with enough torque. It would be great If I could get at least one new tuner to try out and see if the bashings or the tuners are broken.
This bass is giving me quite some depressions, I guess it had been mistreated by the previous owners in some ways (the paint is full of chips, scratches and dings, also the trussrod was not working anymore probably due to overturn), but from what I see I also assume that some problems from the factory are also present.
Any help is highly appreciated. If more pics are needed I can make them.

Best regards and thanks!
 
I measured, the diameter of the hole ment for the tuners, is roughly 15.5 mm, all of them equal.
The tuners have 13.9 mm and yes those 1.5 mm allow the tuner to move quite a bit around.

Specs of the tuners:
https://www.warwick.de/media/manuals/mechanics/SP_W_30035_38_P_R_L_ENG.pdf

Are there any tuners which would fit better, does Warwick maybe install tuners from other companies on custom order? Perhaps they had been exchanged before the bass was sold to me.
 
The serial says nothing about different types of tuners


Seriennr.:B-141491-08
Artikelcode:0434059300BZMAPOWW
hergestellt:15.02.2008
Info: CO Vampyre SN, 4-string
Black Satin finish
Maple body
Ovangkol neck
Black hardware
 
schlobodan said:
The serial says nothing about different types of tuners


Seriennr.:B-141491-08
Artikelcode:0434059300BZMAPOWW
hergestellt:15.02.2008
Info: CO Vampyre SN, 4-string
Black Satin finish
Maple body
Ovangkol neck
Black hardware
Click to expand...

Thats some good information there, thanks. But if it is true I really don't know the sense of the bigger holes. Well anyway those holes are not the problem I can fix that, even with this power tape it works out great my concern are the tuners. I don't want to give people the image that I'm so stingy but I already put in so much money in this bass, and those 30 euros the tuners would cost me I would appreciate to have them for something else. To have the tuners loose is not only a problem with keeping the tuning right but also the if the tuners don't sit right the force is not distributed well, I don't want to have some other problems in the future because of that.
Also the loose bashings don't hold the turning rod (where the strings are fixed on) in place, I guess something might break due to this. Might be wrong and perhaps I exaggerate with the whole matter, but believe me it is not nice to have an error like that on a bass you really like. I desire that it works without any disturbing errors.
 
i went and took one of my bass's apart and the holes seem to be the same as yours,i i nstall the tunner then the little screw then from the face the washer then the hex nut/bushing i snug down the bushing and it locks up solid with no play.
 
Hi Norman,

I know what the problem is. This is an issue solved now... You have a solid color finished bass, so the headstock is thicker than normal. The normal bushings are too small, that's why we made longer bushings which are longer. The ones you seen at the Warwick Shop.

Those will solve your problem :-)

Take care,

Flo
 
so the bushing doesn't have the length to engage the threads correctly.see you learn something every day.
 
Thank you very much James for making the effort and taking the time to take one of your basses apart! I appreciate it a lot.

And Florin, thank you! I did notice that the bushings are somehow not long enough but didn't seem to have thought further in that direction. Also I was wondering why they would sell separate bushings in the Warwick Shop, as after inspecting mine they look pretty solid and I didn't see any turned threw threads. So I will get those longer ones and hope that will solve all the problems.

Thank you guys very much for the help. Could you just tell me from when on Warwick installed the longer bashings and why they didn't do so before. I looked now more into it and those shorter bushings only screw on around two turns.

Still I have to ask even if I sound pathetic: can't I get a free replacement? I mean this is not my fault that the basses got equipped with those short bashings, and also not the previous owners fault. And to pay 15 euros plus 5 euros shipping for them is quite rude IMO, I'm not trying to build my own bass with Warwick parts here I just want to repair a Warwick, it should be of their concern specially if it is an error from the manufactory.
Sorry for being so annoying.

Regards.
 
You are not annoying, I think you are entitled to ask all of these questions. However those are not "forum questions" anymore, for solving your problems I suggest you contact Warwick at [email protected] , and you will get all the support you need :-)

Best regards,

Flo
 
Florin said:
You are not annoying, I think you are entitled to ask all of these questions. However those are not "forum questions" anymore, for solving your problems I suggest you contact Warwick at [email protected] , and you will get all the support you need :-)

Best regards,

Flo
Click to expand...


Perfect I was looking for an email from Warwick, didn't find it on their website.
Thank you very much Florin for all the help and support. Wish you a great Sunday.

Best regards and thank you all for helping out.
 
no problem it only took s few minutes and then i could see better if mine was the same or different.
 
james brunnning said:
no problem it only took s few minutes and then i could see better if mine was the same or different.
Click to expand...

Thank you James, I appreciate it a lot even if it was no big deal.



There is some news, I wrote to Warwick on Sunday and got a reply today. They told me that the reason is not that the headstock of my bass is thicker but that they had an issue with a wrong delivery. People didn't notice that the Bushings were shorter than usual and so some unlucky basses got supplied with one, which is of course no big deal, as mistakes like that can happen to anyone.

Warwick is nice enough to replace them for free, they told me that they already sent them today. :)
This is a great service which I appreciate, I really thought because the bass is out of warranty that there would be no chance.

I'm happy! :d

I'll post again when the Bashings arrive and everything is fixed.
Thanks again everybody for helping out!

Best Regards!
 
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