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Ok, so I'm building a slot-head guitar for my challenge and am getting ready to buy my tuners. I've pretty much settled on the StewMac Golden Age three-on-plate tuners. Also thinking of popping for the LuthierTools slotting and drilling jig. The jig comes with bushings for a 0.25" drill, but the tuners have a 0.236" (6mm) post (all of the other 3-on-plates except the Waverlys are the same dimension). OK, here comes the dumb question! Should there be that much clearance, should I be seeing about having 6mm drill bushings made, or is there some other simple solution?

Thanks,
Dan

I think that amt of clearance is fine (.007" each side) and standard. Yoll proably get some finish and or pore fill in there too.

I use the Stew Mac Jig, it's just a block of steel with the hole located in it. You just clamp it to the edge of the headstock and drill away. It includes indexing pins.

For the slots, I just use a 1/2" Forstner bit and drill the ends of the slot, then use a 3/8" bit to hog out the remaining material. Chisel to finish.

Mike

Thanks, Mike!

Dan

Thanks, Todd - so would the ideal be to drill with a 6mm bit and aim for zero clearance?

Dan

Thanks again!

Dan

I use the SrewMac drill guide and a home made template double stick taped on the headstock to route the slots. A template guide on the router with a 1/8" bit gives a nice corner on the slots. The routing guide is oversized enough to give the right sized slots after routing



Fred

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Did just that, and yes they can do them for an additional $15. Cheaper by far than any 6mm ID x 13/32 OD I found elsewhere...

Thanks again for everyone's help!
Dan