Machine Head

Well, that took a lot longer than I thought and almost resulted in the guitar being a write off!
The new Wilkinson tuners should have been a direct replacement for the originals, but I’m now wondering if they were designed for an American or Mexican built Fender Precision Bass rather than my Squier, which was made in China. The bushings that fit on the face of the headstock were a smidge bigger, but eventually went in with a bit of “persuasion”!
The actual tuners themselves were quite a bit bigger than the original fitments and were a very snug fit. Also, they did not line up with the original screw holes, so I needed to drill some new ones. And that’s when it all went pear-shaped for a while. I was tightening down one of the first screws and the head sheared off! After a lot of cursing, some digging around with a knife exposed enough of the screw for me to extract it with a pair of pliers. But it took half an hour and I snapped a drill bit early on when I considered trying that method of removing the broken screw.
Eventually, all the tuners were in place and screwed down. Fortunately, because of the size of them, the damage I’d caused digging out the broken screw was hidden by the base plate, so there is no external evidence of the trauma!
I would have done more to the guitar but I was late starting due to visits to the gym (working off Easter chocolate) and the tip (disposing of the old fence panels), and an emergency dash to Asda to buy a new kettle after the old one gave up the ghost this morning. You can see it in the picture and we were very pleased to find they did one in a colour to match the kitchen!
The new tuners feel a much higher quality than the originals. So they’d better be good in operation because they definitely ain’t coming out now they’re in!