Hip shot GB7 drop D tuners

I recently bought this tuner for my Dean Edge Bass. Between YouTube and the instructions that came with it seemed like an easy install. There is a sleeve that comes with it that was a smidge to big for the hole in the head that the mechanism goes thru. I reused the stock sleeve, fit just fine. Problem is it doesn’t detune all the way to D, I get D sharp. I knew I was going to be near a local guitar shop that has a Luthier today so I took it with me and had him look at it. Apparently the instructions and YouTube had me do it correctly and he agreed. He couldn’t get it to tune properly either. He suggested new strings since these are about 2 years old. So I would like to hear thoughts from the Bass Buzz gang.

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I have two and both are fine and adjusted easily to D as is.
Both have about 1/4" of adjustment screw (below D) left.
Lots of room.

Do you have a picture of it as installed?
Where is your adjustment screw sitting right now?

I would wonder about the ‘stock sleeve’ you mention, as this points to something that isn’t normal and may be contributing to some issues unknowingly.
I assume by sleeve you mean the ferrule that sits in the hole of the headstock.

If you did not use Hipshot’s ferrule, you might be binding up the tuning peg and not allowing it to move freely and as far as it needs to.
As you say the Hipshot one is too big for the hole, perhaps the stock ferrule is too small for the drop D peg to move.
It also may not be completely centered and catches as it needs to spin in the smaller ferrule.

If the above turns out to be the problem, sandpaper around a pencil or wood dowel may be enough to enlarge the hole, or a round file and then some sanding.

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Something is definitely wrong. I have Hipshot Xtenders on all 4 of my basses, including a GB7 on my Gretsch Junior Jet.

I was just playing around with the Junior Jet and found that I could take the E string all the way down to B and the adjustment still wasn’t maxed out (but the string was pretty floppy :open_mouth:).

IIRC I left the original ferrule in place. The whole install took about 10 minutes.

Does the tuning peg move freely when you move the lever back and forth? Is the mechanism coming into firm contact with the adjustment screw when the lever is in the drop D position?

Here it is in normal position:

And in drop d:

They’re supposed to be lubricated. I may have gotten a little carried away. :laughing:

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1: normal position
2: halfway doesn’t touch anything, so no resistance.
3: drop d, still touching nothing with no resistance.

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You need to adjust that thumbscrew counter-clockwise, a lot. The tuner can’t move. The screw needs to be shorter. It’s the same length as the lever, so it’s not going to make the tuner move as it needs to.
Turny turny turn turn….

It should work fine.

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You have the adjustment screw maxed out. Note that in the normal position there should be a healthy gap between the end of the adjustment screw and the thingy it contacts.

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E string tuned to E.


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With the lever in drop D

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In drop D position tuned to D


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Back to normal position flat E.
The Luthier that looked at it said I probably need new strings because these are more than a year old. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Cross that luthier off your list.

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I kind of thought that, the strings are Ernie Ball Slinky’s. Same as I have on my other two Basses, none of them have a lot of time on them because I rotate thru playing them. 3 or 4 days then I switch to a different Bass. Most of the time it’s 15 to 30 minutes a day. I can’t see them being worn out.

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I agree with @John_E re: luthier. It’s not the string.

Do you understand how the tuner is used? In the normal position you tune to E in the usual fashion using the tuning key. You then tune the D by using the adjustment screw, counter-clockwise to lower, clockwise to raise.

You must have the lever in the normal position while turning the adjustment screw, then flip it down to check the D tuning.

It takes a lot of flipping back and forth to get it dialed in, but once tuned it is easy to maintain and holds tune fairly well.

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I understand how the tuner works. Just can’t seem to find that sweet spot where both the E and D are in tune with the lever in normal E or drop D position.

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Did it come with instructions?
The instructions in my hipshot tell you the way to set it up, the back and forth, etc.
It was fairly straightforward using their method.
Gotoh probably has the same routine.

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I followed the instructions that came with it. Pretty straight forward.

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What kind of range did you get when you adjust this?

I’ll double check mine but it doesn’t look like it was install right.

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He sorted it @Al1885, that was the issue.

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Oh ok. I was going to say that it was just a little different than mine so at first it looks weird but yes it looks ok.

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Got it almost right. Took it back apart, enlarged the tuner hole so the drawnut that came with it would fit. The drawnut is what I was referring to as the sleeve. Put it back together and it works pretty good. Still have to make a mild tweak to the tuner or adj screw to get a proper E or D. I’ll fiddle with it some more tomorrow. I appreciate everyone’s help/input, Thank you Bass Buzz people…
PS. Taking a power tool to your guitar is a fairly uncomfortable event.

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