Fender D8 String Master

Ed McGee · Post by **Ed McGee** » 20 Mar 2015 4:37 pm

I recently purchased a 53 Fender string master. Is any one making parts or can anyone tell me what tuning keys that might fit? Thanks in advance, Ed

Steve Green · Post by **Steve Green** » 20 Mar 2015 4:41 pm

The only Steel Master I'm familiar with is made by Remington, not Fender.

Assuming you're talking about the Fender "STRING" Master, the tuning pans are among the hardest to find and most expensive replacement parts around (provided you can even find some).

Ed McGee · Post by **Ed McGee** » 20 Mar 2015 5:09 pm

Thanks Steve, just goes to show you how new I am to steel guitars. I have the trays, but some of tuners are not working. Any ideas on tuners that might be made to work?

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 20 Mar 2015 9:08 pm

Search on 'lollipop tuner replacement' and the threads will come up... and they are many. I think the best thing to do is slot the pan (like the later SM's were) and put new tuners in... your call.

Ed McGee · Post by **Ed McGee** » 22 Mar 2015 8:22 am

Thanks Stephen for the input. Can you give me info on what tuners to buy.
Thanks again

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 22 Mar 2015 9:28 am

Here is the best thread I found searching the forum for 'lollipop'...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... t=lollipop

... and here's the relevant post, by Rick Collins:

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I'm replacing 24 tuners on my '54 triple Stringmaster __ it has the 26" scale.

Buy the Grover Sta-Tite H97-18N tuners from Stewmac. They are 18:1 gear ratio instead of 12:1 but I like them better.

1. Unsolder the finger piece of the Grover tuner.
2. Cut the plate on which the worm gear is mounted on both ends to fit.
3. Turn about 1/16" off the inside end of the capstan (cross shaft on which the string winds) to fit.
4. You'll need to ream the hole though which the vertical shaft goes (just enough to fit).
5. The lollipop finger piece will soldier right back onto that shaft.
6. Soldier the original copper strip back onto the new tuners to hold them in place.
7. You may need to rasp-off some of the wood on each side of the hole in which the tuner pan sits (if it's a tighter fit).

...hope this helps.
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Here's the link to Stew-Mac:

http://www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/Grove ... otted.html

On step 3, I think Rick's meaning is that the shaft is a little long... I think 'turning' might be better meant as 'cutting', in that I don't think you need a lathe to do this... and 'inside' is to the inside of the guitar, not to the inside of the tuner assembly.

Hope this helps... I don't own one of these guitars and I've never done this procedure. It also looks like this procedure works best if you're replacing all at once... a *very* expensive undertaking.

Edit: you get six (3 a side) for the $41 price... 3 or more sets is $36.50/ea... takes 3 sets to do a D8, four to do a T8. Not as expensive as I thought!

Another thread I found in my forum search...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... t=lollipop

mentioned Jim Palenscar as a repairman used to doing these jobs, his contact was given as steelguitars@cox.net.

Ed McGee · Post by **Ed McGee** » 22 Mar 2015 1:03 pm

Man, your the best. If you're ever in Ft. Worth, look me up. I'll buy you a beer. Send me an email so I'll know your coming. Thanks again. Ed

Russell Davis · Post by **Russell Davis** » 7 Apr 2015 12:26 pm

Ed,

I just posted a reply on another posting of yours. If you haven't already modified your tuning pans, I'm sure I can help you rebuild yours as I have a stash of these parts.

Russell

Ed McGee · Post by **Ed McGee** » 7 Apr 2015 2:02 pm

HI Russell, Thanks for your response. I"m all ears
Ed