The Steel Guitar Forum

I need to replace the nylon tuners on my MCI. I know georgels sells nylon tuners. Do I need 1/8" or 3/32" ? I don't have a micrometer. Could some one please let me know the size. Thank you

I believe the MCI rods are 3/32". Cut an old .030" string into four little pieces about 1/2" long and lay all four pieces side-by-side on a piece of tape. If the pullrod covers three of these pieces, the rod is 3/32" diameter. If it covers all four, the rod is 1/8". If it covers three pieces but not quite four, it's a 7/64" rod.
PRR

Paul,

That's a great tip, and just helped me out a lot. Thanks.

Gabriel

Thank you paul. It is 1/8".

Double check this!!!. The stub-string thing I suggested is not meant to wrap around the rod...only to indicate diameter since you stated you don't have a micrometer. Those 'stubs' should be tightly placed on the tape and then viewed from a substantial distance at right angles. Just don't want to see you order the wrong size tuners. I thought that MCI had used 3/32" rods, but there were several re-incarnations of the guitar, so I may be off-base here.
PRR

BTW for those of you who want to check out diameters, etc., ENCO Inc. sells dirt-cheap 0-1" mikes super cheap. You can order online at ---www.useenco.com---and have the stuff in two days or less. Takes a lot of the guesswork out of the equation.
PRR

TB, I have a double neck mci and the pull rods are 3/32. I believe they all are.

I thought they were 3/32" also. The notches in the cranks are real small.
PRR

Every MCI/EMCI that I've seen and or worked on had 3/32 rods on them. I'm not sure of this, but I think they had either a 4-40 or 3-48 thread on them. They also had a peculiar bend on the ends of the rod where it fit into the bell crank, kind of a compound/double bend if I remember right.
BB

Bobby - That's how I remember them. They had a special 'bend' on the 'crank' end that held them onto the cranks. The thread size is for sure #4-40. I believe the length of the tuners was 1-1/2". That's been a lot of years and the last MCI I played was way back in the last century...about 1990.
PRR

Thank you Paul, 3/32 is correct. Georgels has them in stock.