gururyan
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I have a friend that approached me a few years ago with the classic "old car in a barn" story, only it was "great-grandpa gave me his old guitar" instead. He does not play guitar but figured I'd enjoy checking it out. So I did. I told him what it was, what it was roughly worth, not to sell it...ever (unless it was to me of course), and to take care of it. He has heeded my advice and lets me borrow it anytime I like for as long as I like. Well, I've asked to borrow it once again after almost 2 years. Believe it or not, I was the last to string and tune it and after all this time the guitar was still in tune except for one string which required about a quarter turn to bring back to 440.
Anyway, the point of my post. As you can see, the tuning keys are still intact and in great condition. My concern is that I want to record some slide with it and am dying to take it up to Open A. My reluctance is in the fear that the keys could shatter/explode under the torque it would require to get there. I am not going to have that on me, no way. So, how can I safely retune the guitar without risking a broken key? It think that the flathead screws (as seen from the rear headstock shot) are connected to the cog/gears they pass through. My thought is that if I actually applied the torque at that screwhead with a flathead, I could take lots of the stress of the key and basically use two hands to turn both the screw and the key (mainly the screw) together to safely bring the tension up to Open A.
Is this the right idea?
For those wanting more info on the guitar itself and some pictures:
I'll have to dig up my old information that I figured out for it, but I think it was somewhere between a '28 & '36. I used to have all this and pics on here but I think it was all lost in the great TGP crash of whatever year that was. Anyway, I'll take some new shots of it and whatnot this weekend.
Anyway, the point of my post. As you can see, the tuning keys are still intact and in great condition. My concern is that I want to record some slide with it and am dying to take it up to Open A. My reluctance is in the fear that the keys could shatter/explode under the torque it would require to get there. I am not going to have that on me, no way. So, how can I safely retune the guitar without risking a broken key? It think that the flathead screws (as seen from the rear headstock shot) are connected to the cog/gears they pass through. My thought is that if I actually applied the torque at that screwhead with a flathead, I could take lots of the stress of the key and basically use two hands to turn both the screw and the key (mainly the screw) together to safely bring the tension up to Open A.
Is this the right idea?
For those wanting more info on the guitar itself and some pictures:
I'll have to dig up my old information that I figured out for it, but I think it was somewhere between a '28 & '36. I used to have all this and pics on here but I think it was all lost in the great TGP crash of whatever year that was. Anyway, I'll take some new shots of it and whatnot this weekend.


