Steinberger Bridge - Stiff !

[Gray]

Hi Guys,

The 'tuners' on my Steinberger Q4 bridge are impossibly stiff - to the point were I have to tune up with a screwdriver.

Has anyone had similar issues with steinberger hardware and found a solution ?

Thanks in anticipation

Cheers

Graham

[MoonBassAlpha]

Yes, the steel of the screws is harder than the alloy of the sliding string puller.
The solution I've done on 3 hohner Jack basses now is helicoil the string puller and all is good again.
I have done this for nothing for someone on here, but if the thread on the proper Steinberger screws isn't metric (m4 iirc) I don't have the kit for doing it.
You could try taking all the screws out and really cleaning them and reassemble with a good grease like copper slip.
If you've lost too much material from the puller bit,eventually the thread will slip.
Try the grease thing first but if you can verify the threads are metric I can helicoil them for you.
Cheers
MBA

Edited December 19, 2015 by MoonBassAlpha

[Gray]

Hi MBA,

Thanks very much for the advice. I had a Hohner Jack that was starting to go the same way, so assumed it was a common problem across these kind of bridges.

I'll have a crack at stripping the bridge and greasing. Many thanks for the offer r.e. the inserts - I'll let you know.

Cheers

Graham

[rmorris]

Same thing happened to me on a Hohner B2 about ten years ago. Ended up calling the Bass Centre who had one of the pullers available.

[MoonBassAlpha]

I'd advise anyone with one of these to lube them up good and proper even if they're not getting a problem, as it does seem to happen eventually. The helicoils are stainless, so should be a good long term fix. If I still had my Hohners, I'd helicoil them as a preventative, it's about the only slight weakness in an otherwise brilliant design.

[DarkHeart]

my Hohner and my Westone suffered from this and a liberal dose of coppaslip then maxing out the tuning both ways (without strings) to get the threads covered sorted it out.