My Poor SR5 (or: who do I call in CS?)

[Wasabi]

I had a studio date on Wed night, and I knew I was going to use my SR5 for this particular tune...kind of a driving Elton John meets Ben Folds Five kind of thing. I took my bass out of the gigbag, and started tuning. I noticed my 5 string bass only had four tuners! It turns out that somehow the tuning key on the D string cleanly broke off its post...no damage to the headstock, or even the gears or guts of the tuner!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the bass in tune for the session (we tried using a big screwdriver to turn the peg into tune, but for some reason, it wouldn't hold), so I had to use another bass.

Anyway, I MUST have my beloved 'Ray back in operation. I called EB yesterday, and was transferred into the voice mail of "Eli" but I don't know if that's who I should be talking to, and I didn't get a call back, so he may have been out of the office yesterday or something.

What's the best way to handle this? How easy a fix is this? How much will a tuning key cost, or do I have to replace the whole tuner? Any danger of stripping out the screws that hold the tuner onto the bass? Should I have a repair shop do this? etc. etc.

I was very bummed not to be able to track the tune with this bass, cause the scratch track tone was absolutely monstrous.

 

[prickly_pete]

What's the best way to handle this? How easy a fix is this? How much will a tuning key cost, or do I have to replace the whole tuner? Any danger of stripping out the screws that hold the tuner onto the bass? Should I have a repair shop do this? etc. etc.

You need to replace the whole tuner; I don't know how much it will cost, but I think it is just a Schaller BM tuner. This is VERY minor surgery, but if you have to ask whether this job is within your capabilities, you should probably just have someone else do it.

 

[whamonkey]

Replacing tuning machines is EASY. Just make sure you get some nice replacements with the right "footprint"(ie: Schaller or Hipshot). Warmoth Direct sells a set of 4 chrome Schallers(BM) for $50 that are an exact fit for the MM......FYI. Maybe EB will sell you an individual machine though...wait for CS to respond first then if it's a no go, try the route I suggested. Hope this helps.

 

[Big Poppa]

Eli is a string salesman in Indio...what number did you call. email [email protected]
eli was off yesterday.

 

[Wasabi]

Thanks, BP. I called MM's main 800# from the site, and the receptionist put me into his voice mail for some reason. I'll go ahead and email.

I know everyone says this, but you're being so personally involved with your customers (including answering questions on this board outside of business hours) just really makes me want to recommend you. I do music education (I own MusicDojo.com) and do clinics, and I always recommend your products, but I must say that as I see how you handle your customers, it gives me even a greater degree of satisfaction in pointing people to EB/MM stuff.

Eli is a string salesman in Indio...what number did you call. email [email protected]
eli was off yesterday.

 

[whamonkey]

BEST......COMPANY........EVER

EB is now the standard by which all other companies shalll be judged.

Seriously, when's the last time you got on a message board and had like a MAIN dude chat whicha?

I love it here.......

 

[bovinehost]

when's the last time you got on a message board and had like a MAIN dude chat whicha?

You talking about me? Heck, I'm just a regular guy, here in a purple room full of amps and....wait, you probably mean BP.

Never mind.

 

[whamonkey]

You talking about me? Heck, I'm just a regular guy, here in a purple room full of amps and....wait, you probably mean BP.

Never mind.

Actually I meant the guy from the "Make my Day".....you know who I mean. "Bark Bark"