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So I've drilled holes the diameter of the Grover sta-tite tuner shafts. All is well, except for that bushing or whatever it is. Since it fits over the shaft, it has a greater o.d. I'm not sure how to make a hole inside the slot larger, since I have to put a bit through the existing smaller hold.

I've been known to overlook the obvious, so please - make me feel stupid. :-)
DaveB

I don't think it matters that the hole on the outside part of the headstock is lager than the shaft diameter as the tuner is supporting the shaft and the only support needed is near the centre to counter the string tension. I can't see any other way to do it and that is what I did and it works fine.

Thanks Mike. If it works, that's all I ask.
DaveB

If the bushing goes all the way through, you can use a bigger drill bit (carefully). If the bushing only goes halfway you need either a tapered reamer of a rat tail file.

I did not have the 21/64" drill bit that I needed. I had 19/64 and 23/64. Ran down to HF - of course nothing there. My Dremel saved me (again) - there is a 21/64" sanding sleeve in my kit, so I just popped it on and sanded thru the 19/64 holes and voila!! It's so good when something goes perfectly right.

If you do a slotted headstock, Ken Cierp or John Hall have some good ideas for consistent tuner hole drilling. It's a bit of a challenge the first time - my main concern other than correct spacing was the possibility of tearout on the inside surfaces of the slots, where it would be really visible. But it turned out fine.

DaveB

I never use the bushings and just drill the post 1/4 inch hole. Bushings are used on the pan heads

Ditto John Hall

I do drizzle a little CA in the holes (on a slotted style headstock) to harden the wood, kinda acts like a bearing/bushing $.02

Hm. I ordered slot head tuners - grovers - and they came with the bushings as a given. So the bushings must be used a lot or Grover would not go to the expense of including them. In any case, live and learn, they look great anyway.
Thanks
DaveB

Interesting:

http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?p=10606

Yes, interesting. As I said, they look fine and give the shafts a nice finished appearance.
However, I would not go so far as one writer in that post did, and say they look as neat as "a bum in a bucket", mainly because I don't know what that means...:-)
Thanks for the link Ken.
DaveB