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I received my tuners yesterday and noticed the 5th string tuner has a thin “ fin”. I guess this is to keep it from rotating in the hole. I’m making a curly maple banjo and this little bit seems like it will damage the wood and be noticeable.
I’m thinking of grinding it off. Anyone have any experience installing this tuner.
So your old tuner doesn’t have that? Most fifth string tuners I’ve removed have had that fin on them, but if your old one didn’t, I’m not sure. There’s no way you can carve the neck to make that fit? In my experience, a loose or rotating fifth string tuner is a major hassle. I’m sure @BanjoBen has some insight.
Luke
Don’t have an old tuner. I’m making the neck new. This is the first one that’s going in after I ream the hole to size. I’ve never had a tuner rotate.
I used a little saw from an X-Acto set and cut a slot for the fin. I was replacing tuners so I added a small drop of elmers glue to secure the tuner.
When in doubt, email Jake or Adam.
Thanks. That seems like a good approach. I have one banjo with a fin on the 5th and one without. I think creating a channel for it is the best move.
@bartafb, I’ve changed out my tuners for Rickard’s and my old 5th string tuner had the fin. But I was replacing Gotoh’s, and the 5th string Rickard is actually made by Gotoh (but with a Rickard symbol). So it was an easy one-for-one replacement. Not sure how the wood would respond without a precut notch–but it would certainly be stressful to attempt after all the hard work creating the neck. Regarding the glue, I was warned that I might have trouble removing the old tuner. I was happy to see that they didn’t glue it in–it just required a little effort to pull it. So I didn’t apply any glue when installing the Rickard either, and it seems to be solidly in place. But I’ve heard of some 5th string tuners that pop out at times, so Jeff Watts (@5-StringPilgrim) probably has the better advice. He’s generally smarter than I am at this banjo stuff anyway. 
I’m no expert. I’m one for one on the tuner swaps. That’s one point in a data set. Not a trend.
The saw I use was very thin. I cut it to fit in the tuner hole with sheet metal snips. It looked like a tiny, fine toothed Sheetrock saw.
Don’t think I’ll apply glue unless it doesn’t seem like a solid fit or it becomes an issue.
And a final question… I have a very thin hobby saw coming (great suggestion there!).
Since this is a new neck I can choose what angle to insert the 5th in (if any). I see some that have the winding spool vertical and others with it angled toward the head stock. Are there pros/cons on each approach?
The saw blade was 0.016” thick. I narrowed the end to just over 0.25”. The tuner hole was 3/8” in diameter.
@bartafb
Jake from the BB store has a video up explaining the little tab on the Rickard tuning machines I do not remember where I seen the Video the little wing will not damage your banjo it is just a extra security to keep the 5th string peg from rotating
Jake did use a small file to do something in the 5th peg hole though
Final answer. I called the BBC store and they said to cut it off. They always do. I spoke with Eric Sullivan at Sullivan Banjo Company and he said cut it off. He had one actually crack the neck.
So tomorrow 20 seconds with a dremel and it is gone.