sticking machine heads

I have a gibson sg standard, and one machine head kind of 'sticks' when I tune it. The tone of the string doesn't increase smoothly as I tighten the machine. instead, it suddenly raises a quarter tone or so, accompanied by a clicking noise.

Any ideas?

Hi,

Sounds like a sticking nut. Try rubbing an HB pencil on the nut slot. Usually cures it

hth

Trev

Sounds more like a sticking nut to me i.e. the string is binding in the slot...

Have you recently gone up a gauge or two?

A good way to gently widen the slot without causing too much damage is gently 'saw' the slot with an offcut from a wound string.

Also try rubbing some graphite (e.g. from pencil shavings) in the slot, too.

If it's still sticking & you're not too confident about filing the nut yourself (it's easy to go too far!), take it to your local tech.

HTH,

What a very helpful and constructive bunch you are - Thanks all - I'll try the nut