Troy Spro

Life is a Highway, Travel with Me

  • Home
  • Travel
    • Destinations
      • Australia
      • Vietnam
    • Travel Tips
    • Travel Gear
  • Life
    • House
    • Food
    • Money
  • Music
    • Learn
    • Music Tips
    • Music Gear
  • Shop
  • About Me
You are here: Home / Music / Music Gear / The Bass Tuning Keys Machine Heads, are they called this?

The Bass Tuning Keys Machine Heads, are they called this?

Written by Troy Spro

What do you call the tuning thingy poking out on the head stock of your bass guitar?

There are many variations of the names that bass tuning keys are called, so those little knobs you use to change the pitch of the strings can be named;

  • Tuning Keys
  • Tuning Knobs
  • Tuner
  •  Machine
  • Machine Heads
  • Pegs
  • Elephant Ears
  • & More

On the bass guitars, where the string tension is usually extremely higher than a normal standard guitar, a larger, heavier duty set of machine heads are used, these machine heads are the engine room of the bass tuning setup and the knobs and keys are their wingman.

The Bass tuners usually feature larger knobs than their guitar tuner counterparts too and sometimes can be a wide variety of shapes and sizes, these are attached to the other part of the tuning setup which is where the gears are.

The Bass Tuning Keys Machine Heads, are they called this?

Generally Bass guitars machine heads make use of a worm gear for their tuning knob system.

This is a spiraled screw thread and a gear that lock together, the rotating the screw will slowly move the gear around and then tighten or loosen the string to give you the required tension to give you the correct note.

The standard gear ratio used on the machine head is 20:1 and exposed gears are more common in premium top end bass guitars than in the standard six string guitars.

There are so many variations involved in this bass guitar part the best way to see them or to buy if you need an upgrade is online, just google “Bass Machine Heads” or any one of the variables of names in the dot points above and this should get you going in the correct direction.

There you have it, a brief insight into the elephant ear looking knobs at the end of your bass, enjoy.

Filed Under: Music Gear

Read More

The Moustachery Barber Shop

The Moustachery Bulimba, my next Brisbane Barber

The time had come for my next cut and beard trim, it had been a while and the fro was starting to get out of control and the beard was looking scruffy too, so I looked at my Brisbane barber list and … [Read More...]

Drovers Motor Inn Dalby Travel Holiday Hotel Motel

Day One and we are off to Dalby

As I said prior we decided to head off to Dalby over breakfast with no real plans in place other than we knew we had to reach Dalby before the evening. We headed off around mid afternoon and … [Read More...]

Mekong Delta Tour Bus Trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre Can Tho

Our Mekong Delta Tour travelling from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam

During our research into doing a Mekong Delta Tour and the fact we had … Read More

  • How we save money travelling with kids
  • A visit to Cu Chi Tunnels leaving from Ho Chi Minh City
  • What does BP mean in Rugby Union?
  • Don’t miss the A O Show at the Municipal Theatre Ho Chi Minh City
VINOMOFO Cheap Wine

Planning a Holiday? Get your Free Travel Tips here

I thought I had the best car park for Suncorp Stadium

City Hopper free ride, a great day out in Brisbane City

Walkabout Creek Hotel, where’s Crocodile Dundee?

Play The A Team by Ed Sheeran

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 Troy Spro