Hipshot USA Ultralite Tuning Machines for NXT and WAV Electric Upright Basses

These instructions specifically discuss using your new tuners to update an NS Design WAV4 or NXT electric upright bass. If you’re not using them for that purpose, read on! There still might be some useful info for you.

The Tuners are “Ambidextrous”: The Hipshot Ultralites are very intelligently designed to be reversible, so you don’t need to worry about which ones face left or right. For four string sets, we usually try to include a matched pair of 2L/2R for your convenience, based on stock – but if we were unable to do so, it’s about a 2-minute job to swap any of the tuners’ alignment. You simply remove the small (SAE, not metric) allen screw (shown by the arrow in the photo at right) and remove the tuning “ear” – now replace it in the machine from the other side, replace the allen screw, and you’re in business.

Installing them on a WAV4 or NXT can be a drop-in installation for some basses.

You need to remove the old machines first; there is a single small screw on the outside of the pegbox that needs to be removed, and then the (gentle!) use of a wrench inside the pegbox to remove the collet/screw and release the tuning machine.

Tip: I recommend doing each side of the pegbox at a time, rather than all four (or five) - this keeps strings on the bass, and prevents the bridge from falling out.

The Hipshots install in exactly the same fashion, just in reverse. A 9/16" open-ended wrench will serve nicely here.

Some customers will find that the tuners drop right into NXT basses without modifications. If the new Hipshot tuner's collets don't quite fit into the holes, DON'T JAM or FORCE THEM. You will almost certainly chip/break the finish, and that gets ugly. You'll need to drill out the holes to be JUST A LITTLE wider.

I've done at least a dozen of these tuner swaps now, and I'd estimate that I've had to drill for roughtly half of the installations, while the other half just dropped right in. Are you feeling lucky?

How to do the widening easily and without making a big mess of it is next!

Widening of the Pegbox Holes:

You may discover that you need to make the mounting holes on the headstock ever-so-slightly larger to accommodate the Hipshot tuners.

To do this, use a 9/16” standard twist-type wood drill bit (not a flat spade bit!) with a reversible electric drill. See image to the left for the difference.

Most people will probably not have one of these in their toolbox - it's a pretty large bit, and for most home jobs, a spade bit is more likely to be in a drill bit set for basic home maintenance. So you might have to make a trip to the hardware store.

Trust me, the trip and the cost is worth it - having the right tool for the job means the results will be a lot better.

Tape over/around the holes with masking tape first; this can help prevent chipping of the top veneer and/or finish. In the image to the right, you can see that I've used white masking tape for this purpose. 

I also suggest putting several layers of cardboard in between the two sides of the pegbox - that way, if the drill suddenly "lurches" as you break through the inner wall, it won't go all the way across and chew up the opposite wall.

In the image, you can see that I rolled over a ripped-off box lid, which served nicely.

Super-Secret tip: Run the drill IN REVERSE, not forward – since you’re widening an existing hole, this will keep the bit from getting jammed, or running away from you. And though it takes a few extra seconds to cut in reverse, you won’t chip the finish or over-drill into the opposite pegbox wall.

Voila! A perfect, slightly-larger-than-before hole, without completely bungling it up!

Orientation on the Pegbox:

The Original Tuners extend from the pegbox at a 90° angle. If you use the original screw holes, the Hipshots should line up without a need to tap new holes.

On some first-generation WAV basses from more than a dozen years ago, using the original holes may orient the tuners at an angle, as they do on my original Chinese-made WAV4 shown here (at right). It's because the stock tuners were different than the current model, and they had an offset retainer screw, so the hole is in a different spot (the current ones have the screw directly below the tuner.) I rather like the “modern” look of the slanted tuners, and I find that it makes tuning a little easier.

On a more recently-made five-string NXT shown at left, using the original holes still resulted in a stock “straight out” look. The tuners on the vast majority of NS Design basses out there, including ALL NXT models (to my knowledge) will be oriented like the one to the left.

Tuning Up: Insert the end of the “silked” portion of the string into the center of the tuning post, then bend at a 90-degree angle and start turning the peg to secure it around the machine post. You should trim the end of the string so that you should only end up with 2-3 windings around the peg.

TIP: Do your best to not allow the windings to “rub” the inner wall of the pegbox, this can cause binding – and put a lot of undue stress on the machine.

You may also want to take a look at our “STRINGS: Changing Strings…” FAQ in our Resources Section for some additional helpful tips on stringing up an upright bass.

I hope you find my instructions helpful! If you have any questions, please let us know.

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