Tuner winders

[F Murtz]

I am making a mandolin,have already made an electronic violin and a strum stick but have just discovered I may have the winders wrong.
I have being trying to research but have found conflicting answers.
do you turn anticlockwise to raise pitch or the other way,I have been arranging to turn clockwise to raise (because it seems logical) but it seems I might be wrong.

[Brian Evans]

The tuning machines have a string post that has a gear on it, and a knob on a shaft that has a worm gear on it. The knob/shaft/worm gear is normally away from the body of the instrument. The machines are "handed" so they can fit on opposite sides of the peghead, if you have all the machines on one side like Fender, they will all be the same. The reason is that string tension pulls on the post, there is a lever action and the gear tends to be pressed into good engagement with the worm. If you install them the other way string tension pulls them out of engagement, and the tuner can fail. You turn the knob counterclockwise to tighten the string.

[F Murtz]

On my violin the worm is away but it is still apparently wrong because clockwise tightens it.
I have the strings on the wrong side of the post as I originally thought clockwise to tighten.

http://i.imgur.com/F8J2ks5.jpg

[Brian Evans]

On your violin you have the string to the outside of the post, while the convention is that the string goes to the inside. So the knobs twists backwards to normal. But it's all mostly convention. If you are happy and don't have tuner issues, then it's all good! Neat instruments, btw, very nice.

[David King]

I think for the longevity of the tuner, they are designed for the string tension around the tuning post to pull the worm gear into the block and not push it out if that makes any sense.

[Clay Schaeffer]

With mandolin tuners there is some added confusion. Some sets are "reverse wind" for fitting to vintage instruments. As others have pointed out, you want the posts to pull the gears toward each other rather than apart.

[Greg Martin]

I think im going to use Peghed tuners on my harp guitar,all the sub bass strings line up accross the top of the headstock. I think id need right hand tuners is that correct.thry make both ????

[Jim McConkey]

They make both. On violin-family instruments you want the string tension to twist the tuner (which has an outside thread) more firmly into the hole. Which version you want depends on which side of it you want the string coming off. Pricey, but they work great. International Violin has them cheaper than most places.