How to know when you need new tuners?

[Silence Dogood]

I've got a 25-yr-old Takamine that I got out from under the bed recently, strung with extra lights, and decided I'd use to try and learn rockabilly/50s rock on.  My Larrivee is set up for strumming with mediums, so no dice.   I figure I'd try this before shelling out dough for a hollowbody electric. 

Anyway, my Takamine has always held tune VERY well (better than the Larrivee, in fact) but now it's going out pretty easily.  This mainly happens when I decide to get bluesy and do some monster bends. 

Do you think it's the extra light strings?  Or are the tuners finally failing?  The tuners are labeled "Takamine" and I figured they were a step up from the economy tuners the old Jasmines probably got. 

I'm going to grease up the nut slots with graphite soon, because I thought that might help.

Thoughts?

[unclrob]

How are the strings strung on the post?

[Silence Dogood]

How are the strings strung on the post?

Wrapped over and under like I've done for the past 25 years.

[jpmist]

Anyway, my Takamine has always held tune VERY well (better than the Larrivee, in fact) but now it's going out pretty easily.  This mainly happens when I decide to get bluesy and do some monster bends. 

Do you think it's the extra light strings?  Or are the tuners finally failing?  The tuners are labeled "Takamine" and I figured they were a step up from the economy tuners the old Jasmines probably got. 

I'm going to grease up the nut slots with graphite soon, because I thought that might help.

Thoughts?

My thought is that I'm skeptical that stretching a string will turn the string post any significant amount to detune a string so I'd point to the light string stretching flat as the cause. On my strats, my unwound strings will go flat when new, but after a few days it'll stretch out and be stable.

Me, I have replaced tuners when I can detect lag -  a 1/6th turn tighter or loser when the string note doesn't change. That you lubed the slots was a good idea to help diagnose.

If you think you'll keep the Takamine, I'd replace the tuners just on general principles. I recently replaced all of  mine and am really liking the 18:1 ratio the Gotoh's have.

[B0WIE]

Sounds like the strings. I've not had tuners go bad like that with age. I have had tuning problems with thin strings though.

[Silence Dogood]

All good words and much appreciated.  It might be the strings. They are Ernie Ball Earthwood extra lights and quite cheap.  Maybe I just need to stay with a regular light gauge and deal with the added tension.  I wanted a slinkier feel while learning a new guitar style. The rockabilly stuff is a blast, and, like blues, way harder than it sounds.

[petluo]

Tuning problems are almost never caused by the tuners themselves. Tuning problems are usually caused by string friction, typically at the nut or saddle, although string trees can be another source of friction. A properly lubricated string path goes a long ways towards tuning stability. Improper stringing technique is another common cause.