I don't think we're talking about the same thing. I didn't have a problem stringing the guitar or with tuning
stability, it's just that the tuners felt all wrong. Besides slop, they were not smooth.
Here's what I did:
* Stripped all of the machines down to their individual components.
* Cleaned out nasty, dried grease which had a consistency ranging from dried mud to hard tar. I used a flat-head screwdriver, toothpicks, and a naptha bath.
* Re-packed the gearboxes with new grease.
* Two of the tuners had both a nylon washer and a steel curved disc spring washer between the button and the machine body and the rest had just the spring washer. As far as I know, based on pictures online, the nylon washers are not stock, but those two felt the best to me, so I ordered more for the other four. Note to self, the original washers were 6.8mm/4.1mm/1.1mm OD/ID/thickness. The new ones (Allparts TK-7716-025 Plastic Guitar Tuner Washers) were 6.2mm/4.0mm/1.2mm, so I reamed out the ID a little.
* There was a little slop between each button and its shaft. That was the slop I was feeling, not backlash. I dipped a toothpick in CA glue, spread a thin layer on one of the flat surfaces of the shaft, waited for it to dry (actually, I hit it with accelerator), then put it back on the shaft. That tightened up the slop.
I'm now happy with the tuners. I can live with the gear ratio if they're smooth and slop-free--they are now, but they definitely weren't before.
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Question, for posterity: Besides the very thin steel spring washer, did stock phase 1 tuners have any flat washer (nylon, brass, etc.?).