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ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor
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Author:  AndrewGribble [ Thu Oct 09, 2008 11:56 am ]
Post subject:  ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

While in the midst of a rehab on an older parlor guitar I have run into a jam trying to find replacement tuners for this little box. The original engraved 3 on a plate tuners have decayed and are long gone; no to mention the knobs are either missing or have really shrunken.

The post spacing is narrower than the 1-3/8" size found commonly on the Waverlys and less expensive 3 on a plate models. I thought the single butter-bean Grovers would be a close enough replacement, but they don't quite fit together with the screw and plate material over lapping where the tuners meet.

I guess I'm looking for anyone who has any suggestions of other similar looking/similar vintage tuners (open worm gear, slot head tuners) that would wortk out for these little guitars. Likely I will end up trying to file away the edges of the Grovers beyond the screw mounts, but first I wanted to check in to see if any of the repair gurus might have any ideas. Thanks.

Author:  TonyFrancis [ Thu Oct 09, 2008 5:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

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Author:  TonyFrancis [ Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

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Author:  AndrewGribble [ Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

Alright here are a few images of said tuners. Sorry for the delay in getting these posted, I had a few techinical difficulties.

Author:  TonyFrancis [ Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

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Author:  AndrewGribble [ Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

Tony, thanks for the tips.

I've seen the National replacements which look to be great tuners and are less than half the cost of the 3.o.a.p. Waves. The problem with these is the 1-3/8" post spacing.

The tuners in my images have a post spacing that is closer to 1-1/4". Some other parlor instruments I've seen from the 19th century also have a narrower spacing.

I think I may go back to the drawing board and try to modify some of the single 18:1 Grovers.

Author:  David LaPlante [ Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: ISO vintage 3-on-a-plate tuners for parlor

Gee, these tuners look totally usable to me......the buttons look like bone so it would be relatively easy to make a replacement for the one that's missing. You'll need to file a square shaft hole into it and carefully remove the little brass collar at the end of the shaft to fit it on with a little dab of epoxy.
Lubrication and solvent (liquid wrench) will help free up the parts.
The worst case scenario (beyond missing parts which does not seem to be your problem) is the crown gears and worms being worn to the point that they "skip" under tension.
With the old style tuners that have the worms on the nut side of the gears you can ream out the plates slightly where the roller shaft passes through so that the string tension will pull the crown gear more tightly against the worm and make up for the wear.
Indeed you can retro fit and trim a modern set of single side mount gears to work with the narrow spacing but they simply never look right (to me anyway) on an antique guitar.
Collecting, stockpiling and rehabbing old tuners goes hand in hand with the repair and restoration of vintage guitars.

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