Official Luthiers Forum!

My daughter got a 1931 OM in the shop (brooklynlutherie.com). It needed a few items and the owner wanted to put original tuners on it. They talked about it and he decided to use Frank Ford's/Rickart's 10:1 colloidal geared tuners.

They got the ivoroid buttons and the aged finish and they look great. They were delivered today - I will try to get a shot of them installed.

Ed

Mr. Ford has had an active thread over on UMGF covering the development and process of bringing these tuners to market. Super interesting!

I suspect your spell-check software is changing 'cycloidal' to 'colloidal' - the cycloidal moniker comes from the non-geared nature of the design...there are some photos in one of the threads and if I recall correctly, a video on how they work.

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Nice!

Is that a little barb sticking up from the body of the tuner in the second photo? I was wondering how these keep from turning in the hole when there's no screw, and that would be one way to do it (if you don't mind it poking little holes in your headstock).

I haven't given up on my cycloidal tuner design, but it is on hold for the time being. My 3D printer isn't accurate enough even for prototyping. But I need to build a small CNC mill for a different project, so I can make the tuners out of aluminum with that when it's done (probably a couple months).


Got a link? Maybe I can learn something from his experience

You say cylcloidal and I say colloidal - let's call the whole thing off

Here is his sample writ large - he made this for a bass guitar. And yes, it looks like barbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfs--w3lorw

Watching this, I wonder why he had to stop at 10:1 - couldn't you keep going to 14:1, 22:1, whatever you want? Here is Rickard's site:

https://rickardbanjos.com/rickard-high-ratio-tuners/

and Frank's/Gryphon's site:

https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/products/frank-fords-corner-rickard-101-rickard-cycloidal-tuner

They ain't cheap, but I am splurging (fun word to write) and putting them on a Stauffer headed 00 12 fret that I am building now

Ed

UMGF link: https://umgf.com/hot-news-for-om-ers-yo ... 94123.html

_________________
George :-)

Thanks, Mr. L - that is the thread of interest.

So the boss says we just got a 1933 OM-18 in that needs refret and tuners...unfortunately, Martin had already gone to butterbeans, so no excuse to use the cycloidal tuners. I hope to get a day off from my current schedule to at least drop by the shop and make sure the fellows get a good set of tracings and measurement on the instrument, then perhaps think about a 1930 OM-18 repro with bar frets and those cycloidal tuners.

The anti-rotation pin is common on geared banjo tuners...we mark the location, pre-drill with a slightly smaller bit, and lightly chamfer the hole to avoid finish issues...the tuner top nut is tightened over the trim washer and everything locks in place. No issues with unwanted rotation, and the physically similar configured Waverly or 5 Star banjo tuners are agnostic with regard to left-side or right-side use.

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Wow those are very nice looking. I'm building an OM now and will use Waverly banjo tuners similar to those. The Waverlys have a barb too.

Honestly toroidal would be far closer.

I recommend Gotoh tuners. I removed the Waverlys from my 1930 OM-28 and installed Gotohs, and I could not be happier. Lighter weight, and much smoother.

_________________
John