Official Luthiers Forum!

A friend showed up today with a 1952 00-17 (all mahogany) that he got new for his 13th birthday. It is in excellent condition with a neck reset in the late 90's. He hadn't looked at it for a while and when he took it out of the case to tune it up before he came over, 2 of the tuner buttons disintegrated.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/23311342305/in/dateposted-public/

So some questions.

Are these the original machines? The screw heads are Phillips - is this appropriate?

This is the only "white" on the instrument - are white or cream buttons more original. Is the cream better because it represents aged white?

Looking at the S-M buttons, they are 11/16" by 9/16", but the 1952 buttons are 3/4" X 1/2", 1/16" smaller in both dimensions. Are these a little shriveled? Would the new ones be appropriate?

The bare necked post is round with some pressed wings. Will the S-M buttons go over these posts? Is there a better source?



https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/22682977524/in/dateposted-public/

This is a very delicately appointed instrument. Despite its having a full length scale, the binding is less than 1/8" tall, the dots on the fretboard are very small, and the side dots are really small. Lovely sound based on the couple of strings we could bring up to pitch.

Thanks

​Ed

The Kluson machines are original, including the Phillips screws.
Antique Acoustics buttons are much better than Stew Mac. Elderly has them.

There is no body binding on a 1950's 00-17.

Style-17 has small fingerboard dots. Martin side dots are 1/16" on all models.

_________________
John

Yep these are original and yep again I think that Elderly buttons would look better.

This is standard fare for these old girls and some of the original buttons were early plastics such as Bakelite. They get old and shrivel up and then crack off and that's just how it goes in time and we see this often.

Replacement is a great option, for the buttons, heating the shafts and pressing the buttons on is the remedy. Make a wood spacer so each button gets pressed on to the same degree and you're good to go.

Thanks John and Hesh

I thought that the darker edge of the top and back were binding, but I guess that is the edge.. The wood spacer answers another question I had.

I will order today.

Ed

Sure Ed, always happy to help!

We chuck the tuners in a vice (metal vice...) careful to cause no scratches or damage and then heat the tuner shafts with a torch and get them pretty hot. Then the new buttons are pressed on by hand, quickly before the shafts cool down.... until they make contact with the spacers that we make to control how deep they are pressed on and to make all the tuners uniform.

The little ears that you see on the shafts are to prevent rotation as the buttons age and get looser perhaps.

In my experience too little heat and the buttons can get stuck not all the way pressed on.... My suggestion would be to purchase some extra buttons in case this happens and maybe use another, not valuable tuner to practice so that you can get a feel for how hot you have to make the shafts before pressing on the buttons. The shafts have to be hot enough to melt the plastic on the new buttons and the shafts also tend to cool down very quickly so practice can make perfect.