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I just got a 1917 Gibson F4 into the shop for restauration work, and was really struck by the beauty of the tuning machines. I think I saw buttons like this on an old 0042 at schoenbergs this winter, and I also think he told me they were made in germany at the time. But Im not shure. Does anybody know if its possible to find buttons like this today? I shure would have a lot of customers willing to pay for them... Also, does anybody know where to buy plain bone buttons?

These were made by Handel of NYC.....here is a recent discussion on the AG forum.

http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubbcgi/ul ... 2;t=003888

The only genuine bone buttons I've seen lately have been on a set of Reischl tuners I bought recently.

I'm working on that thread right now, just getting the pictures ready...I even made a set in bone-shaded Corian today that are engraved

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Lars, I bet Andy DePaul would make bone buttons. He makes genuine MOP ones.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Wow, it seemed like a heated discussion over at the mando cafe... Thanks for the link!

Anyway, Bob, Id be very interested in buying sets from you if you start making them!! I know several customers who'd pay pretty good for them. By the way, it seems like waverly took over the handel company, and early waverlys had these buttons. Wouldnt it be nice to introduce a Handel model in the waverly 3-on-a-plate series? You could supply stewmac with the buttons Bob?

It would be better to buy the buttons from Bob. StewMac would charge $600 for a set of those I'm sure.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I just need a sample for the specs on the shaft and to match the shape. If you can send me a tuner and a button then I'll make them. I'm also looking into selling through some of the dealers, so the 'direct from me' stage might be short lived

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Im sorry I cant send you a button, as they sit on a '17 gibson F4. The mandolin is sold as soon as I am done with the restauration work. I can take high resolution pics of the buttons, and also take measurements. Whats your estimated price on these?

Lars

So far as the 3D shape goes, the more measurements and photos the better. They're not as bad as, say, a Gotoh button for getting some useful info out of a few measurements, though. I'd also need an accurate measurement of the shaft (I assume these are glued onto a straight shaft?). If the shaft has flats on it then I need the major diameter of the shaft as well as the width across the flats.

They'd be at the same price as the other buttons for machining (the mando buttons are smaller, so a set of eight would cost the same as six guitar buttons). If you want them made from bone, then we'd need to look into what dimensions the material can be acquired in before I could say if there'd be much extra work involved. In wood or corian they're no problem, though.

Engraving, on full sets, would depend on what's to be engraved and whether or not we have to put the engraving filler in here. There'd be either a setup fee to toolpath the engraving, or a minimum order to soak the setup cost. Depending on the complexity of the design you'd be looking at $2-6 a button for the engraving, as every engraving needs to be done twice per button.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services