Vintage kluson tuner rebuild

[Echo Ranch]

HI all,

My 62 vintage Jazzmaster has a broken tuner. the split shaft only has one side left! it's the high E string tuner as well. since it's the last one, it's very hard to find a vintage replacement as it has the wing. anyways, i was able to get a vintage tuner from Black Tiger however, it is just a middle style with no wings.

my idea is to open them up, steal the shaft and put it in the one i have. all fixed.

i know these are all enclosed. has anyone had any experience opening these up and repairing the tuners? any info or pics of said work would be great. i'm kinda a visuals guy.

thanks restorers! sorry of there is already a thread. i couldn't find it

[fullerplast]

Ah, the old kluson question.

It's possible, but very difficult. The two little tabs that hold the cover on break off very easily. I wish I could share a secret or tip with you, but I don't have any. I've done several, and found no way to avoid it except luck. I've managed to get a few back together intact, but the majority of the ones I did broke. It's worth a try if you have a few of them you could salvage covers off of, should a tab break.

Other than the tab issue, its easy to replace the guts.

[Stratelejazzuar]

the high E tuning peg was replaced on my one '66 JM. there's an old repro middle in it's place!



I feel your pain with tuner issues, though . My other '66 JM has very stiff tuners (sometimes OMG-hard to turn, lol), and i'm afraid to mess with them cuz i've heard how easy they can break or whatever...

maybe you'll get lucky and find a vintage on ebay someday soon. good luck!

[OffYourFace]

i've done it before chris... since i have yr guitar, i'll get started on it.

[OffYourFace]

Well, I got it off without breaking the tabs... but I don't think I can get the shaft out. The bottom of the shaft is hammered flat to prevent the gear from coming off. These pieces are attached to the 'wing' plate. I think the reissues have a machine screw to hold them together.

I don't think it'll work

[fullerplast]

I've found the tabs usually break when putting them back down. They can stand the first bend when opening it up.

I've swapped the entire shaft and gear. I've got a bin full of kluson pieces if you end up needing some.

[Echo Ranch]

cool thanks for all the info guys. and mike for giving it a shot. i've got one middle vintage tuner heading my way. i'll just put that on and be done with it like the one pictured above. keep this one for authenticity/collection sake. the one i have still kinda works with only half the spit post really. i guess i don;t even need to change it but it must be getting fragile.

anyways, might be best off just getting a set of reissues and saving these in a nice spot so they don't break any further

[Echo Ranch]

tabs broke when we tried to open up the tuner just as predicted so fair warning to any other dummy like me. can't be fixed.

thanks black tiger for hooking me up with the spare middle tuner. i needed it.

all rocking.