inside a vintage kluson...

[dain]

so i (slowly) openned up a vintage double line kluson today in order to switch the broken shaft for a good one and i find there is no screw on the shaft!?  it's just a flat piece of brass where the screw should be.  can i pry up this piece or is it just a screw that has no slit?  is there no way to trade a shaft from one base to another?

my problem is i broke the shaft on the low E tuner (the one one the end with the little filigree)  i have a vintage one to replace it with but its one of the middle ones with the flat edges.  what do i do?

[jcamlis]

I know your pain that happened to one of mine, and I still have no answer myself hopefully somebody can reccomend something.
Mine was on the high e and of course I have my right handed guitar strung upside down to play left handed, other wise sounds like we should split a set between us.

[dain]

all told for this bass VI i've spent like 600$ on tuners..  then promptly broke the set that i needed.

[jcamlis]

OH  that sucks bag
I know the feeling of paying so much for the tuners, I swear there are people out there that just must have hoarded away piles of the things with how many sets I see turn up on ebay for guitars and bass' at like $300 + a set or worse at $75 a tuner, somebody is making a huge profit somewhere.

[Gooner]

I can't help with advice but I think if you could link in a couple of pictures it would be a useful future reference for everyone, especially if you find a solution?

[dain]

no solutions yet (besides ordering a single vintage kluson from ebay  ) but here's some pics to show how screwed you are if you ever want to do this...

notice distinct LACK of screw slot.  these were not meant to be taken apart.  also note gouges in soft metal as dain tries to pry the shaft from the socket...


also note the soft metal tabs on the cover, mocking dain with cruel taunts of "you'll never bend me back into position! i'll break off and make you cry!"



hopeless... bloody hopeless...

[Gooner]

just a suggestion..... the problem is separating the broken shaft from the base plate....to the average lay person you would think that the brass end would unscrew from the shaft, if it does you can cut or file a slot, put the broken end in a vice and unscrew it. Sounds simple, but you need to find out about the original construction, if it don't unscrew, theory down the toilet. Try klusons they should be able to advise about the construction. Other than that you will need a friendly engineer to grind off the brass bit on both shafts, swap broken for good, then weld back the top to replace that brass bit and grind to fit. Unless he's very friendly that will probably cost you a fair bit!! Hope this gives you a few ideas...

[thewizardofaz]

Are these vintage six tuners with the larger shaft or standard tuners? Vintage six is the only way you'd sped $600.00. I've been looking for a set with that larger shaft, though I know I don't need them. Another project for our French friend, Christophe. He's got another 40 complete sets of six parts ready to be polished and plated. These are laser cut too.

[scottme]

I just might be able to help out - I am getting a set of 5 vintage single line Klusons that I'm taking the high E from, leaving the low E and 3 standard. But I don't have them quite yet...

[dain]

[quote="thewizardofaz"]
Are these vintage six tuners with the larger shaft or standard tuners? Vintage six is the only way you'd sped $600.00.

that's not the only way to spend 600$!  allow me to demonstrate:

200$+  first you buy some late 60s F tuners because the headstock has been modified to use some other type.  (you assume they are F tuners because of the screw hole config)  then you realize the holes are for some weird aftermarket jobs but you don't want to buy another set of tuners for 200+ bucks so you...

100$+  buy some aged reissues from germany.  germany sends you single lined tuners when you paid for doubles (and you are a complete offset dork and can't put single lines on your precious bassVI)  you send them back and the germans take a million years.  in the meantime you finish your bassVI and want tuners on it so you can play fascination street...so ...

200$  you order a vintage set of double lines from ebay that actually arrive BEFORE the german ones.  as you are installing them you wonder if the low E string is going to fit inside that tiny hole in the shaft...you think "maybe i could make that hole a bit bigger using POWER TOOLS!" (i'll spare you the details here... )
you then need a single low E tuner so what do you do?

45$  you buy a single vintage double line (NOT a low E) and then just ignore the fact that it doesn't have the little knobby end.  but it still bugs you so you go on the internet and whine about how you're an idiot for spending so much on stupid tuners...

so i guess its only been like 550$ but jebus! that's a lotta money on stupid tuners!

[jcamlis]

Yeah I got mine open and it wasn't quite as messy with all the scratching and gouging, I tried putting it in a vice and turning and got nowhere the next step I think is a little more extreme and not for the faint of heart, I got a friend that works in a lab at the local university and they suggested liquid nitrogen, drip some on the part it gets brittle tap it with something and watch it shatter, the only thing I worry about is harming the rest with too much. I think I may just start checking ebay daily because 1 has to turn up eventually, and I mean this is a vintage one for a 65 Mustang, not the repros its got a replacement repro on for now but I personally want to keep it all original.