Official Luthiers Forum!

I’ve used the wood knobs for 510 tuners from LMI a few times and plan to again, but I have a question.
For those of you who have used them ... do you finish them in any way? Shellac? Ca glue? Truoil?

Just wanted to get your thoughts on it

Thanks
B


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's been my experience that wood knobs are great for having upset customers come back to the shop with cracked knobs that need to get fixed

Ca does a good job fixing them so maybe that jsut might be a good 'finish' for them too.

Uh oh... so are they a bad idea in general?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, it's only happened to me on 3 occasions but I do try and steer people away from them because of that. I never did think about putting a finish on them though. And they are easy to fix should they crack. So if the aesthetic outweighs the potential for problems then it's fine. I bet Richlite would be better tho

I've never had any issues with wooden tuner knobs- assuming the instrument is kept in proper humidity.

I give mine a light oil finish.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I wonder how the ratio of the tuner would effect the stress put on the knob? Do the knobs "spontaneously" crack or is it during tuning? I had a classical guitar with wooden knobs on the tuners for 30+ years and never had a problem.

They seem quite sturdy... I’m assuming some sort of impact would most likely crack them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The tree guitars for me were 2 classical guitars and one steel string. The classical guitars were Sloane Tuners and the steel string I can't remember now. SM replaced the SLoanes no questions asked. So I suppose the sample would indicalte a problem with Sloanes.?

In our experience regardless of the material of the tuner button cracking is often a function of other issues requiring the person to have to use a lot of force to turn the knob. Not always is this the case but usually it is. There are exceptions such as old Bakelite knobs (My 88 year old Mom worked for Bakelite 60 years ago before becoming a nurse...) where the bakelite is disintegrating these days from age and environmental exposure.

Cracking classical tuners regardless of the material we've found misaligned holes in the peg head, worn gears, corroded journals and gears and being seriously in need of having a quality lubricant worked into them. Classical tuner barrels, the white tubular part that the string wraps around can distort in roundness and also crack as well as fall apart or begin to. All these things can make the tuner very difficult to turn and lead to cracking a knob.

In my experience I don't think that wood knobs crack much if any more than pl*stic ones and when either of them do it's usually for a reason that is not difficult to find.

As for finish I sold likely a couple dozen of my guitars with wooden knobs, Waverley and Gotoh and I didn't finish them but I did on some of them go through the micro mesh pads to bring them to a satin looking finish but with no finish used.

This is why I use only real Ivory glued on with the tears of baby seals.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Was that the 99.44% pure ivory glued on with the tears of baby Easter seals?