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I'm starting an old 1928 (29?) Staufer, and it seems pretty straightforward except the tuners. It has the fancy ones with the brass back. Not wanting to spend $850 on them (at least on my third guitar) I drew it up, and figured out how to do it, and came up with a plan to actually build on the brass plate, put a brass side on as well, and on the top side of the head, they would just be held in place with the post bushing.

At least that's the plan. It may change depending on what I find. Probably singles for the bass side. I guess they could work on a plate, but are any with about a 24mm spacing?

Looking at tuners, I've only found Kluson 6 in-line tuners with a longer, and most importantly straight diameter post for the tuning knob. Do you guys know of other tuners that have a straight post for the knob?

Decorations? I have to get them to work first!

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Why be normal?

Are you building one or repairing one? I just finished one and chose to put banjo tuners on it. I used Frank Ford's 10:1 version - not cheap at $300 but not $850. TheGotoh 4:1 are much cheaperand well loved, but I think these are perfect for the job. Look at the first 20 or so slides here to see the various instruments that I drew my personal inspirations from. Click left and right, text below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/43855277474/in/album-72157678301955987/

Clay S. made his own Stauffer tuners and maybe he will chime in.

And if it's the Stauffer I am thinking of, you are about 100 years off

Ed M

Hi Ken,
Here are some pictures of how the original's were done - they used cotter pins. I made some by soldering brass tubing on the existing shafts of some modern tuners to extend them. I also shortened the tuner posts and redrilled them. Using six on a plate is a good idea. Try to keep the cogs above the posts if you are going to use steel strings.

Ed, I love the way your rendition turned out. It looks great. I might go with pegs through the back like that, with the curved head if I can't get the tuners on the brass plate to work. I'm not a fan of the head design they used with through pegs then. Really frumpy. I'm just going to use period strings on it, so it will only have about 78 pounds of tension, not much more than my little 10 string baroque, and not much less than my arch top that only has 84 pounds.

I'll do a steel string when I do a small Martin from 100 years later.

Clay, Your photo of the original shows that the knobs are below the tuning posts. That is the way that the Kluson's are. I thought of building them on the brass plate, for the added strength, but if I got ones already mounted on a plate, it might be far easier to build a laminated head; attach the tuners to the top, glue the wood for the rest of it around the heads, and just use the plate as decoration. With only 78 pounds of tension, maybe a faceplate of the quartered Padauk would be strong enough.

I still like the idea of having them soldered right to the plate. I'd need an alignment plate to keep them square and in line. I could still use a laminated head, and not have to cut out space for them. I just looked it up, and the spacing on a Fender is about 24 mm. Cool. I'll order a set, and see what I decide to do when I know how thick they are.

Extending the knobs doesn't seem to be a huge problem, but after shortening the string posts, how do you get the ends to look right? It seems like all of them are plated with something.

Thanks guys. Sometimes I just need to think out loud.

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Why be normal?

Hi Ken,
I didn't worry about replating the ends of the cut off posts. After sanding them smooth they blended in with the sides well enough, which after all, have string wrapped around them. One old romantic guitar I have has ivory covers over top of the metal rollers. You could do something like that to enlarge the diameter of the post if so desired, and that would also hide the unplated ends.
Initially I used that neck on a Martin style size 1 guitar built for steel strings, but the tension was too great for having the cogs below the posts. I built a classical body and used the neck on it. It worked fine with the lower tension of nylon stringing.
The Fender style tuners should work fine and will give you a spacing close to the originals.

Nice looking instrument, Clay

Ed M

https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/ ... 6925561189
Hi Ken,
Above is a link to a discussion of Stauffer tuners on the DelCamp forum. It shows tuners made by Martin Okenica which uses the cover plate as part of the tuner assembly. His tuners are more involved to construct but certainly look nice. I took the easy way out.

"Looking at tuners, I've only found Kluson 6 in-line tuners with a longer, and most importantly straight diameter post for the tuning knob. Do you guys know of other tuners that have a straight post for the knob?"

If you search eBay you will find numerous people offering inexpensive Chinese tuners that have simple straight rods that mount the tuner buttons. I used mandolin tuners because they had the closer spacing and small round buttons for tuner knobs. Twelve string guitar tuners have similar close spacing and the knobs can be purchased separately.
I don't quite understand why you might want to laminate the peghead. I think it would be much easier to chisel out the recess for the tuners than to add in all the little pieces of wood around them. The metal plate is essentially for decoration on the original. I sliced off a piece of the peghead material to use as a cover so it matches the front. I screwed it on so I still have access to the mechanism. If I build another I will probably go with a metal plate.
K and S metals might be a handy resource. You can find their stuff in hobby shops and also online:
https://www.ksmetals.com/

Thanks for the links, Clay. My thought was just to solder single tuners.to the back.plate using a top plate as a fixture to hold them straight and square. Building them? I don't think so.I

The center strip for the lamination.would only have a rectangle cut out for the tuners, and slots for the stems. Simple. The sides would be black shellac. Black something.anyway.

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Why be normal?

Ken,
It is cutting the slots for the stems where I think you might wind up fitting small blocks between the stems. I guess you could saw out the rectangle for the tuners with a coping saw, glue it to the face, then mark and saw the slots for the shafts with a razor saw, and chisel out the waste. There are a lot of ways to do it, and I'm sure you know what works best for you.
I think I drilled the post holes, laid the tuners on the peghead with the tuner posts going through the holes, traced around the plate and button shafts, then chiseled out the recess.