Looking for tuner parts

  1. Endocrantz
    Endocrantz
    I am bringing back a well-loved (played hard put away wet) Strad-O-Lin. More than one owner seems to have replaced their tuners. I hoped to maintain originality but have struggled a bit locating matching parts. Does anyone have any spares they would part with? It looks like many different tuners were used over the years.
  2. bart mcneil
    bart mcneil
    If I understand your question, the photo clearly shows that the tuners on your mando are not the original ones. If they were the correct tuners then the screw holes would show that a screw was once in there, but the holes show no indication of a screw ever being used in the now empty holes.
  3. Endocrantz
    Endocrantz
    Thanks for replying Bart - I have two Strads of the same vintage, both using these same tuners with brass gears and posts. The two missing screws are unused on both as well. I think they are original, or at least period-correct.

    The brass gears can become scored from dirt, and the brass posts mushroom a bit on one side or the other from years of playing, causing the machine to turn inconsistently, by that I mean not smoothly through 360 degrees.

    Some might just call that worn-out! I was hoping to save them for originality's sake - or at least period-correct - as it would seem.

    I hoped to just nurse them along, and thus the inquiry about availability of spares here. That's really why I wrote. I typically have a "junk drawer" of bits collected over time from various projects, and was thinking the same could be true for some here.

    I am reluctant to drill new holes in the head to fit modern tuners, as well. I'm not sure I can find an absolute match of posts and screw-holes.
  4. bart mcneil
    bart mcneil
    That is interesting.. Both my Strad-O-Lins are likely earlier than yours, or maybe not, but they both use the same tuners which use all the screw holes with screws. I guess this might relate to the apparently several different manufacturers building Strads during the lifetime of the company. Maybe the manufacturer at the time ran out of those pesky little screws and had to conserve by installing fewer on mandos Several of my mandos have missing screws but that is because of lost screws and lack of maintenance. in one of my Strads the screws had all been over-tightened and were barely hanging in there having stripped the threads in the wood,

    Both of my Strads were unplayable when I got them and only one had a finish worth even trying to salvage so there was not much point in trying to make the bad one look original. Once repaired they look "good" but certainly show a lot of wear and chipped finish compared to some in the photos. They are both decent players though and that is what I wanted.
  5. Maxwellt
    Maxwellt
    The Strad-O-Lins did use a lot of different tuners over the years. On the two I play the most, I finally replaced them with modern Schaller tuners, and they work great. Pay attention if you go this way, because several of the tuner makers make more than one kind of mandolin tuner, with the string post screw above or below the worm gear.
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