Ridiculous US Postal charge !.

[almeriastrings]

Postage cost issue to one side, there is a place that will make these - or indeed any similar part - for you as a custom order.

http://www.cedros.org/start_englisch...set_start.html

They need precise measurements, or a piece to copy - and there would doubtless be a minimum quantity, but if it is pearl, bone, wood or plastic they have the capability to manufacture it. Almost certainly not worth it for a single set, but worth knowing about anyway.

My final thought. What's wrong with pearloid buttons?

[Flame Maple]

Nothing wrong with pearloid buttons Almeria , I liked the look of the black buttons on the Northfield Mandolins and thought about buying a set.The black buttons are pearloid also. I cant remove the original ones so I wont bother with changing them.
Saga state that the buttons on the KM1000 are removable .The cost of the postage was not the reason for me not buying the black buttons.

[MysTiK PiKn]

In Canada, I use USPS ground. Not UPS or Defex.

With USPS ground it's simple postage and just wait. And since "the mail must go through", I don't worry about it.

The only thing I worry about is "Brokerage Fees" - those seem to hit with UPS or Fedex. A cheap used paperback book, cost about 15 and went to about $50 - I forget exactly; but that's close enough to make the point. Aren't free trade deals wonderful? The 'global economy' seems pretty hungry to me. I try to not get bit.

JAPARTS
========
There's a distributor in Vancouver, B.C., Canada = called JAPARTS - google that.
They sell Gotoh Tuners; but I don't know if they sell buttons. The tuners they sell are ordered from Japan, might take some wait time for the shipping; it depends on when your order triggers.

JAPARTS sells also Japanese files - and they stock those IN Vancouver - so no wait for files usually.
Their email is on the website.

I don't know if this will help; but you can talk to Josh about shipping arrangements. I have the impression he's willing to provide good customer service. I was quite happy there. If they have or can get buttons, they could likely ship cheap. I would request that - esp. after the story here.

Worth an email - to check it out. Just my suggestion. Hope to help.

Myst.

[almeriastrings]

The Norfthfield tuners are black semi-matt, on to Schaller hardware.





They're glued onto the shafts.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Thanks Houseworker.It would seem as though RS's tuners are Gotoh - but not sold under their name. If they were sold under the Gotoh name, RS wouldn't have to explain the fact. My local Luthier supplier has Gotoh tuners all the time,no need for any special orders.
In the UK,we pay duty on the total cost of the item plus everything else - postage,insurance etc..The biggest insult is the £8 PO handling fee. The package is simply placed on a shelf,not delivered. Yes,they do handle it,but to levy an £8 charge is ridiculous,however, having said that,when you're running a postal service that's lost money for decades through inefficiency,you have to claw cash back any way you can,
Ivan

[houseworker]

My local Luthier supplier has Gotoh tuners all the time,no need for any special orders.

I should have been more specific. The vintage pattern tuners are a special order item. As mentioned at the foot of this page: http://www.lutherie.net/gotoh.compared.html

Gotoh's reluctance to distribute and fully support their products is the cause of the problem. Which is a shame, because they make excellent tuners.

[G7MOF]

I thought import duties only came in when an item was over £45/$75. Vat is 20% on the postage as well as the item price and import duties if there are any should be a set figure of £34/$60!

[houseworker]

The black buttons are pearloid also

They aren't. Pearloid is the faux MoP supplied as default where the 'pearl' effect is achieved by laminating layers of different plastics. Leaving aside any aesthetic issues, the buttons are prone to de-laminating in use. Both the alternatives are made from a far harder and more durable ivoroid material.

[houseworker]

I thought import duties only came in when an item was over £45/$75.

You're way out of touch. Currently £15 is the UK limit. If you'd read the thread though, you'd know that we're talking about Portugal.

[houseworker]

Postage cost issue to one side, there is a place that will make these - or indeed any similar part - for you as a custom order.

http://www.cedros.org/start_englisch...set_start.html

Thanks for that link. I'll give some thought to getting a batch of buttons made up.

[noah finn]

Nothing wrong with pearloid buttons Almeria , I liked the look of the black buttons on the Northfield Mandolins and thought about buying a set.The black buttons are pearloid also. I cant remove the original ones so I wont bother with changing them.
Saga state that the buttons on the KM1000 are removable .The cost of the postage was not the reason for me not buying the black buttons.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...+tuner+buttons

Squirt of WD40 left to soak should free a stuck button.

[G7MOF]

You're way out of touch. Currently £15 is the UK limit. If you'd read the thread though, you'd know that we're talking about Portugal.

The OP was about UK import charges!!!

[houseworker]

The OP was about UK import charges!!!

Actually, despite quoting UK currency, Ivan was describing the situation of someone in Portugal. But none of that is particularly relevant to a discussion of USPS Priority shipping rates.

[MysTiK PiKn]

I hope everyone enjoyed the tour of Vancouver.

Can we launch the rocket now?

[Petrus]

Since we're talking tuner buttons ... Anyone know if you can still get those old Gibson style vine pattern buttons? You know, the fancy ones. I haven't seen any third party suppliers so far.

[G7MOF]

You'll also find USPS won't insure an item once it's left the US so whilst over the sea or on the UK mainland you aint insured!!!

[Ivan Kelsall]

From houseworker - "....where the 'pearl' effect is achieved by laminating layers of different plastics.". That might be one way of making it,but i have a small piece of 'pearloid in my PC desk. It's only 2mm thick & there's no laminate in it at all,it's solid. Only one side is polished to a gloss,the other side was left 'matt' finish. I bought it over 11 years ago to make a truss rod cover for the Gold Star banjo i had at the time.It looked so naff that i took it off about 5 seconds after i put it on !. There's nothing like the 'real thing'.
This from Wikipedia - ".. It is sliced and bonded to other materials[1] such as wood, to give the mother of pearl effect." . How the heck can wood impart a MOP appearance ?.
Here you go -solid Cellulose Nitrate sheet.No bonding to wood,laminate or anything.This is the suff i bought,
Ivan

[houseworker]

From houseworker - "....where the 'pearl' effect is achieved by laminating layers of different plastics.". That might be one way of making it,but i have a small piece of 'pearloid in my PC desk. It's only 2mm thick & there's no laminate in it at all,it's solid.

The buttons on the Gotohs that came with my 70s Gibson quite visibly delaminated and had to be replaced. How they make the current ones I can only guess, but from all reports the plastic is quite soft and remains prone to disintegration. The ivoroid buttons on the other hand are made from Golalith, a plastic that is sufficiently hard that it has to be machined to shape.

[mandroid]

Maybe a bubble envelope with out the tracking would save money .. Aquila spent 4 euros to send some strings.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I suspect that most 'plastic' buttons (to use a generic term) are moulded.The only machining of any sort would be the drilling of the screw hole. The buttons on my Gotoh MA40 tuners are solid Ivoroid. Re.the de-lamination - i'd have thought that to machine such small items from laminated material would be pretty difficult to begin with, as plastics with many laminates are very prone to de-lamination by the cutters used to shape them. It's not a very cost effective method of manufacture either. 'Plastic' buttons can be Pressure Die moulded in hundreds at a time,inc.the 'square' or 'flat' shaft hole. All that's left to do,is to remove any 'flashing' left by the mouding process & to drill the screw holes. I'd really like to see the manufacturing process used to make 'laminated' buttons which haven't been moulded. If they were moulded,they wouldn't be 'laminated'. They'd have to be individually made (IMHO) = very costly indeed = on a 'practical basis',i can't believe that they're made from laminated material. Regarding the
de-lamination which houseworker describes,unless he was hallucinating (i doubt it !),they did de-laminate but as to why ?????.
In my last employment with BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace),myself & our Chem. Lab.evaluated more types of 'plastic' for one use or another than i care to think of. Multi-laminates were out of the question & were never considered,& surprisingly enough,several types of 'plastic' sheet were in themselves, prone to moisture absorbtion & had to be stored in a temp./ humidity controlled environment. I can only assume that any multi-laminate would possibly be even more prone to moisture absorbtion over time as moisture might migrate into the edge of the sheet ?,
Ivan