All those Phillips screws holding the truss rod cover and the tuners look like Gibson screws which further suggest that Gibson did the work. I would imagine that the slot head screws still hold on the tailpiece.
All those Phillips screws holding the truss rod cover and the tuners look like Gibson screws which further suggest that Gibson did the work. I would imagine that the slot head screws still hold on the tailpiece.
It seems Gibson went the extra mile and changed all the screws but I would imagine that the screws in the top of the clamp were last used in the 1920s when Gibson changed to a pickguard bracket screwed to the side which was a far less expensive and simple item. The screws in the clamp are very small and a Phillips version was presumably never used by Gibson- the company moved to Phillips screws in 1939 but as suggested earlier the work is more likely to have been done much more recently.
Simply removing the tuners and switching sides, as rcc56 suggests, is the first thing the OP should try. That puts the worms in the correct orientation and may resolve some of the problems.
On no account should a set of Handel tuners be chopped up or mangled in any way. If the OP finds them unsuitable, they can be sold. Plain vintage Gibson tuners aren't worth much these days thanks to the wide availability of the Golden Age replacements. But Handels should still fetch $150200, methinks, provided they are intact.
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