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Topic: Repairing tuners on a 1955 Fender Custom T8 |
David Mansfield
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2025 7:33 pm |
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I realize there’s been a lot of discussion about this, but I could use a summary. I bought a 1955 Fender Custom T8 (4/55) with trapezoid pickups and lollipop open tuners, and some of the gears are stripped. I’d like to find parts to refurbish them rather than replace them, as the worm gears seem fine. Does anyone make parts for these? For those of you that know the history of these instruments, who manufactured the tuners? Not Kluson, as far as I can tell. Maybe there’s some old stock out there somewhere. I’m attaching a picture.
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Jim Fogarty
From:
Phila, Pa, USA
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Posted 3 Jan 2025 4:20 pm
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David,
When I was faced with this problem, I ended up having to buy a complete old original pan w/ tuners off eBay. The word I got was that fixing them and sourcing parts was near impossible.
Another thing is, sometimes the tuners will work backwards, so if it's just one or two, try stringing it and tuning it backwards. I have one like that, and it's a non-issue.
Good luck! - Jim
PS....saw you with T Bone at World Cafe here in Philly. Simply stunning performance.I was literally in tears at times. Thank you. |
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David Mansfield
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2025 5:59 am
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Thanks, Jim. I've got my luthier here in NYC working on this too (Tom Crandall). He thinks he may be able to find some old parts to refurbish them, and says the tuners are much older than the 4/55 manufacturing date on the steel; that Fender probably had some old stock they were using. Meanwhile I'll keep digging here and on Reverb/eBay. As a last resort, I have those Stew Mac tuners that can be cut down and used as replacements. The biggest hassle with them is that the lollipop tuners have a smaller hole, so the peg shafts would need to be ground down a bit.
Anybody else with any info or leads, please chime in! I hear there are replacement tuning pans available for Stringmasters, but not for Custom T8s. Would be great to find one, hopefully slotted, to make replacement easier.
Meanwhile, this guitar sure sounds great. Love those trap pickups.
P.S. can anyone confirm that these are Waverly tuners? |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2025 9:56 am
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| I replaced two of the tuners on my Custom with tuners taken from an old set of strip tuners. I had to remove the original tuners using a small propane torch to melt the solder. Then I cut replacements off the strip tuners and soldered them on. You have to make sure the new tuner shafts fit the hole in the lollipop key. I took one of the keys and tuners down to my local folklore center where the repair guy had a coffee can full of old strip tuners. He gave me a strip of six tuners for free. It's not too hard of a job if you are handy at all. |
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