Gladys gets "new" tuners!

[Joe Ganzler]

That's really interesting. The tab on one side of your set goes out. I always thought the tabs were bent in. Both of the auctions referenced above have the one tab out and one in. Was this a standard or did it vary from set to set or year to year?

On all the non-f*cked with Klusons that I've seen, the tab nearest the post is bent in, the tab farthest away is bent out...:ganz

 

[bjm007]

And just when I thought that swirley tips were the "end all" for repros and now I find out that the real deal doesn't look like that at all.......

Jeeeeeeeeez :wah

 

[Tom Wittrock]

Here's the real deal, next to Allparts cheap repros:

 

[Mcloudnine]

On all the non-f*cked with Klusons that I've seen, the tab nearest the post is bent in, the tab farthest away is bent out...:ganz

Joe or BMU, were they always like that or did they possibly change through the years? Were the No-line and pat appld tuners the same? I've got a bag of Klusons and most are bent in on both sides with a few bent out on the one side like yours. I've never paid much attention to this detail before.

 

[Joe Ganzler]

Joe or BMU, were they always like that or did they possibly change through the years? Were the No-line and pat appld tuners the same? I've got a bag of Klusons and most are bent in on both sides with a few bent out on the one side like yours. I've never paid much attention to this detail before.

Honestly, I've only paid attention to late PAF tuners and Patent # tuners; in essence, what you find on '57-'60 Les Pauls...

 

[rockabilly69]

TW,

I think those allparts look pretty good

 

[Tom Wittrock]

TW,

I think those allparts look pretty good

I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[abalonevintage]

You HAVE to buff the All parts tuner tips to make them look their best, as they have a matte patina.

But they are the best looking repros I have seen... :salude

 

[RickN]

Joe or BMU, were they always like that or did they possibly change through the years? Were the No-line and pat appld tuners the same? I've got a bag of Klusons and most are bent in on both sides with a few bent out on the one side like yours. I've never paid much attention to this detail before.

Mark - I'm with Joe on this - to the best of my memory, all of the D-number Klusons that have been through my hands have had one bent out and one bent in. The picture of the back of the Pat Appld-era tuners on my White Paper page show 'bent-in' tabs, and the picture of the back of the D-Number-era tuner shows a 'bent-out' tab. I'll concede that there MAY have been some with both 'bent-in' during that era, but I honestly don't remember seeing any, so that's my CYA statement... :wah :hee

The neat thing about having those tab differences is that they put a different 'dent' in the back of the headstock.

 

[Tom Wittrock]

Mark - I'm with Joe on this - to the best of my memory, all of the D-number Klusons that have been through my hands have had one bent out and one bent in. The picture of the back of the Pat Appld-era tuners on my White Paper page show 'bent-in' tabs, and the picture of the back of the D-Number-era tuner shows a 'bent-out' tab. I'll concede that there MAY have been some with both 'bent-in' during that era, but I honestly don't remember seeing any, so that's my CYA statement... :wah :hee

The neat thing about having those tab differences is that they put a different 'dent' in the back of the headstock.

I have dozens of old keystone Klusons. I will try to check out this feature of the direction of the tabs.

 

[Mcloudnine]

Sorry Joe, didn't mean to hijack your thread. I just had never paid attention to that detail before your post. Gladys would look fabulous naked, but I'm sure feels better with her new hardware. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Wilko]

All the Klusons I have from 54 to 68 have bent "out" tabs.

 

[Tom Wittrock]

Here's the quick answer on the tabs, after looking at about 100 old Keystone Klusons.
The earliest versions had the tabs bent inward towards the shaft.
The first time that changes is on the no-line versions, where the worm gear hole is on the side of the housing.
Starting then, the tab furthest from the shaft is bent outward, and actually gets nicked when the screw hole is punched.
It stays this way until the double lines. I only found double lines with tabs bent inward again, including all the way to Klusons final days. If there are double line versions with one "in" and one"out" I did not find one [yet].
Hope this helps.

 

[Mcloudnine]

Thanks Tom. That is very informative. :salude

 

[RickN]

Here's the quick answer on the tabs, after looking at about 100 old Keystone Klusons.
The earliest versions had the tabs bent inward towards the shaft.
The first time that changes is on the no-line versions, where the worm gear hole is on the side of the housing.
Starting then, the tab furthest from the shaft is bent outward, and actually gets nicked when the screw hole is punched.
It stays this way until the double lines. I only found double lines with tabs bent inward again, including all the way to Klusons final days. If there are double line versions with one "in" and one"out" I did not find one [yet].
Hope this helps.

Good information. I'm glad you have those to look at. That's something I didn't even think to document when I had all those old Klusons at my place for the photo shoot I did on my White Paper.

Someone asked me in an email whether I thought that the direction of the tab was dependent on who was doing the assembly at any one time - a legit question, but here's my theory:

I don't think it was dependent on who was putting them together, because I don't think that was done by hand. It's no small task to bend those tabs - that steel of the gear cover is tougher than you might think. I also can't believe they did them one at a time. From a manufacturing standpoint, that's very inefficient. I believe it was done by a press, and that several were done at the same time.

It's my theory that there were two different sets of tooling (or more) over time. Tooling wears out with use - see PAF covers, for example - I think the tooling for the press that bent the tabs wore, and new tooling was produced, and the new tooling bent one tab the other way. Or new tooling was produced when the new gear covers came out (when the worm shaft started appearing out the far side). Whatever. Was the different bend to the tab intentional? Was it an accident in the machine shop? Was the blueprint mis-read? Who know? But I think it was simply different tooling used by a big press.

Just my take, looking from a manufacturer's view.

 

[Wilko]

Having not found any of the older stlye of my small stash bent in two directions, and thinking like a manufacturer, that tab banding operation requires sideways and down, with both bent the same way, one "in" the other "out" it can happen with one strike of the machine. Both tabs are bent in the same direction.

Now I have looked at a bunch of double line-double ring and see both bent "in". cool.

 

[guitarvoodoo]

* Double ring/single line are bent one in, one out like the earlier tuners - almost always.

Double ring/double line are bent both in - both 'Kluson Deluxe' and 'Gibson Deluxe'.


* - I have a couple of these that are done a THIRD way - the two studs are not bent in or out, they are 'squashed' (!) right over the little slot they come through.....

/GV

 

[Tom Wittrock]

* Single ring/double line are bent one in, one out like the earlier tuners - almost always.


* - I have a couple of these that are done a THIRD way - the two studs are not bent in or out, they are 'squashed' (!) right over the little slot they come through.....

/GV

:wah

Did you mean double ring, single line? :hmm

 

[harveyP]

There is a link at the bottom of page 6 in "the Upgrade Plastics Comparision Thread" in the Historic District. More pics also.

http://www.vintagehaven.co.uk

Under replica parts

 

[guitarvoodoo]

:wah

Did you mean double ring, single line? :hmm

LOL! Yes of course. I've corrected the post accordingly.

/GV