Handel a-style tuners

[Bernie Daniel]

Well here is an eBay item you do not often see -- a Gibson A4 headstock with original Handel tuners for sale. #The tuners look great - must be a good story behind this one.

My question would be is it possible to salvage the inlay as well or is it too much work to dig it out?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-HANDEL-TUNERS-FOR-GIBSON-MANDOLIN_W0QQitemZ230215558279QQihZ013QQcategoryZ1 0179QQs

sPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">Handel tuners and Gibson inaly</a>

[AlanN]

Oh my. If that mandolin could talk...

"Help, I can't feel my legs!"
"Ok, Ok, I'll repay the loan..."
"I said a 'little off the top'..."

[Jim Garber]

My question would be is it possible to salvage the inlay as well or is it too much work to dig it out?
Yes and no. You just have to be careful.

[Red Henry]

I would guess that this paddle-headstock is from a very early (possibly pre-1908) A-4. One way to utilize the inlays would be to separate the whole peghead overlay from the mahogany (or whatever) under it, and re-use it in one piece. That would be fairly easy if the overlay's thick enough to hold together. In any case, if the overlay (with inlays) was by itself, it would be easier to get the inlays out of it.

Red.

[BlueMountain]

I was trying to remove a fretboard with a hot iron resting on the frets. I never managed to release the glue holding the fretboard, but the glue under the position markers turned dark brown (caramelized?) and boiled, bubbling out the position markers. I was horrified, but later I found that it took only a few minutes to carefully scrape off that brown glue with a razor blade and dig out the glue from the holes with a dental pick. would this work on a headstock inlay if one lay the iron on shims? Of course, it may be harder to do that with a "Gibson" name inlay than with a position dot, and it would sure be a LOT easier to break it while scraping off glue.