Northfield Tuner Buttons

[jimmy powells]

Anyone experienced changing the black tuner buttons on a Northfield. Love my Big Mon but never have liked black buttons. Any help appreciated.

[George R. Lane]

You should contact the folks at Northfield.

[Oliver A.]

I'm not familiar with which brand of tuners Northfield uses but if they do not have the screw on type of buttons and Northfield recommends that you not try it yourself, try posting your query in the builders section. Be sure to include the brand and/or photos of the tuners. I'm sure you'll get lots of tips.

[MikeEdgerton]

They appear to be Schallers on the instrument I found online. Change the tuners to a set of Schallers with the buttons you like. It will probably be a whole lot easier.

[sblock]

Northfields have Schaller tuners. The buttons are glued on and not designed to be exchanged. It would probably be easier to simply remove your tuners altogether and replace them with an otherwise identical set of F-style Schaller tuners from the factory: these automatically come with simulated (plastic) mother-of-peal buttons, which are white. You can buy a brand new set for about $75, which is likely to be less than the cost of the labor/parts involved in trying to remove and replace those black buttons. Also, you can easily sell your used set for about half price, if you don't remove the black buttons and mess them up. So it will wind up costing you about $40 in the end, and maybe less.

[MikeEdgerton]

OK, now I'm confused. The picture shows Schaller tuners. The listing says Gotoh. Jimmy, is there a screw holding that button on?

http://www.northfieldinstruments.com/mandolins/big-mon

[almeriastrings]

Jimmy,

Are yours the same as these?




If so, I agree with those who say just get a replacement set and sell the ones with black buttons. They are glued on there. As there are always people looking for tuners with black buttons, you should have no problem.

[Oliver A.]

Assuming Schallers, changing out the whole set of tuners is certainly a good option and easily done with minimal tools and skill. If you have an adjustable heat gun you can easily remove the glued on buttons and glue on replacements for $20.56 from StewMac. For me the latter entails less hassle and is slightly cheaper, but I have a good heat gun and experience.

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_...ref_currency=D


Proviso: If you go the heat gun route, be sure to remove the tuners from the mandolin before heating. 250 degrees F or there abouts should do it.

[Nick Gellie]

Oliver

What brand is your adjustable heat gun and what glue do you use to glue the new tuners back on with?

Thanks

Nick

[Oliver A.]

Oliver

What brand is your adjustable heat gun and what glue do you use to glue the new tuners back on with?

Thanks



Nick

I have a Makita heat gun. I'm very happy with it. It's great for binding work and a load of other uses. It adjusts from 180F to 1,080F

http://www.makita.ca/index2.php?event=tool&id=1315

You can glue the buttons on with cyanoacrylate (super glue). I usually prefer the medium viscosity for this, depending on how snug the buttons fit. The tuner shafts have serrations on the end to make a mechanical bond to the glue. Give the glue plenty of time to dry and harden before putting the tuners to use.

[jimmy powells]

Hi everyone and many thanks for the replies. I should have said that I have the type with small screws.

I've just managed to change them. First time I took one of the screws out the button a few weeks ago it was still pretty tight so I just wasn't certain. I've just tried again and with a little careful but strong pull, the button came off. I've got a few of sets of the ivoroid ones I bought a while ago and they fit perfectly.

Just going to do the other 7 now .

Thanks to all and if anyone else was thinking the same then it's fairly straightforward.

Jimmy

[MikeEdgerton]

OK, yours has Gotoh tuners. That's an easy change.

[mandroid]

Often in small print " specifications subject to change, without notice"




Somebody will buy the tuners that for appearance you don't like, so replace the tuners as a whole,

Then put the removed ones up For Sale in the Classifieds Here..

[done so, myself, before ]

[MikeEdgerton]

Often in small print " specifications subject to change, without notice"




Somebody will buy the tuners that for appearance you don't like, so replace the tuners as a whole,

Then put the removed ones up For Sale in the Classifieds Here..

[done so, myself, before ]

Yeah, I know. Thanks for doing that!

[jimmy powells]

Hi Mike. Just noticed your reply two years later. Yes mine have the screws for removing buttons. Northfield said their tuners are Gotoh. I bought a set of 8 solid pearl buttons which were supposed to fit Gotoh. My friend in USA bought them for me a few months ago and brought them today. they don't fit. Just typical.

Not to worry. The black ones are Ok and I also have ivoroid which do fit but pearl ones would look good.

Cheers

Jimmy

[MikeEdgerton]

I suspect your tuners are not Gotoh's but actually Saga tuners. I had the same issue with the pearl buttons and found out the hard way that what I thought were Gotoh tuners were not. Post a picture of the tuners and the holes in the tuner buttons where they fit on the post.