Mike Blohm Handel Tuner Replicas

[Mike Blohm]

One more.

[Mike Blohm]

Thanks, everyone for all the kind words.

[Chris Baird]

Nice work! Don't know if it will work but you could go the extra mile for the vintage heads and pickle em'.

[f5loar]

Do you say these will fit the new F5 Waverlys? How much for a set of 8?

[Mike Blohm]

Yes. They will fit Waverlys. Also Schallers. I think they can be made to fit vintage tuners but I have not tried that yet.

They are $250 for 8 buttons.

On the Schallers, it might be better if I you sent me the tuners and I mounted the buttons.

[Mike Blohm]

[QUOTE]Will they fit the new F5 Waverlys?

When you say new F5 Waverlys. Does that mean they made a change?

[Mike Blohm]

I get to awnser my own question about the Waverlys. I talked to the People at Waverly and they said these buttons would fit all their mandolin machines.

I have a lot to learn about this tuner bussiness so please bear with me.

[jim simpson]

Mike,
Please stop torturing us. I've got to go see my therapist now!

[Mike Blohm]

I'll Drive!

[Darryl Wolfe]

Wow, those are really nice. Great work Mike.

[dmamlep]

I have a 1996 Gibson F5L, do you make them different for these

[JFDilmando]

Can I ask a really basic question please... I am no builder nor luthier of any type... how would one go about taking off, the tuner buttons now installed ? I expect the installation of the new one would be fairly straight forward, but do you glue, or press fit ???

thanks all

JohnD

[woodwizard]

Here's my set from Mike on mine. I've had these for a while now and still luv em.

[frankenstein]

Don't overlook the fact that Mike builds an Incredibly Awesome mandolin as well..

[Gabbi Dluzewski]

Anyone who knows if Mike still make these knobs? And if it's possible to get in touch with him? The email adress is not valid...

[pianoman89]

Anyone who knows if Mike still make these knobs? And if it's possible to get in touch with him? The email adress is not valid...

If he no longer does, I could make them. LMK if your interested.

[barney 59]

If he no longer does, I could make them. LMK if your interested.

I think there will always be a limited number of people who would be interested in those. If they were always available and if the price was not prohibitive it could be a little side line business for someone ----at least until they become popular-then someone will start making them in China .

[jim simpson]

perhaps Antoniotsai will make them.

[pianoman89]

I think there will always be a limited number of people who would be interested in those. If they were always available and if the price was not prohibitive it could be a little side line business for someone ----at least until they become popular-then someone will start making them in China .

So what would you say would be fair? This guy was charging $250. I did inlaid work for a while and it was not worth my time, but I wouldnt mind doing a couple sets if there is a need. I hope this is not against forum rules. Anytime price is discussed I feel like it may be. Admins please let us know if this needs to be discussed elsewhere. I'm just trying to get an idea of what these would be worth to folks so I can decide if it would be worth my time to offer them.

[barney 59]

perhaps Antoniotsai will make them.

Perhaps he would if he knew there was a market.
If I had an old Gibson with Handel tuners and they needed to be replaced $250 would be cheap. But for almost anything else though it would feel expensive to me. I might go for it but it would feel like a lot,like a set of Waverly's felt like a lot or like a James tail piece felt like a lot, A Calton Case or a Bluechip pick. These little buttons don't change how well the instrument functions they are just a vanity thing so if you want them it is just because you like them. You might buy a good case or really good tuning machines or an expensive pick because you believe you need them. These things just look cool or maybe only cool to some people. If you want to sell a lot of them the price would probably need to come down but if the price went down and you sold a lot then maybe they wouldn't seem so unique. That's part of it isn't it? The fact that for the most part you never see them anywhere. Outside of very old Gibsons I've only seen one mandolin --an Altman, with those tuner heads--the rarity is part of the appeal to me. The way you price something you make is you figure out what it costs you to make it and what value you (need to) put on your time and add those together and you have a base price. If you can't sell something for that then you have to make something else!

[pianoman89]

If I had an old Gibson with Handel tuners and they needed to be replaced $250 would be cheap.

Kinda what I was thinking. As you mentioned, these were only used on Gibson's, and only the higher end ones at that. I ran a business for several years, and learned alot about pricing. But I also learned to make sure folks are willing to pay what your product is worth. I don't need to do this type of work for under $10/ hr, as I once did....
I think these would have to remain a specialty, because of the time required to make them. There is no way to make them quickly.

[Tobin]

Just FYI, Tom Ellis is making these replica inlaid tuner buttons now. He showed me a set last August, and they were very nice. I kept my mouth shut at the time because I didn't know if he wanted it known publicly yet. And they were still finalizing their thoughts on the best way to make them (quality is their first concern, of course). But they now appear as the first photo on his website, so I guess they're not a secret any more. I believe they are making them as production pieces for one of the companies they supply, but I could be wrong. I'll bet they're an upgrade option on Ellis mandolins too. I inquired about buying a set and having them installed on my Ellis F5. The price is pretty high. I may yet do it, just for added bling, next time I take my F5 in.

Just thought y'all should know that there is at least one existing source for new tuner buttons with this inlay.

*edited to add:

In my discussion with Tom, he and Pava gave me an ear full about how the original tuner buttons were made. Apparently these were not simple inlays. The wire was actually molded into the buttons. Sometimes the wire would end up laying in a channel on the surface as intended. Other times, the wire would dive into the button and come out somewhere else, which proves that it wasn't just an inlay. The process to do it that way and get good quality would be very tedious.

[barney 59]

There might be a way to make them quickly---that's the problem these days. If you hand build a product and it turns out there is a market for it it's quite easy for someone to come along with the laser or cnc or 3d printer and just eclipse what your doing and if that way doesn't work then there is always that kid chained to a workbench in some far off place in the world. Unfortunately these little beans would be perfect for that. My son does this Integrated Technology Project based learning thing and has all that stuff---I'm still an analog kind a guy. I had a commission recently that involved a "Star"-- seems simple doesn't it? --it really wasn't -The star was 3 dimensional with very acute angles --I had to build jigs ,make a prototype-make corrections on and on. I believe that no woodworking machine is more accurate than to 1/64th of an inch. 10 angles to assemble this thing so any run out multiplied 10 times means that the thing won't meet somewhere. I did it and it came out nicely but it took hours and hours to do it. My Son came by and saw what I had done. As a demonstration he took me to where he works took my drawing, typed for about 5 minutes pressed a button and in less than 30 seconds produced a perfect part! He then said --"lets say that after you did all that work you realized it would have been better if it was a little bit smaller --like 1/2" from tip to tip.--clicK, click and in less than a minute a perfect corrected piece! To do that it would have been like starting all over! The newer generations of that equipment are getting better and better and there is a 3d printer that exists right now that could build a carbon fiber mandolin in one piece ! Those tuner buttons could be laser etched in seconds and the inlays cut the same way -then all you need is a kid chained to a bench to stick 'em together and you can sell them for $15 a set!

[MikeEdgerton]

As you mentioned, these were only used on Gibson's, and only the higher end ones at that.

That's untrue. Martin and many other builders used these tuners.

Bohmann headstocks

Stahl Larson Bros.

[barney 59]

If I had an old F4 that needed replacement buttons then I would want,if they exist, buttons that were identical and produced the way the originals were. I have seen a number of F4's and the original buttons were just fine so I would guess that there is a very small necessary market for perfect reproductions of Handel tuning buttons. Do you think that there is a market for "custom" tuning knobs? A friend of mine was in the marketing division of the Grateful Dead organization and once said 'You can put a "Deadhead" on anything and it will sell!" I'm not thinking Deadheads just that if there was a market for designs other that traditional Handel tuner knobs or even custom one offs --you could do that with a laser in a cost effective way --would people be interested in that? I'm thinking there might be but I sometimes get it wrong --When every car in the world came out looking like a jelly bean with wheels I really thought people would then start having unique paint jobs --but that never happened --they're all white or black or silver grey and no one can find their car in a parking lot unless they have a beeper. Does anyone think besides me that there might be a viable market for custom tuner knobs?