Anyone experienced changing the black tuner buttons on a Northfield. Love my Big Mon but never have liked black buttons. Any help appreciated.
Anyone experienced changing the black tuner buttons on a Northfield. Love my Big Mon but never have liked black buttons. Any help appreciated.
You should contact the folks at Northfield.
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.
www.apitiusmandolins.com
What is good Phaedrus? and what is not good?, need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
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.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
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.
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
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
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.
www.apitiusmandolins.com
What is good Phaedrus? and what is not good?, need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
Oliver
What brand is your adjustable heat gun and what glue do you use to glue the new tuners back on with?
Thanks
Nick
Nic Gellie
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.
www.apitiusmandolins.com
What is good Phaedrus? and what is not good?, need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
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
OK, yours has Gotoh tuners. That's an easy change.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
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 ]
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
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
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.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
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