1960's Gibson J50 tuner gear

I'll try to make a long story short. About 2 yrs ago a little lady in her early70;s came to a local jam. She was just learning had a mid 60's Gibson J50 she was trying to play, really bad buzz. I looked at it, the wooden bridge was broken and collapsed. The J50 was her Dad's. Anyway, I fixed it for her, set it up and all was well. Last week she brought me the guitar, said she couldn't tune it. The tuners were binding. The gears were worn out. Had become concave in the middle over the years.

Does anyone know where I can get replacement gears? I'd like to not replace the entire tuner.

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J45 tuner-2.jpg, 30 KB
J45 tuner-1.jpg, 34 KB

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Permalink Reply by Christian Johnson on May 13, 2012 at 8:26pm

I second the honorable mention on CE distrib. Many vintage parts, and some cool T-shirts!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Verticchio on May 14, 2012 at 10:16am

But Jerry.... those are still some of the crummiest tuners ever made. If that was a First Act guitar, they'd be appropriate.

They're also probably the main reason the guitar wouldn't stay in tune.

You've done yourself no favor.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Ryan on May 14, 2012 at 12:55pm

I understand your point, customer was not willing to shell out for tuners to match original equip. If it were mine I'd solve the following and repalce.

The mystery: I don't understand why I am seeing 1967 J50's for sale on line with these same tuners? And why aren't there holes in the headstock for the 3 in 1 tuners I see on the rest of the 1967 J50's? This is a mystery to me at this juncture.

They work now, don't bind as before. Work just like they should for the kind they are. She's happy!

Thanks! Jerry

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Permalink Reply by Paul Verticchio on May 14, 2012 at 4:33pm

If the customer is happy, that's the bottom line. (-:

Your customer's age & story pretty well preclude it from being a counterfeit, unless she's a really good con-woman too.

You definitely have my curiosity in high gear. I've searched everywhere on the net and can't find a single gibby acoustic with those keys. Where are you seeing those Jerry?

Gibson did some pretty screwy stuff back them so it's not out of the realm of possibility that these were stock OR that the guitar may have been re-necked by an authorized service agent using a factory supplied neck & then the tech put those tuners on there to save a whole $20 or so.

Anyone else have any theories or info?

Thanks for all the info so far Jerry. Have a great one (: