A nice alternative for the old Kolb tuners?

[Stefan H.]

I've always loved the looks of the German-made Kolb tuners that were used on some of the high-end Guild guitars in the 50's and 60's. however Robert Kolb passed away a long time ago and no-one took over his business after his passing and continued making his tuners, nor has anyone tried to make reproductions of his tuners, it seems.
Finding vintage Kolb tuners is almost impossible and if you can manage to find a set, it of course remains to be seen if these are actually still working properly after so many decades, so I have searched for quite a while now on the www for modern tuners or tuner buttons that resemble the ones made by Kolb that were used on vintage Guild guitars during the 50's and 60's to use on my Guild X-175B/SP-II model, but it appears that no modern manufacturer is making tuners/tuner buttons that look like these.
This afternoon however I found a German company on the web that sells a variety of instrument accessories, hardware and raw materials, and lo and behold, they're also selling tuner buttons (made of pearloid and mother of pearl) that bear some resemblance to the shape of the old Kolb tuner buttons that were used on Guild guitars decades ago, so I've ordered a set of their pearloid buttons (they only cost € 1,65 each, by the way) and once they have arrived, I will try to put them on the Grover tuners that are on my Guild & see what the results will be...

 

[chazmo]

Looks like a pretty close match, Stefan. Is it just the tuner buttons, or are they making a whole tuner?

 

[Stefan H.]

No, they're unfortunately not selling complete sets of tuners, just tuner buttons.

 

[Walter Broes]

I've posted about these a couple of years ago - they'll fit on Grover Rotomatics, but they're drilled out too big for vintage style tuners - you'll have to get creative with epoxy if that's what you were thinking of.

 

[Walter Broes]

I have a set on this 2015 X175 - on a set of Rotomatics.

 

[Stefan H.]

I've posted about these a couple of years ago - they'll fit on Grover Rotomatics, but they're drilled out too big for vintage style tuners - you'll have to get creative with epoxy if that's what you were thinking of.

That's good to know, so thanks, Walter.
Their website unfortunately doesn't specify what the diameter is of the holes that are drilled in the pearloid tuner buttons, however the diameter of their mother of pearl version is 2.6 mm. (which is perfect for my purposes), so I'm hoping that the diameter of the pearloid version is the same.

 

[Stefan H.]

Update: the nice folks at Shellex in Germany sent me the tuner buttons that I ordered from them in July (they were by the way kind enough to send me 6 tuner buttons for free (!), as the first batch I originally ordered from them contained 3 buttons that were made from a different material & didn't look the same as the others); I removed the tuner buttons of the Grovers that were on my Guild (with the aid of a monkey wrench, a clawhammer and some masking tape), then slightly enlarged the holes of the new tuner buttons, put them on the shafts of the Grover tuners, and here's the result :

 

[GGJaguar]

They look great on the guitar!!

 

[Stefan H.]

Yes, I thought that my blonde X-175B/SP-II would look even better and more "classy" with these tuner buttons, and I think it does. ;-)

 

[SFIV1967]

Shellex also supplied inlays to Guild in the past, so I think the original buttons also came from them..
Ralf

 

[Stefan H.]

Shellex also supplied inlays to Guild in the past, so I think the original buttons also came from them..
Ralf

If the tuner buttons that were used on the original Kolb tuners (made in Germany) in the past were indeed also made by Shellex (also a German company), then it's pretty interesting to see that an American company like Guild (Epiphone by the way did the same) was using and importing these specific parts from Europe for some of their instruments - I would have assumed that it would have been easier, quicker and more cost-effective for them to use hardware that was made in the USA too, so I wonder why they decided at the time to import these parts from Germany...

 

[Walter Broes]

A lot of hardware on American guitars is/was from Germany. Carvin, Kapa and even Ovation took it a step further and used German made Höfner necks and/or bodies.

Schaller and Müller (now ABM) are still sold worldwide and used by a lot of companies and builders.

 

[GGJaguar]

While at G&L, Leo Fender used Schaller tuners and humbuckers on his guitars. After he died, the new owners (BBE) went with SD pickups, but kept using Schaller tuners until 2014 when they switched to an Asian-made brand.

 

[SFIV1967]

...it's pretty interesting to see that an American company like Guild...was using and importing these specific parts from Europe...

For instance the vintage Harp tailpieces came from "Johann Müller & Sohn" in Erlangen/Germany (now ABM in Berlin) as well as other hardware parts. See the stamp "Made in West Germany" on the higher end tailpieces. I believe all vintage Guild harp tailpieces came from Müller.



Also Guild got the gold hardware for the 2013 "American Patriarch" models from them again.

A lot of the hardware in the 70's and 80's was made by Müller, like the roller bridges and tailpieces:



Another example are the Nightbird taipieces and bridges from Müller:



Shellex for instance also supplied the special inlays for the F-512Spec and F-612:



Ralf

 

[atti3]

I've always loved the looks of the German-made Kolb tuners that were used on some of the high-end Guild guitars in the 50's and 60's. however Robert Kolb passed away a long time ago and no-one took over his business after his passing and continued making his tuners, nor has anyone tried to make reproductions of his tuners, it seems.
Finding vintage Kolb tuners is almost impossible and if you can manage to find a set, it of course remains to be seen if these are actually still working properly after so many decades, so I have searched for quite a while now on the www for modern tuners or tuner buttons that resemble the ones made by Kolb that were used on vintage Guild guitars during the 50's and 60's to use on my Guild X-175B/SP-II model, but it appears that no modern manufacturer is making tuners/tuner buttons that look like these.
This afternoon however I found a German company on the web that sells a variety of instrument accessories, hardware and raw materials, and lo and behold, they're also selling tuner buttons (made of pearloid and mother of pearl) that bear some resemblance to the shape of the old Kolb tuner buttons that were used on Guild guitars decades ago, so I've ordered a set of their pearloid buttons (they only cost € 1,65 each, by the way) and once they have arrived, I will try to put them on the Grover tuners that are on my Guild & see what the results will be...

Hello everybody.
I love these tuners and have made kind of copies of them - just a bit smaller and even more vintage style under the name ClipHaus Tuners. Go to www.goeldo.de or look at: https://www.dieter-goelsdorf.de/en/story-2/copy-of-2021-große-erfoge-2.html See the little hole on the back! You can thread the strings all through the shaft and cut the end off on the back side of the headstock. No more blood on your fingertips!
Here you can find more about Robert Kolb: https://www.dieter-goelsdorf.de/en/story-2/1979-first-steps-2.htmlhttps://www.dieter-goelsdorf.de/en/story-2/1979-first-steps-2.html
All the best.
Dieter Goelsdorf (founder of goeldo music and Duesenberg Guitars)

 

[Default]

Thanks for the news, Dieter! Do you have the dimensions for these tuners?

 

[Default]

€75 from Rockinger. 8.5 mm tuner holes. It would be really nice if these fit the same footprint as the old Kluson tuners.

Göldo ClipHaus Tuner, Nickel, 3/3

www.rockinger.com

 

[atti3]

Thanks for the news, Dieter! Do you have the dimensions for these tuners?

Like Kluson, 24mm hole to hole (shorter than the ROKOs.

 

[atti3]

For instance the vintage Harp tailpieces came from "Johann Müller & Sohn" in Erlangen/Germany (now ABM in Berlin) as well as other hardware parts. See the stamp "Made in West Germany" on the higher end tailpieces. I believe all vintage Guild harp tailpieces came from Müller.



Also Guild got the gold hardware for the 2013 "American Patriarch" models from them again.

A lot of the hardware in the 70's and 80's was made by Müller, like the roller bridges and tailpieces:



Another example are the Nightbird taipieces and bridges from Müller:



Shellex for instance also supplied the special inlays for the F-512Spec and F-612:



Ralf

Here are Horst and later Klaus

 

[silverfox103]

Steffan H. (or Ralf or Walter)

I have a 1968 Guild Mark VI, it has those Kolb tuners with the same shape of buttons. Everything is in good shape, but just in case the need should arise, do you have a link for those buttons. Thank you

Tom