A nice alternative for the old Kolb tuners?
- Thread starter Stefan H.
- Start date
silverfox103
Senior Member
Thank you atti3 for the quick response! That's close but I'm only looking for a link for the buttons.
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
Shellex makes them.
Mashine head button, guitar, step button, round hole, 1,65 €
Mashine head button, guitar, step button, round hole in Pearlimitation, Tuner buttons, Pluckin Instruments, Parts for Instruments
silverfox103
Senior Member
Thanks GGJaguar!Shellex makes them.
Mashine head button, guitar, step button, round hole, 1,65 €
Mashine head button, guitar, step button, round hole in Pearlimitation, Tuner buttons, Pluckin Instruments, Parts for Instrumentswww.shellex.com
That's what I was seeking.
Tom
Stefan H.
Junior Member
Tom, please be aware that the "Kolb style" tuner buttons that are sold by Shellex come in two versions, and they differ in the following ways:
1. One version is made from mother of pearl material (which is very shiny, and the material is a bit transparent), the other is pearloid (which is a bit more opaque and not shiny);
2. The mother of pearl version is slightly thinner than the pearloid version (see the second photo that I attached for comparison's sake);
3. The mother of pearl tuner buttons from Shellex have the holes drilled completely through them, the pearloid version doesn't;
4. The diameter of the hole of the mother of pearl version is slightly larger than the pearloid version.
I by the way used the mother of pearl versions from Shellex to replace the tuner buttons of the Grover tuners that are on my Guild X-175B/SP-II, and I had to slightly enlarge the holes of the tuner buttons (I simply used a small screwdriver) so they would fit tightly on the shafts of the Grover tuners, for what it's worth.
Kind regards, Stefan
1. One version is made from mother of pearl material (which is very shiny, and the material is a bit transparent), the other is pearloid (which is a bit more opaque and not shiny);
2. The mother of pearl version is slightly thinner than the pearloid version (see the second photo that I attached for comparison's sake);
3. The mother of pearl tuner buttons from Shellex have the holes drilled completely through them, the pearloid version doesn't;
4. The diameter of the hole of the mother of pearl version is slightly larger than the pearloid version.
I by the way used the mother of pearl versions from Shellex to replace the tuner buttons of the Grover tuners that are on my Guild X-175B/SP-II, and I had to slightly enlarge the holes of the tuner buttons (I simply used a small screwdriver) so they would fit tightly on the shafts of the Grover tuners, for what it's worth.
Kind regards, Stefan
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Here is Robert KolbI'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...
