Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

L

lewisstorer89

New member
Anyone know where to buy these from in the UK?. Im not keen on the kidney bean style grover head on certain guitars (on others it looks great) and was planning on replacing them in the future on a black les paul with gold Hardward and pups. I dont want those greenish ones you see on proper Gibsons. This shape -

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but with this pearloid finish -
SZ3X3BTWP.jpg


and to fit the Grovers
 
Re: Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

I've searched for the same with no luck.

My best solution was to buy the plastic keystones separately and adapt them to the Grovers.

Another solution was to get Schallers or Sperzels (or whatever else) with pearloid buttons and reshape the buttons to be closer to the Gibson shape.

In the end, I decided that Kluson clones are the best option. Just make sure you get the kind that have the milky clear/white buttons instead of the yellow or green ones.
 
Re: Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

ItsaBass said:
I've searched for the same with no luck.

My best solution was to buy the plastic keystones separately and adapt them to the Grovers.

Another solution was to get Schallers or Sperzels (or whatever else) with pearloid buttons and reshape the buttons to be closer to the Gibson shape.

In the end, I decided that Kluson clones are the best option. Just make sure you get the kind that have the milky clear/white buttons instead of the yellow or green ones.
Click to expand...

Thats a shame but thanks for the advice, how do you actually get those Kluson buttons off?. Arent they all glued on?. Is it a case of somehow melting the glue without damaging the button itself and pull them off. Im wondering If I could drill small holes in the top of each one for the Grover screws to go in so they are held on with screws. Would save me havint to glue them onto the Grovers
 
Re: Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

The original Kluson plastic "keystone" button is applied to a shaft with splines on it. It is not intended to be removable.

Several manufacturers make metal buttons in the same outline as the "keystone". Gibson used to have them made by Schaller. Gotoh does them. White pearloid is the problem. The design was never offered in that finish to begin with. Hence, there is very little demand for a replica.

Try Stew-Mac or Allparts.

One final consideration. Do you mean US-made Grovers or the more common Asian import editions? One is Imperial, the other is metric. Washer sizes and screw thread pitches are incompatible.
 
Re: Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

lewisstorer89 said:
Thats a shame but thanks for the advice, how do you actually get those Kluson buttons off?. Arent they all glued on?. Is it a case of somehow melting the glue without damaging the button itself and pull them off. Im wondering If I could drill small holes in the top of each one for the Grover screws to go in so they are held on with screws. Would save me havint to glue them onto the Grovers
Click to expand...

They are not really supposed to be removable. I was talking about getting a brand new set and adapting them. Plug the stock hole with plastic, then redrill to allow mounting on the Grovers. That also involves creating an inset "flat" on the top of the keystone, and reproducing the required flats on the bottom as well. A metal insert on the bottom would probably do that best, though it could be done ghetto style by heating up the flat-sided shaft on the tuner, and melting the bottom of the button to conform to the flats.

Possibly sacrificing $100 worth of parts to try this was enough to convince me to simply get Kluson clones and call it good. Sadly, Grovers aren't what they used to be, so you aren't missing out on much by doing so anyhow.
 
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Re: Tulip white pearloid tuner buttons to fit Grover?

LS89. There is a guy based in western Scotland who specialises in replacement custom/luxury machinehead buttons. He appears from time to time on eBay. His name temporarily escapes me. I shall post it later, if/when I remember.
 
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