I'd fix up a Gibson L30 for sure, worth it in every sense even though it will never be a really valuable guitar. BB King started his career on an L30. You have two routes forward, both you can do yourself at home. One is the aforementioned Golden Age tuners, either in bright or aged tones. They should be available in a hole-for-hole accurate replacement fit, they will preserve the appearance of the guitar and you can put the originals in the case for posterity. Or, if the tuners are otherwise in good shape you can simply clean up the posts and install new buttons. You heat up the post with a lighter or a soldering iron and when hot you just press on the new buttons, hard to get simpler than that. Neither will be even close to $300 - the tuners are under $50 for the set, and the buttons are around $15 for 6.
https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...allop-end.html
https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...ner_Knobs.html
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Brian Evans
Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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