Vintage tuner help sought

[BradHall]

A friend has a family heirloom 1870's Martin parlor guitar with a tuner problem. They are 3 on a plate peg head with ivory buttons. 1 st. issue is one tuner ( d) is recently so stiff it strongly resists turning. Of course for something this old there is visible wear on both the gear and the screw. True of all others but this is the only one not working. The likelihood of finding replacement original parts is low to non existent. I tried a drop of oil but that did nothing. I'm thinking about taking the tuner apart and gently filing both the gear and screw to clean up the worn spots. I'm hesitant because it would make the interface looser, but I'm out of ideas. The other issue is the real ivory tuner buttons show some cracks. They are irreplaceable. My thought is to apply some thin ca in the cracks to help prevent any further damage. By the way, it is strung up with nylon strings. It's a true players guitar and is quite loud and sounds great. Any advice appreciated.

[Big Band Guitar]

If it were mine I would carefully remove and take the tuner apart.

There are a couple of places it could be binding. Metal to metal or metal to wood.

Give it a good cleaning, remove rust and corrosion.

Reassemble with a couple drops of clock oil.

I think that will cure the binding.

While your at it do this to all the tuners.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by BradHall

A friend has a family heirloom 1870's Martin parlor guitar with a tuner problem. They are 3 on a plate peg head with ivory buttons. 1 st. issue is one tuner ( d) is recently so stiff it strongly resists turning. Of course for something this old there is visible wear on both the gear and the screw. True of all others but this is the only one not working. The likelihood of finding replacement original parts is low to non existent. I tried a drop of oil but that did nothing. I'm thinking about taking the tuner apart and gently filing both the gear and screw to clean up the worn spots. I'm hesitant because it would make the interface looser, but I'm out of ideas. The other issue is the real ivory tuner buttons show some cracks. They are irreplaceable. My thought is to apply some thin ca in the cracks to help prevent any further damage. By the way, it is strung up with nylon strings. It's a true players guitar and is quite loud and sounds great. Any advice appreciated.

With cracked buttons any actual use will be a gamble on use vs. breaking the buttons. Once the worm and driven gear have enough wear to cause problems there's little you can do to prevent rapid failure if you continue to use them.

You say it's a "player's guitar"; swap the tuners out for good quality modern tuners and save what's left of the original set for their "original equipment" value in the future.

If it's going to be played then that's your best option. If it's going to be a wall hanger then keep everything as it is.

[M Hayden]

What kind of tuners are they? Jerome or Seidel? I have a half-set of Seidel tuners from that era, but don’t recall whether they’re left or right side.

To help ID: http://www.earlymartin.com/tuners12.html

[BradHall]

Thank you for the link. Very helpful and educational. The Martin owner will be back in town this week. I'll take a better look then and get back to you.

[BradHall]

Looks like Martin parlor 1-28 Sidel, left side (bass). If what you have fits the bill. Let me know what you want for it. I have 2 photos I could fwd to you. PM me with an email address. Thanks.

[M Hayden]

I’ll check tomorrow and get back to you.

[M Hayden]

Hello Brad -
Check your PMs. There’s a link to a few photos - if these are what you need, lmk.
Best
/mh

[BradHall]

Looks likely. Check your pm's. Thanks.