Sable black tuner button swap

[L3stat]

I got my Sable before the blackout edition was available. To get the Evo gold frets then, I had to opt for gold hardware which I kinda dislike, but do think it goes well with the entire package. I must be one of those poor schmucks with acidic skin that etches gold hardware, my tuner buttons seem to tarnish quite quickly after each time I play, whether I wipe down or not.

I considered a whole tuner swap to Gotohs, their "X-Finish" promises high durability, but unfortunately McPherson chose to use a version of Schallers (M6 180) on my Sable, which Gotoh does not have a drop-in replacement for. I chanced upon a pic of gold tuners with ebony buttons, which I thought was quite nice. Ebony buttons on a CF guitar would be pretty funny, so I settled on black chrome. Schaller makes these, they're quite commonly available, and are drop-in.

Here are the pics:

Before


After


The job was quite simple, but I made the mistake of not detuning the guitar before. Yeah conventional wisdom would say don't try to dismantle anything under string tension, especially tuners. But I thought hey aren't tuners exactly designed to hold that string tension, so long as I'm not dismantling the back of the tuners, I would be fine, right? The worm gear would just hold the string post in its position, and I'll be ok if I don't turn the tuner shaft right? Wrong...

It didn't occur to me at that point, but after I unscrewed the tuning buttons, the string tension was turning the string posts, and slowly backing the tuner shafts out of their housings (towards the middle of the headstock). I only noticed when one of the tuner shafts got significantly shorter than before. So much so that the string post gear became unmeshed from the tuner shaft worm gear when I was panickily turning the tuning shafts to try to "fix" things. It took some fiddling (under stress) to get them meshed up again. The tuners worked fine after (turns smoothly), I just hope I didn't mess anything up permanently.

I don't expect anyone else to make this mistake, because, common sense. But let this be a cautionary tale in case you're thinking about doing something similar.

[RP]

Very nice. I think black tuner buttons are a small change that really makes a big improvement on most headstocks...

[new2guitar_eh]

L3,

IMHO that looks way better!

Where did you end up buying the buttons? Are the the large M6 size?

[L3stat]

Thanks! Obviously looks are subjective, but I like this too! And functional for my needs since I'd touch the buttons often.

new2guitar_eh, yes these are the large buttons, there's a smaller one too. I got them here after doing a cursory check on the local stores:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/schaller_m...e_metal_bc.htm

No particular preference for this vendor, just happened to be among the first few results Google spat out. Which works for me since I'm in Asia. You can probably easily find these at the major retailers like Stewmac, LMII etc. Good luck and remember to detune your guitar first!

[mountainmaster]

Black tuners on a black guitar. Nice!

Originally Posted by L3stat

Ebony buttons on a CF guitar would be pretty funny

And yet that is what Emerald puts on the open head stocks of nylon string guitars. It is their Achilles heel.

[DavidE]

Are you using the gold screws? Has anyone found a good source in the US?

[steelvibe]

That actually looks really good against the gold machines. I've done the same thing on other guitars because black buttons are classy. It just dresses up most guitars, kind of like adding a tie finishes up your business best.

[new2guitar_eh]

I have been looking for a North American source and the best I find is StewMac

[DavidE]

StewMac charges a lot for shipping.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by DavidE

StewMac charges a lot for shipping.

I've actually bought replacement tuners for the PING tuners on my old Martin DJr here. They fit great, but this site also has buttons for Schallers

https://guitarpartsresource.com/tune...lerbuttons.htm

There is also this site

https://www.toneninja.com/tuner-buttons

[L3stat]

Originally Posted by DavidE

Are you using the gold screws? Has anyone found a good source in the US?

No I ordered black chromed screws at the same time. Wanted a homogenous look at least from the sides. The gold plating seems really fragile, when I removed the gold screws, I could see some of the plating flaking off on the screwdriver tip.

[new2guitar_eh]

@ DavidE - agreed StewMac charges a lot for shipping. Unfortunately, not many choices. I tried one of the links SteelVibe listed (large ebony buttons) and it is not working.

[jdinco]

You can find some on eBay at times too.

Nice job L3. Being first scout is always risky but you handled it well and the result is perfecto.