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We are looking to expand our line and add various guitar parts. I'm looking for some input as to what you prefer in the way of tuning machines and other parts such as nuts , saddles, bridge pins etc.. What are your favorites?

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Unslotted, unbleached bone pins. 3 or 5 degree.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Only one person has favorites??????

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I like Gotoh tuners. Bridge pins with 5 degree taper. Over-sized saddles i.e. about 4 mm thick and 100 mm long so that I can do the final sizing. K&K pick-ups.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Mandocello is the next big thing. We'll all need parts.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Nut and saddle blanks

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Chris no one lists a category for Mandocello and I dont have a clue. Never built one. Fill me in.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

There is a growing market for mandocellos right now thanks to more players in bluegrass, folk / Irish, and baroque / classical. A number of mandolin orchestras are resurging at the local level - and they all need mandocellists to hold down the bottom end. Also, with the metal guys exploring 7, 8, and 9 string electrics - some have discovered the solidbody mandocello.

In the marketplace, old Gibsons are surfacing like crazy, and being restored to playable condition. High end makers like Weber and Dammann are moving more of them, and mid-market maker Eastman is usually in a back-order situation. Washburn is selling a mandola, which is in between a mandolin and a mandocello. This will be a niche market like bouzoukis and octave mandolins, but it will need to be fed. My guess is whoever jumps on this first will clean up.

Probably the most visible mandocello player out there is multi-instrumentalist Mike Marshall. He's the guy most mandocellists are looking to for inspiration. He is playing mandocello in all music forms except pop / rock. Of course, he plays a Monteleone.

You can find more info on Mandolin Cafe forum under the CBOM segment, if you like.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I second the vote for unslotted, unbleached bridge pins. I can't find them anywhere.

Bone stuff would be good, and tuners. I also like Gotoh and have been thinking about trying a set of schertler open gear tuners on an upcoming build. If you are thinking strings I like A'ddario

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

From my point of view and since Uncle Bob (I came up with that name...) is a dear friend my recommendations are going to be things that are not commonly found elsewhere, in demand, and as such represent an opportunity for RC Tonewoods to make some money while also providing a valuable service to us.

1) Grobet nut slot files - these are very hard to find these days but still very desirable

2) Glue-Boost products, OLFer Rick Rosenberg. We like this stuff a lot but you can't get it very many places. Jescar has it but how often do folks order fret wire. It would nice for Bob's clients to be able to pick up very high quality and uber fresh CA while ordering that set of Cuban Hog!

3) Jescar fret wire which is what I believe to be the best stuff available.

I'd avoid bone because you and I both know how often we read on this forum that folks are buying on price.... not necessarily quality and that makes bone to many a commodity which will always be sold on price to many.

I'd also avoid pick-ups because there are so very many choices now, everyone wants something different, and pups are commodities on the street as well often purchased from an Internet reseller also on price. The same is true in my book for tuners - commodity sold on price only and widely available.

4) Quality, prepackaged HHG. Although available at a few others a wood seller should take advantage of being a "one-stop" for many of the consumables that we all know we need when building.

5) Bridge pins but what the others mentioned can be had now. What's very hard to find is 3 degree, unslotted pins which is our first choice in our efforts to reverse the devolution of the bridge pin since the advent of cheap, moulded plastic pins. 3 degree ebony and rosewood unslotted pins would be very desirable and the last batch that I bought I had to have custom made they are so very hard to find.

6) Get with Murray McCloud he's a member and see if you can resell his excellent fret leveling beams. This is the way to go in our view, leveling beams, and how we teach to level frets as well.

7) I didn't talk to Andy about this but Andy Birko makes excellent faux bound CNC fret boards but I don't believe he has a distributor or reseller. I can see these being available in standard scale lengths and "off the shelf" as a real boon for anyone needing them (I used them on my stuff but from J. Watkins since Andy was not in biz yet). This makes RCT a one-stop again with not only the tone wood available but fret wire, pins, CNC boards, glue, etc. all taking their place in that big box that someone is looking to receive.

Kind of reminds me of saying would you like fries with that...

Hope that something here helps Uncle Bob!

A note about Grobet round joint nut slot files. Vallorbe is the company that manufactured these files and they have shut down this operation. A new company in Italy is now making files for Grobet and they have no plans to tool up to make nut slotting files as they see the cost of tooling and the potential profit as not worth it. I got this information directly from speaking with Grobet USA headquarters in New Jersey. I know, you've seen them in the catalogue but don't waste your time. They are no more. In fact, all of Grobet's instrument making files are no longer made.

There's not a single US supplier that has these files in stock. I checked.

A lot of good info. Thanks to all for your input.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I too, go for the Gotoh tuners. Offering unboxed bulk buys can save some money for your customers - Mike

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guitarsbygiltzow.com

I thought I was the only one who prefers 3 degree LMI has unslotted 3 degree ebony and rosewood though. Also ebony with ab dot, which I like.

But I've never seen unslotted 3 degree bone before. Although bone is usually too heavy and expensive for my taste anyway. Also make sure they're not oversize, because I bought a few sets of slotted bone from LMI a few years ago and still haven't used them because I'm always afraid to ream the holes out so far and eliminate the option to change pins later.

What I use the most of are plain Gurian boxwood, which LMI only has in slotted form so I have to plug the slots. I've thought about custom ordering a gross or whatever the minimum is to get unslotted, but it would be nice to have them available in smaller quantity.

But you know what might be even better than that? Maple. Why does no one make maple bridge pins? Too soft when slotted? But for unslotted, it would be a great alternative to bone when you want lighter weight, lower price, and not so bright color. I'd buy tons of those, especially if there's a quantity discount.

Not the only one. I also prefer 3 degree pins, so another vote for 3 degree unslotted pins from me. Yeah, LMI has wood ones but not bone. IIRC someone out there does make them but it's a custom order.

Tuning machines? It's true that they are sort of a commodity. I'd pick a line and a few models that you like and stick to those. Excessive choices can be distracting.

It seems like everyone seems to like the Gotoh 510's and the Kluson Butterbean. Will try to find 3 deg unslotted BP's in bone.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Bridge pins & End Pins... Dot or No dot. What's the preferred dot

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

If I could only have one, I'd go with no dot. But abalone dot is good for inlay-heavy guitars.

The artist in me will always choose contrast so I prefer bone with a black dot, and wood pins with abalone. Contrast is classy.

I too prefer the 3 degree pins, unslotted. Ebony with white pearl dot or no dot is my preference.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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3 degree un slotted pins would be great

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

My preference is 3 degree pins as well.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

+1 on Gotoh tuners. Having another source for the new UPT Ukulele planetary geared tuners would be great!

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Rodney Paul Adams

OK so I'm looking at the Gotoh 510 tuners and besides Finish the selection is mind boggling. Different post lengths, different locking systems, knobs etc etc,
Not sure what to order. Surely can't buy them all. What are the most popular?

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498