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Here is a mandolin I have had since the early 70's:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 792749154/

A friend who had lived in Toronto gave it to me. His story was it was stolen out of his hand while he was walking down the street with it. He gave chase, and when he got close, the thief threw it straight up in the air. He almost caught it, but the head hit the pavement. He fixed it, but then the tuners started to come apart.

Interweb says that Beare and Sons (London, Toronto) sold instruments from many, including Gibson. This one looks like it has a head shape similar to a Regal banjo uke a friend has.

My real question - can I get replacement tuners anywhere? If not, my plan is to plug the holes both top and side, then install 4 on a plate. The holes measure 24 mm apart while the replacements are 23 - will they fit?

Many thanks

Ed

Hey Ed.

Can you get tuners for it, highly unlikely unless you found a similar instrument and parted it out. It's likely though that anything else of this vintage is going to have broken tuners too.

Lots of these sorts of mandos were imported into the US back in the day and many of them were MILOs or "musical instrument like objects" in the sense that they were more ornamental than functional. There are exceptions though for this style.

Good luck with it and Happy New Year.

Thanks Hesh, kind of what I thought

Duh - just struck me that if I fill the holes I can drill the new holes where ever I want.

Ed

Those are highly unusual tuners, looks like it could use all kind's of other work too!

I would fill the holes and use a capping to make it look like it never had different tuners and hide as well as reinforce the neck repair. I can see no way of getting around preserving the carving in the back though, but individual small tuners would leave more of the carving than those mounted on a sub straight.

The sad thing is that although it may take years of searching to find a set of those or even similar tuners if at all, some hoarder probably has a dozen boxes or more "New old stock" buried under tons of other stuff, and doesn't even know it!

_________________
If what you see is what you get, then Stevie Wonder ain't got nothin'!

Thanks G'izzmo

Great idea on the added capping - reinforce the broken neck and cover the holes.

Ed

Give it the love! How does it sound?

_________________
If what you see is what you get, then Stevie Wonder ain't got nothin'!