Changing Rich Robinson's Grover tuners back to vintage style Klusons

Rich Robinson of The Magpie Salute and founding member of The Black Crowes asked Erick Coleman to install tuners that match this Gibson's ES-335 original factory machines. Erick shows how he made the new tuners look as old as the guitar.
Songs featured in this video include "Send Me An Omen" and "Mary the Gypsy" by The Magpie Salute, from the album High Water 1
www.themagpiesalute.com
10.5mm Round Conversion Bushings
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Peghole Reamers
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Tuner Bushing Press
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Keystone Tuner Knobs
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Nut and Saddle Vise
www.stewmac.com/item/1816
ColorTone Liquid Stains
www.stewmac.com/item/5045
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[@randydueck889]

Yipes - just the thought of sending that guitar through the US Mail gives me the willies.

[@PaulRoub]

"And get it into the Post Office" -- am I the only one who wants to see what goes into packing a vintage guitar for shipping back to its famous owner?

[@stewmac]

Great idea! We'll pass along your suggestion.

[@jolleychris123]

@@stewmac Please do this :D

[@Tonetwisters]

Hopefully, he was just playing a bit, as he signed out ...

[@freddiemaq2186]

Soft gig bag and a big "handle with care" sticker should do it

[@jakethesound4586]

the motto will be: too much. I work in a guitar store, and you'll take special care of any switches and fiddly electronics, as well as, or most even: supporting the neck, headplate and tuners. Gibson cases sadly are not built to actually protect the necks thoroughly.

[@neverlooksatit7986]

To age the knobs, mix acetone with water 2:1 and add toner. dunk the knobs in for a couple seconds at a time until you're happy with the color. Been using this for years, no guesswork, no danger, you get the right look. If you mix up a batch of this in a Mason jar with a lid, you can age lots of plastic knobs and saddles with this for years. Practice on junk tuners. YMMV

[@manichispanic999]

Your patience is commendable

[@Videohead-eq5cy]

It's worth 200$ an hour, so

[@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney]

Patience is the name of the game in guitar maintenance and repair, even more so than guitar building.

[@ClarenceHW]

Well done Erick, very enjoyable to see both the craftsmanship and the artistry.

[@zachpfeif]

That checking is AMAZING!

[@peterkiss7742]

Love the things you do. Since I watch your videos, I am not afraid of any problems on my guitar :)

[@doak4886]

Your attention to detail shows your dedication to your craft and subject matter. It is amazing to me.

[@invay69]

Amazing!! Always a pleasure watch these guys working!

[@NYCBoomBap4Life]

Amazing work and patience. I think that's one of the things that separates the boys from the men, the patience to do the job right. I think some people know how to do it right but don't have the patience so they choose whatever is the faster approach. Erick and Dan are the best I've seen on KZbin so far. The sheer care, patience and smart way of doing things is unmatched.

[@SweetSpotGuitar]

"Dad, my tuner hurts." "Rub some dirt in it, son." :)

[@SergiOrtiz]

Extremely detailed work, you deserve way more subs!! Thanks for the content

[@jasonw2671]

Beautiful work as always!

[@mspguitars6740]

That was an epic video! Great work.

[@johnfrederick6164]

That was awesome love what you guys do thanks!

[@monkeyrevolution1964]

Many congratulations for the Wonderful work

[@rb032682]

Very cool. Great aging on those tuners.

[@jonnyronnyguy]

Looks like the same Hollowbody that's in the Remedy videoclip haha. Also amazing work on the details. It's amazing how much focus goes in to make something look authentic. Cannot wait to see my les paul looking aged in many years time.

[@leftymike5625]

Very cool. Would love to see more videos like that in the future. Maybe one with rich getting the guitar back and his reaction would be cool. 😎

[@SuriSanJose]

Awesome as always!

[@carlwentline1263]

Thank you for this video! Much appreciated & helped give me a clean installation!

[@ramonzeira]

Huge work for such small detail

[@dwightbrown2808]

I just saw a pretty impressive exhibit of early electric guitars at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. It was well worth the visit.

[@1960fusion]

Great job, I just did the same thing to a 1952 Martin 0-15 after the previous owner installed Grovers and enlarged the hole. now it looks and plays great...and by the way, it stays in tune just fine! I love watching your videos, keep up the great work.

[@ERIC-65]

And fun thing is, you don't have to enlarge it all way through, but everyone does.

[@BSMikkel]

Just when you thought StewMac would run out of appropriate tools, they introduce the tuner-bushing-squeezer-based-on-a-welding-clamp-thingy..

[@Metal-Possum]

I just beat them in with my trusty thumb detector.

[@tjaardb.kaffee1488]

I don't get that people would actually buy that thing for 70$

[@coreymineard]

When he was reaming the holes in the headstock, I kept blowing on my phone trying to clear the wood shavings, lmao

[@10000rambos]

You should break the tuner, so it’ll be like most old Gibson tuners.

[@chuckschillingvideos]

I think you mean so it'll be like most Kluson tuners. They always fail - it's just a matter of when. For the life of me I do not understand why they remain popular.

[@miko8732]

It's the headstock that always breaks after like 50 years.

[@chuckschillingvideos]

@@miko8732 Well, yeah, there's that. But it's also true that Kluson tuners are notoriously prone to failure.

[@blackie75]

@@miko8732 Or when your case falls onto it's side.

[@jeff-cu4ct]

One of my tuners broke with in 7 months of buying my new SG. I put Grover's on it not knowing this was a popular mod.

[@stompboxcoverband9404]

2nd video I've watched! Love your channel! Just subscribed.

[@guitarvaultstore8032]

wow that was a really awesome how to! Thanks for the tips.

[@GuernB2]

I had to use these to install vintage style klusons on my 91 les paul. Work great!

[@davidfriesen7748]

Nice Ideas ! I really enjoyed the video.

[@davephilpott4543]

that was awesome how you aged them so nice!

[@davidthegood]

Erick is the type of artist who could take my cheap "Lyon by Washburn" electric and turn it into a vintage Strat.

[@LRS905]

You cannot polish a turd.

[@timothya.olmeda7299]

The wood shavings from the peg holes of rich's iconic guitar could probably fetch a pretty penny. Thank you for sharing your excellence in craftsmanship.

[@toddyrocks]

its great how many of the tricks cross industries .. many guitar repair ideas are also used in furniture repair

[@stewmac]

Very true!

[@Booze4Blues]

Very interesting, enlightening, and informative 👌🏻

[@JohnHorneGuitar]

Fantastic video!

[@OhBHayes]

Great band. I’ve seen them twice in Ft. Lauderdale 😎😎😎 Awesome work! I would love to learn from you guys

[@billythekid2281]

Very nice work 👌

[@rocxNroll]

Such a good job!

[@stuartdocherty8409]

Great to see the ins and outs of the techniques you guys employ to age stuff. I think way back I heard Dan saying once he went out to the road put a few small rocks onto a body and gave them a tap..! We didn't get to see the set up, but I did wonder about that Bigsby: Obviously the wrong unit for the job and seemingly carrying a bit more string tension because of it... Even on my Tele I have considered putting a spacer under the Bigsby, just to make it a little easier under my hand.....

[@liorauf]

Rich is a GREAT guitar player! Great video!!!

[@jerrymorganjr]

Those double ring tips look pretty legit.

[@sixstring4]

Using the conversion inserts leave the old ring marks. Faber offers vintage aged kluson style keys with screw in top inserts that fit perfect with require no alteration and cover the old ring marks..they also look amazing!

[@J.C...]

Not everybody cares about rings showing and some of us don't like those huge bushing that are half an inch(13mm) wide. That's part of the reason I swapped the grover style things off of my 355-style guitar. They were wayyyy too gawdy and oversized. Vintage tuners have a smaller diameter bushing looking from the top down and smaller tuner shafts, usually, too. They're just a finer tuner. Not made as big as screw-in bushing tuners.

[@scottyhughes9179]

nice work Erick.

[@dieselsk8]

Great job!

[@andreferreira5540]

Good morning, I have a situation contrary to the one you showed in the video, what do I do to fill the space left??? sorry for my bad english.

[@rosewoodsteel6656]

Very cool! Do you happen to have bushings for a 70's Strat to enable a return to the original "F" tuners? The holes were enlarged to accommodate Schaller's. Thanks.

[@johnm9941]

I have the same guitar and want to put original tuners back on it. And of course the holes were enlarged to accommodate the new style tuner. I am going to plug my holes with dowel plugs. Should I use hardwood as opposed to mahogany (same neck material) and what would you recommend? Something hard and dense like ebony?

[@junaenine5178]

This video came to solve my problem. I have a Gibson Les Paul Custom 1959 reissue with grover tuner milk and I want to put the kluson vintage. I need the adapter bushing. Can you tell me the correct model for Gibson Les Paul Reissue 1959? Item # 3460 or item # 3459? Thank you.

[@guidoandreoni3575]

Great job!

[@josephmartinez3851]

Great now I need to find a place to get luthier shop dirt....

[@danpaterson7314]

I'm surprised StewMac doesn't sell it!

[@patrickwashburn4501]

Nice work, Erick. I noticed at 0:07 and 0:12 that the bridge looks like it has collapsed, a fairly common affliction of older Gibson ABR-1 tune-o-matic bridges.

[@TheDecguy]

A previous owner had put Grovers on my 70's Les Paul Deluxe. I would have never done that myself but I'm glad someone before me had done it. Much better tuners.

[@brucereed4145]

In the past I would have agreed with you, but today's Klusons generally have a larger gear ratio and are excellent tuners. I watched this video because the Grovers on a guitar of mine wore out and I wanted to put the original style back on. Glad I watched it!

[@6stringgunner511]

When I was 16. My guitar teacher talked me into swapping out the Grover tuners on my Heritage for a set of Kluson's. I want to return my guitar to original specs. But, if I do? Are there going to be obvious drill holes appearing for the machine tuners?

[@junaenine5178]

What is the exact size / model of adapter bushing in vídeo? 10mm or 10.5mm? Thank you.

[@sebastianrothman2871]

So for a les Paul would it also be the 10.5 mm conversion bushing?

[@Chris-yq7xv]

Absolutely a seasoned repair luthier!

[@jean-francoismeilleur4980]

Luckilly i saw this on time. I was starting to use ebeny from old harmonium black keys to fill my holes on a Harmony Monteray 1954 and redrill them the right size. Merci!

[@paulsmith9542]

That was very interesting and informative !!!!!

[@stewmac]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@daulay3322]

Got similar issue recently. Unfortunately, can't find anyone selling conversion bushing around here, so I stuck with vintage bushing provided by Gotoh. This vintage bushing has around 8,5mm outer diameter (OD) and 6mm inner diameter (ID). So, i need to find something with 10mm OD and 8mm ID to fill in the peg hole. Luckily, I found someone who sell brass tube/pipe with those exact measurements. So, I created six brass bushings from that tube (with cutting and little bit drill press work to fit in the 8,5mm OD), and now the vintage bushings installed. Perhaps this can be your other options/alternatives. 🙏🙏🙏. You can ream the brass bushing instead of ream the wood. 😊

[@datruth9872]

Great Job ! Fun watchin . and very educational. Later. 😎

[@TomTobin67]

Cold coffee makes for a great staining.

[@YesuAiNimen]

Done this a few times on plastic fender knobs ect not to them look old, per se, but to darken them to the color I like.

[@ERIC-65]

Why does the coffee have to be cold?

[@Phoenix_cataclysm_in_2040]

@@ERIC-65 Because hot coffee may warp the plastic.

[@ShawnPGMaloy]

Erick is the man

[@iwillnevergetone5]

i spot that over/under tuning method at the end. guess that really is the best method

[@renodavid]

Enjoyed the video a lot. I was really impressed at the patience and attention to detail required to do such quality work. Man, I just wish KZbin had been around years ago when I was messing around with some pretty nice instruments. I don’t think I did too much damage, but some nice instructions like this wouldn’t have hurt!

[@Fuzzbucket3358]

The double rings really look cool

[@johndefoe4584]

Great video, thanks allot.....

[@sgt.thundercok4704]

I love watching true craftsmen.

[@Dan.Solo.Chicago]

The little tips they use with the super glue are interesting. Do they sell those? They remind me of a humming bird. They have curved needle like beaks similar to that tip. They also have a tongue that’s like it, that’s twice as long as their beak.

[@nicandknacksandseans]

I didn’t like the harsh, modern, electric lights in my house so I switched back to the good old-fashion gas lamps. My house could burst into flames at any moment, but you can’t beat that vintage “feel”!

[@josedealva4205]

typing from a teletype?

[@wellfuckyoumr]

My dude. Get a box of some normal sized nitrile gloves.

[@silasmoon]

But then he can't fill them with candy corn and popcorn for Halloween

[@victorrene3852]

Exactly what i was thinking lol

[@geraldhenrickson7472]

Some prefer those gloves...they are cheaper.

[@RoastBeefSandwich]

better sensitivity through plastic gloves.

[@jolleychris123]

Amazing work. I just wondered why would you not stain the knobs all together (for consistency) before putting them onto the shafts?

[@stewmac]

This job could have also been done this way. Erick's preference was to install them and then proceed with the relicing.

[@johnherceg5934]

What Grit of sandpaper do you use

[@Phoenix_cataclysm_in_2040]

I'd age those shiny tuners. You brush them a bit with a scotch pad to break the surface, then rub them with hydrochloric acid (you can get it from DIY shop, used to clean bricks) and leave for 10-15 minutes, which will darken the surface to make it look old. You can then use peroxide in the end to bring a touch of rust for it to look super authentic. I've reliced many, many guitars that way, works magic.

[@JohnRocklin]

Brilliant !!

[@thomaspick4123]

I love those Grover’s. Nuts to old Klusen tuners.

[@TempoDrift1480]

I was kinda skeptical purchasing $28 set of tuners but I'll testify they are absolutely fantastic. Had them 6 months on a chinese Les Paul and they hold an excellent tune and feel very solid.

[@Ibaneddie76]

Nice! great use of the nut vice, I've been using my drill press for that but the nut vice is a much better tool.

[@benchaggaresmusic]

what are peoples opinions on new Kluson double ring tuners vs the gotohs?

[@coloradoguitarworks7892]

Nice job. Functionality-wise, the Grovers are superior tuners though!

[@stewmac]

Thanks for your comment! These modern Gotoh tuners function flawlessly, much better than an original Kluson ever would have. Easily of equal quality than a Grover. Check out a set!

[@wvparrothead31]

I much prefer the look of the Grovers as well.

[@junaenine5178]

This video came to solve my problem. I have a Gibson Les Paul Custom 1959 reissue with grover tuner milk and I want to put the kluson vintage. I need the adapter bushing. Can you tell me the correct model for Gibson Les Paul Reissue 1959? Item # 3460 or item # 3459? Thank you.

[@MrUltraworld]

Much better

[@neverlooksatit7986]

Many people find them to be to heavy, upsetting the designed balance of the guitar, and Grovers fail often. Klusons rarely do.

[@hypnagogia]

Awesome!

[@jakelencher817]

i just replaced my tuner knobs on my les paul so i got some cracked plastic knobs, one of them broke so i replaced all of them cause the rest looked like they were gonna break too, somethin to practice on.

[@chouaiebbrahim6883]

you can try to put the regular bushing into a vinyl tube and install it.

[@oqsy]

The stained and shoe polished knobs look more green to me. It looks like a better match to the mat he’s working on than the old tuner. However, once on the guitar they looked fine. I dig that old Bigsby ES. The finish is checking like plastrons on a turtle shell

[@henkkman]

Great job Erick! Perhaps you could have aged the buttons before you installed them. Black coffee works great for aging plastic parts. After that some scuffing and brown shoe polish.

[@user-wm5nj8kw5u]

love your videos man!! can i ask you something? i want to remove my brand logo from my painted guitar headstock. Is there any way i can do it without repaint it??? keep the good work!! :)

[@stewmac]

What kind of finish does your guitar have on the headstock? If the logo is set below the last few clear coats of finish, you will have to sand through until you've removed it. If you want the end result to have a gloss finish, you will need to reapply a few coats and then proceed to the wet sanding and buffing process.

[@user-wm5nj8kw5u]

i think the logo is under a few coats of finish. Do you know how i can find the code from the color? thank u very much for the advice!!! :)

[@jonathanvelez5377]

Super CoOl !!!

[@Salmontemaki]

Why didnt you just put a kluson style pearl tuners that come with that larger body

[@jasonlee8497]

Cool....patience and experience....

[@poppysilver]

woah its 60fps, this is great.

[@marlycruse5921]

Looks glorious!

[@crosswalklarry]

"Someone" clicked on the nerd stats. 🤣

[@ERIC-65]

Yeah, with this Erick could also do 60 bushings per second, we wouldn't miss a thing!

[@vitorisaia]

TOOLS + KNOWLEDGE = NO LIMITS

[@charbaker]

You and Dan E are my current celebrity crushes.

[@Wargasm644]

Nice video. But what I don’t understand is the super glue? Why didn’t you put super glue in the tuner button before you pressed it on? Seems kind of a PITA to try a drip super glue into the collar? Also, on a vintage guitar like this, why not put actual vintage tuners on it? You said in your video you some ‘68’s laying around? Am I missing something? Thanks

[@danielruiz7131]

How much do you charge for that job???

[@gunsandguitars6678]

Excellent ☆☆☆☆☆.

[@bassfishingwiththeantichri2921]

I had a reamer for the longest time and didn't know what it was until I saw one of these videos. "Hey, that looks like that thing in my tool kit. Cool!" "Made in Taiwan" StuMac vice $800.00 attachments $50.00 (US Made)

[@JavaoftheLava]

Will modifyingstewmac tools like suggested here void my warranty tho

[@tomstern1681]

When he started with the pigments and dirt and stuff I thought this is too much. Turns out it was on the spot!

[@cgavin1]

Good job but grovers are a one way trip owing to the large indentation(s) the washers leave. On a vintage guitar I'd just leave it alone you aren't going to be adding any value by using modern replacement parts anyway. It can be argued that going to klusons from grovers is a tone thing as it definitely does change the tone (less mass, more airy) so that's justification I guess.