Mangled Tuner

It's been a very Les Paul past couple of months. Unfortunately my clients didn't want their repairs featured, so until now I couldn't show anything. I repaired 2 headstocks, a lifting fingerboard and a poorly installed ABR-1... straight from the factory... 2 of these were Chinese made, 1 was a USA. The Headstock we're looking at now is a 57 reissue, the parts say made in Japan, but the factory claims made in USA. I don't know what to believe anymore.

So here we have a damaged G string tuner, that either means someone was careless and bumped into something while they were walking around or it slid off a stand and hit something. Either Way, they get my "Your Instrument is Your Livelihood so Don't Mess It Up" speech. It's like talking to a wall sometimes with musicians. Of course without these little mishaps I'd have some very boring weekends... or not!

With these Kluson copies it is possible to bend the tabs back and remove the casing to reveal the gear and post. Not easy, but doable. The Original Klusons have a thinner metal cover so it's much easier to repair an original than a copy. Once the cover is removed you can see that the case and arm weren't the only things bent out of shape. As you can see from the pics. The Bushing that holds the threaded arm in place was damaged pretty bad, I was able to straighten out the arm and return the case to square, but without the bushing in the correct position the post will be free to vibrate and wobble. The owner will be able to tune up and stay in tune but, there is a noticeable vibration to the neck when strumming. I'll be ordering a new tuner to replace this one.