Repair And Restoration
TO ADD FORUM POST USE THE DISCUSSIONS TAB OR ADD NEW TOPIC IN THE SIDE BAR
Organizer:
- Organized by
-
-
Hofner Committee tuning key and nut repair
-
Hofner Committee tuning key and nut repair
And another one — putting it in general as while this is an acoustic, the particulars are more relevant to the brand than the type of guitar. This is a very early Hofner Committee (serial 20XX, maybe 1954?) that has suffered some minor blunt force trauma. The mounting posts for one of the tuning keys snapped. While repros may be available, I assume with something this weird and vintage repair is probably more feasible and affordable. But with those old degraded celluloid buttons I’d be hesitant to bring any heat near it for brazing — so would something like JB weld be acceptable? (Morally, and structurally.)
Also the nut is showing signs of degradation, interestingly the center stripe appears to be a dark translucent brown, not black! Does anyone know of a good way of making or acquiring one? Probably best not to leave it on the guitar as is, same with those buttons.
-
12 Replies
-
The important parts appear to be in shadow. Perhaps post a picture without a flash? What does the customer expect. JB weld would be messy. Can the holders for the tuner be re-peaned. Are they removable from the tuner shaft? How deep is the stripe on the nut? The slot could probably be re-routed with a jig and a router or a dremel.
-
Yes, sorry, it was just so sunny in the workshop yesterday! The nut will likely need wholesale replacing, it’s just curious that modern hofner ones seem to use an opaque black material, whereas this is a dark clear one, so for full authenticity it may need something custom.
This is a better pic of the tuner — one of the two “legs” that would be peened into place has separated, is the problem. So either that has to be replaced or repaired, but my worry is given how it’s already shown a brittle fracture more hammering would be risky. But also heating it worries me with that ancient celluloid button. I suppose a donor set with the same rear components could be acquired, persuaded out of its plate, and secured in this one? But something exactly like this seems exceedingly difficult to find, especially with the bone rollers seen on the front of the headstock.
(And doesn’t have to be JB weld if I go the composite route, but any epoxy putty that could bond to the little mounting piece and hold it through the hole in the plate to make up for the missing metal.)
We do actually have the piece that fell off the back tho, if it could be reattached in a way that was structurally sound and then peened back in place.
-
-
@patreon_5604352 James Roadman might have and idea about this. Are you going to try to salvage the buttons, or are those getting tossed ?
-
I think for now salvage, but I can talk to the owner. Certainly new and shiny ones would be a smart idea, but as more of a sentimental piece I think originality takes precedent over convenience.
-
-
I found these pics of a ’54. I think you need to join the holder to the plate mechanically. I doubt epoxy would hold a metal joint that small, especially with the force of the tuner screw pressure. What I’m thinking is you may be able to file the nubs off so the face of the holders are flat. I think there’s enough thickness there to carefully tap a small brass machine watchmaker’s screw into the flat face. You could then screw the holder to the tuner plate using the existing holes and solder (low, localized heat using the same flux core solder one would use for soldering electrical wire which would definitely work with brass, with a 60 watt soldering pen) the screw threads and all to the plate. It just depends on how thick that holder is. And for the nut. I thought of something. Is binding material dense enough to make a nut out of? You could laminate white and brown binding together?
-
I was also kind thinking about this move. Could be a little fussy to do, but worth a try.
-
-
Some pics of taps and screws. I’m fairly hopeful, after looking at other tuning holders that you have enough material to use watchmaker’s screws. I’m going to consult with my friend Mark Blanchard, a builder of beautiful guitars and also a fine machinist and……watch repairer.
-
Fussy’s my middle name……also, you can use jewelry soldering techniques on that for sure. You can wet rag the tuner so it won’t heat up. Use pin point soldering tip with gas/oxy set up and low melting point silver solder. Tuner plate would act as a heat sink (have done jewelry work for years). I would combine these two ideas cause joint still a weak point without mechanical fastening. Further, you can use flat head brass watchmaker’s screw and chamfer tuner plate to get screw head flush to plate so you don’t have to alter wood on head stock. Great that it’s brass cause easy to work and solders well at much lower temps then steel. Pretty sure this would work and you’d retain the original tuner.
-
Sorry for the public thought process…….handling this as a jewelry project I’m sure would work. Instead of screw, you could drill small hole for a brass rod/post. Solder post with higher melting point silver solder into holder. Install in chamfered plate hole a bit longer (experience dictates this but you can look up basics of creating a rivet) then thickness of plate and peen it into chamfer creating a jewelers rivet. Then solder rod/rivet to plate using lower temp solder (cover tuning peg with wet rag). Jewelers silver solder comes in varying temps so you don’t unsolder previous work. Also, jeweler’s flux dries like water color so you can pin point where solder flows. And you then paint a heat sink paste around the flux areas and plate. How I know this would work is based on a college jewelry class assignment shown in the pics. The thickness of the brass is close to the holder thickness and the rivets oddly are about the size you’d use. This was a riveting exercise and boastingly supplied me with an “A”. This is not hard to do. If there’s a college or jewelers school nearby, you may be able to talk a student into it. I would have loved to have taken it on. To keep going!: I’d remake the holders with the rivet bit in one piece, rivet to plate and silver solder. I’d cut the end of the tuner gear off to access holders if screw is not used to hold assembly together (can’t tell if there’s a screw end) then solder end back on. But I went through the different scenarios thinking that one of the methods might be something one can pull off easier then another……..
-
No, thank you for that! With something as finicky as this I think it’s extremely useful to have that to go through to see all the possible diverging techniques and weighing the pros and cons you think of with my setup and the client’s case and so on. Thank you for all of this, I think I’ll have to go away and think on it and talk with the client, but this is giving me a lot of ways to consider it and approach it. And will report back if/when I get the go ahead from the client — might be something he has to work up towards, but it feels like a fun challenge so I’m really keen to try and find a way to make it possible.
It is looking like some new buttons would make things easier tho, hard to get to NZ, but ah well.
Thanks again for all the ideas!
-
-
I am wondering if you could replace the tuner gear mounts. Drill correct diameter hole in the right thickness of steel and shape the rest including the legs to be peened with a file. You might have to cut the loop to get them on the tuner gear and then close and possibly braze them. Sounds like a lot of work but filing steel isn’t that time consuming?
-
That is a good idea if I can disassemble it somehow, I’m not entirely sure how they go together, but they had to get the worm gear through those holes one way or another. The current ones appear to be brass, which is even easier to work. Even just a jewelers saw could rough it out before refining with the file, although steel would better match the nickel plating. Thank you for the ideas!
-
Log in to reply.