Rickard Banjo Tuners On Guitar?

[Rick Liftig luthier wannabe… slowly gettinthere]

Dale Fairbanks used them on my Fairbanks ‘Fox’ and I adore them. I’m not sure if Rickard is still making the guitar set or not. (They differ in tuning ratio from the banjo set). They were expensive to start, and then the price went up further. But I love the appearance and the easy tuning.

There’s a neat story behind this guitar. A good friend, Larry Fox, found a mahogany table leaf (on garbage day) by the roadside. He called me up and said, “This is beautiful wood. It’s solid and would make a great guitar.” And so, for several years, the wood sat by his furnace, just waiting.

But Larry succumbed to a ten year battle with cancer back in 2020. About a month after that, I was talking with his wife, and Jan asked, “Is there anything you want from his shop?”

Me: “Jan, check on the left side of the furnace and see if there’s a slab of wood there. It is? I’ll be right over!”

Dale obliged and on December 26, 2021, delivered my “Fox” guitar. The Rickard tuners lend a striking element to the headstock’s appearance.

[Dan Erlewine]

Hi Rick, I have used them since day one and they are the greatest ever. I put them on my acoustic guitars, and on the “Strational”. For that, since the knobs are too wide to be easy to use on a 6-in-line pehead we made a lathe fixture and turned them down in size and shape and polished them. I put them on my ’37 Kalamzoo, ’39 J-35, Iris, DE-11, a Mahogany Tele neck for a guitar I’m making, and will on any guitar I use alot.

[Rick Liftig luthier wannabe… slowly gettinthere]

Here’s a link to the build: https://rolls.bublup.com/view/b8cdd061-fc88-493a-a487-7ff5f5f112fc

rolls.bublup.com

The Fox

A dying friend found a piece of a mahogany tabletop and passed it on. This is the story of how it became a guitar.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

Really cool Rick !

[Rick Liftig luthier wannabe… slowly gettinthere]

Beau – I really like your veneer treatment of the headstock on the peghead side. That adds a really nice touch and it shows off the tuners, too.