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Wintermoon, I think it did sit unplayed for a while. If you see it, it looks like it could pass for new, with the exception of 3 dings on the entire guitar. And luckily, it most likely sat in the case in a very stable environment.
Originally Posted by wintermoon
Its really shame that the tuners are sealed so permanently and cannot be re-lubricated.
Joe D
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02-26-2018 01:45 PM
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Can any of the experienced techs on the board comment on whether its possible to re-lube Kluson Sealfasts?
Is there a method that allows one to shoot some solvent based grease down the post?
I searched the internet and I couldn't find anything.
Joe D
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at the bolt underneath the button perhaps ? Originally Posted by Max405
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Good observation fws6. That would be a blessing if it were the case.. Originally Posted by fws6
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I have heard soaking them in a bowl of liquid WD40 for a couple days works wonders. You have to buy the gallon jug though.
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interesting.
I wonder if the WD40 reacts w/the old grease in any way, maybe thins it out?
I may try this on the wanky G tuner on my L-5
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Vin do you know if that will mess up the gold plating?
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No I dont think wd40 can dissolve plating
wd40 could be used to wash out the dirt but I guess it would evaporate over time , if you dont add permanent lubrication / like petroleum jelly back in
there is some good stewmac info on this Tri-Flow Pin Point Lubricator | stewmac.com
How to clean and lube dirty old guitar tuners | stewmac.com
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I can see that method working on Klusons w/the hole in the housing but a lot harder w/ Sealfasts.
I'm guessing your suggestion of loosening the little hex nut @ base of tuner next to housing is the only way to get any cleaner in there as well as relubing.
when I get a chance I'll pull out a spare Sealfast and see what the deal is.
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I love that sound. I really do.
Your gear is as good as it gets. Period.
Your playing keeps getting better and better. I've never seen anyone live do better. Never.
Wow! I'm stunned.
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Could you please do that? When you said the Sealfasts were the best tuner Gibson ever put on a guitar, that made me think that these tuners should be better. I would love to "like" these tuners. Even just a little bit. Originally Posted by wintermoon
Joe D
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WD40 will not harm plating. With a sealed Kluson it is about as good as you can do. Schaller makes the repo Klusons for the new Super 400’s. They look the same with the bullseye and dimensions but can be serviced. You would have to do some serious begging to get a set from Gibson though. I was able to get a set of replacement Gibson L5 tuners from Thomann in Germany but it was not cheap and the shipping was very pricey. The plating went bad. I tried to get a new set from Gibson. Gibson asked me if they worked and I said yes and then they said you are not getting a set then.
Tri-flow and a syringe and drip it into the shafts maybe ? Make sure to loosen the trussrod while the tuners are off.
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Thank you MG. I really appreciate that, more than you know. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
Joe D
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I always thought Kluson Sealfasts were junk. Lots of play and never stayed in tune. At least the ones I had in the 1970’s were not that great. I changed mine out to the “good” Imperials and had the back of the headstock refinished.
Back in those days it was a cheap repair.
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Joe, I could as well as you if I did nothing else in my waking life and if I had some talent. Those are my only two barriers.
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they are excellent tuners Joe, but a zillion yrs of inactivity and dried out grease is not a good combination regardless of the type of tuner. Originally Posted by Max405
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I have them on several prewar guitars and still going strong 80 yrs later, but ymmv Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
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Wow, Joe, you definitely have that classic sound! Terrific playing. Beautiful guitar. Almost makes me want to look at archtops again. Almost.
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"I changed mine out to the “good” Imperials and had the back of the headstock refinished.
Back in those days it was a cheap repair."
and a devaluing one too
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Back in those days no one thought about their guitar’s value down the road. In fact a bone stock Gibson was frowned on. Times have vastly changed. There was no vintage collector nonsense. You could get a 1959 Les Paul for very cheap. Now they cost more than a house. New tuners and frets were looked upon as a great upgrade and actually was considered to make the guitar a better buy. Today everything must be bone stock. It’s a sin if you got a fret job and the binding nibs are now gone. Too many think of guitars now as investments not tools to make music. Back in those days you made your tool the best it could play regardless of what you needed to do to it. Of course I was always anal so what ever I did it had to be done perfect. Back in those days cats always wanted to personalize their axes to make it custom in their own way. Yes there was a lot of hacks. Originally Posted by wintermoon
"I changed mine out to the “good” Imperials and had the back of the headstock refinished.
Back in those days it was a cheap repair."
and a devaluing one too
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yeah I know Vinny, Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
when I got my first electric, a 70's ES-175, I couldn't swap out the orig tuners for a nice set of German Schallers fast enough. But today is today, so you gotta go w/ the flow or risk taking a loss, unless you simply don't care, which I can respect.. I always thought refrets and the usual loss of nibs is a bit over the top. General maintenance imo. same w/ a deteriorating nitro guard, get it off and put a repro on.
As far as how good Sealfasts are, I can't think of any tuners that Gibson used that were any better.
Yeah a lot of them start to break down over the yrs, but that can be said of any stock tuners Gibson used.
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Joe
Hearing you play always reminds me of the kind of playing I have always wanted to excel at. You have also inspired me to commit at some point to learning either a Joe Pass or Johnny Smith tune. I'm thinking about Joe Pass's "Here's That Rainy Day" on Virtuoso. But I haven't had the courage just to start...
... I need to watch more of your clips!
Super sound, wonderful playing. Johnny Smith never had such an able tribute.
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Someone mentioned WD-40.
I thought WD-40 was fish oil, and it may have been at one time.
But I just checked, and it is a remarkable amount of solvent and some petroleum based oil.
The solvents may be nice if you can get them into a seal-fast, but getting the dissolved gunk (and metal particles) out of there seems unlikely. Further, the left-behind oil from WD-40 is extremely poorly suited for the task at hand - lubrication of a very low speed and very enduring pressure mechanical interface.
Low speed and long term presssure means a thick grease is what you want in there.
The tuners are unfortunately poorly configured for this kind of maintenance.
They look so nicely “historic”. What a shame they (and others of course) can not be effectively disassembled and re-greased - especially considering the great synthetics available now.
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Indeed. The problem is that, like curling as a sport, Joe’s sound seems soooooo do-able. Then you try it and see how much work it is really. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
So it is graspable and unexpectedly humbling at the same time.
Which I suppose is what “great” really should mean.
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Yeah, that's thesonofmybitch! Originally Posted by Max405
And that plus the double stops on T42 are the best parts of each song!
We'll have to ask the author of Moonlight in VT.(the JS bio) about those two.
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