Id'ing these Schaller bass tuners

[aceonbass]

Those tuners have the attachment screw in the wrong place, and are not the correct early style. Rather than drilling new holes, you may as well go with a set of 3/8" Hipshot Ultralites since they will at least fit without modifications.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

i put newer gibson m4 schallers on this bass , but you can see the original footprint and the disc was round...

[weemac]

While the Gotohs are a better key and appear very similar, the hole required for the tuner shaft is slightly larger at 9/16".

Ah! you learn something new every day around here! Thanks Dane!

Eden.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

here's the rear headshot of that 30,000k 4002 with the old style shallers as well.

[heinpete]

These Hipshot tuners might fit as a drop in?

[weemac]

These Hipshot tuners might fit as a drop in?

hb6y_shchrome_hi_cropped 1.jpg

They also look very nice!

Eden.

[Kopfjaeger]

Yes, the Hipshot Ultra lites may be a drop in, or close to drop in, but they are very different from both the early Schaller the bass came with and the new m4's. First they are open back and secondly they construction/appearance is very different. I'm not a fan of them, personally. I kinda got my mind set on Schallers but Gotoh's may be an option.

will I find a real nice set of old style Schaller's in black?? I doubt it. Can I have a nice set of chrome old style Schallers powder coated successfully? I'm not so sure of that either, even if I find said nice set.

Looks like I'm going to have to decide to drill or not to drill new mounting holes. That;'s a decision I can hold off for a bit. I appreciate the forum members keeping an eye out for the elusive old style 2+2 Schallers!!

Now, where can I find a nice slab of fretboard quality Ebony?? I think the luthier that agrees to restore this for me will have a line on this.

Sepp

[jps]

Now, where can I find a nice slab of fretboard quality Ebony?? I think the luthier that agrees to restore this for me will have a line on this.

Sepp

Check in at the Acoustic Guitar Forum, there are a bunch of great real luthiers over there who might be able to help you in this regard.

[johnhall]

Can I have a nice set of chrome old style Schallers powder coated successfully? I'm not so sure of that either, even if I find said nice set.

You can powdercoat the key buttons but the process would destroy the gearbox portion. I'm going to send you the e-mail address for Schaller's owner, Dr. Lars Bünning. Perhaps a personal note to him might help you get your keys.

Now, where can I find a nice slab of fretboard quality Ebony??

Harder and harder to find these days. However, I've noticed a few nice sticks available on eBay, although you won't like the prices. I just paid about $30 for a guitar sized slab for a personal project; it's pretty nice, supposedly legal from Gabon, but not like the quality you used to be able to get easily.

[aceonbass]

Joseph.....Since it's gonna be awhile before your bass even NEEDS new machines, I'd just be patient and keep up the search while you're having your bass fixed. It might even be a good idea to start searching Ebay for one of those pointy headstock basses from the 80's just to cannibalize it for the tuners. The factory RIC blacked out tailpieces always looked so flat. Instead of blacking out the hardware on the bass, why not try something more unique and cool like "black chrome" or what Ibanez calls "cosmo black". Either way you're going to need to drill out the rivets on the pickups to get the trim rings off for plating....assuming you can find someone who does black chrome.

[iiipopes]

Those tuners have the attachment screw in the wrong place, and are not the correct early style. Rather than drilling new holes, you may as well go with a set of 3/8" Hipshot Ultralites since they will at least fit without modifications.

Well, never mind. I didn't notice that. Thanks.

[aceonbass]

These are the exact tuners you need......except for the Gibson logo. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1969-GIBSON ... 4609b48f22

[Kopfjaeger]

Thanks all for the assistance!! An email has been sent to Schaller. I have my fingers crossed.

Dane, those tuners look like they will work nicely. I like Mr. Hall's suggestion of waiting for a beater set to get their non Gibson marked back covers!! If my email to Schaller goes unanswered, I may grab those from ebay. If that happens, I can forget about the black hardware treatment I was craving. Powedercoating needs heat to finish the process so all plastic and or rubber has to go. To really do it right, the entire tuner should be disassembled so the parts can be coated, not the internals, then reassembled. Not sure I want to strip down a $200. set of vintage tuners but I may look into it if I think I can do it. I have a great powder coater near me that coated a new style tailpiece for my Blackstar.

On a side note, when I was looking for one Gotoh tuner for me Modulus, the Modulus rep steered me to another source since they were out of the tuner I needed. Since the back cover should be swapped to reflect the bass, he swore that if I inserted a thin punch through the stem, I could tap out the cap and reinstall it on the new tuner so they all matched. Maybe Schallers work like that but Gotoh, no dice!! The hole in the stem does not run through the tuner body to the cap. There was no way in hell that I was going to "tap" the cap off. A screw that holds the gear assembly is covered by the cap and blocks the stem hole from the opposite side.

Sepp

[Kopfjaeger]

Interesting development. Schaller Deutschland informs me that they never manufactured a tuner with the lug at 90 degrees. They claim another manufacturer used their name and manufactured these. How can I argue with this info? Regardless, no NOS 90 degree lug Schallers are "laying around" at the factory.

Still pondering other options.

Sepp

[jps]

Interesting development. Schaller Deutschland informs me that they never manufactured a tuner with the lug at 90 degrees.

Very strange! I used to have an Alembic Exploiter with their pointy headstock, it had Schaller M4 tuners with the 90º lugs.