New buttons for Gotoh UKB Tuners

FinnP

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The buttons on my Ohana ukulele friction tuners are all refrigerator-white :(..I don't like the look, I haven't been able to find alternative buttons that fits the Gotoh UKB tuners:( The tuners does the job OK, I just hate the color..Is there a way to dye the buttons e.g black?
 
You could place a small piece of black or other color heat-shrink tubing over the white.

First removing the tuner of course and then use either a hair dryer or the open flame from a cigarette lighter for a heat source, most heat-shrink can be had at hardware stores or auto-parts stores locally, otherwise there are a handful of online sources that have it, and you can get a package for like $5...

I did this on the button-area shaft part of my Grover UPT tuners. I had ORDERED the all-black, but was sent black-button w/silver shaft instead. Rather than send them back, I used the black-heat shrink tubing, which has the added benefit of an additional layer of scratch proofing over the metal of the shaft.

You can do something similar on the tuner buttons, but you will need to have the button screwed into the post when you do this, otherwise there is no good way to HOLD the button when applying the heat to the tubing, YES it is TOO HOT for you to want to HOLD it in your fingers, and even with pliers, you will find it clumsy to hold the button itself while trying to apply the heat source evenly, but on the post you will have better agility to articulate rotation of the whole shebang to get the heat applied so it shrinks even and looks nice...


Shown here on my LAVA concert Flea:
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UHcdeij.png


Hope this helps... :)
 
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Thats a clever idea. I have some in my toolbox and will give it a try. If it don't work as expected, it can allways be removed again. I was thinking about using a black permanent marker, but it would probably not last very long.
 
Thats a clever idea. I have some in my toolbox and will give it a try. If it don't work as expected, it can allways be removed again. I was thinking about using a black permanent marker, but it would probably not last very long.

Black permanent marker is likely to rub off ALL OVER your fingers.

Usually, it does NOT wash off with soap since the typical marker has silver-nitrate-based protein dyes in the ink, and as such end up like 3-layers deep in the skin, However most Sharpie and Marks-a-lot markers are easily removed with rubbing alcohol on most surfaces, even long after being 'dry'...

You could get some sandpaper, a 5mm paintbrush and oil-based Testes model paint (for plastic models that you build yourself), and first sand them, and then paint them, a few coats, of the oil-based laquer, but I think that it would eventually chip off...
 
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