Anyone make DIY wood tuner buttons?

D

dhoenisch

Guest
I was just wondering if anyone here has every made their own wooden tuning machine buttons. I am currently working on a uke that I will be using bloodwood for the fingerboard, bridge and headstock overlay, and I am going to have so much bloodwood left that I think it would be cool to make my own tuning machine buttons. I was hoping to see what you all did so I can get some ideas. I'm using guitar style tuning machine with the push-in/glue on buttons.

Thanks,
Dan
 
Sure have. I don't have any tutorials on it, but it's your lucky day because another luthier has already done the hard yards for you. You can view his tutorial along with some other great tips on the ANZLF. Direct link to the tutorial is here.
 
I made my own, it was slow but easy work.

1st make the "T" shapes. I started with a 3/4" by 2" by 12" long piece of hard maple and cut a 2" long "tongue" on one end. Then I slit it into 4 pieces, just at the tongue end. Then I cross cut it so I had 4 T-shapes. (I can try to draw this if it is hard to understand). The reason I did this with a 12" long piece was to keep my hands away from the saw.

Now I had four tuners but they were rectangular - the part that needed to be round and tapered was actually 3/8" square and the "handle" part was a square, 3/4" by 3/4" by 3/8" thick. The rest is done with a small drum sander, files and sand paper.

First I made the shafts perfectly round and straight (not tapered) -0.308" in diameter. I got them accurate to +/- .002". This involved sitting in a chair with a file and a dial caliper and watching football and removing high spots. Use a towel to keep the sawdust in your lap and not on the floor.

Then I tapered them (I forget the exact dimensions, I have them at home, but I am on a business trip). A friend gave me the exact dimensions. Again, you sit in a chair with files and sandpaper and measure very often.

I drilled the headstock holes to the minimum diameter and then enlarged/tapered them with a reamer I made from one half of a pair of scissors. I separated the scissors and then ground the dull side until the scissors had the exact taper that I wanted. Be sure you do not grind the sharp side!

The reamer got noticeably duller as I reamed the four holes but it lasted well enough to make one ukulele.

The tuners work well if you play the uke every day. If it sits for a week or more it is a pain to retune. So if I plan to play it in public I make sure that I play it every day for 3-4 days beforehand.
 
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