[fidopunk]

So I've searched and seen that this topic has been brought up before:

http://forums.vintageguitars.org.uk/...+tuners&page=2

But we're under the impression that Gibson stopped using these in the Mid 70's.

Well, my recently acquired '82 Grabber was missing a tuning bushing, so I bought a full set of '70's Gibson branded tuners/bushings off of eBay, but the new bushing didn't fit the reverse tuners that were on the bass-- so I swapped the full set of tuners and bushings out (I didn't care for the reverse tuning anyway).

The routes on the back of the headstock seem a little crude, honestly, (more like drill holes, but not with a standard bit) and the 3 bushings that were on there were two-piece units, with a bit of electrical tape to act as a spacer to let these smaller bushings fit in the larger hole.

So can we conclude that this is probably an example of someone replacing the stock tuners at some point or was Gibson just clearing out some stock they had laying around? Otherwise, this would make this bass one weird mutt that Gibson produced just to clean out the parts shelf.

Thanks guys,

[jules]

These look like the tuning keys that went on the earliest Rippers. I have some photographed, but I haven't quite got as far as putting them on the site. As far as I know these were well and truly used up by 1975.

I would think someone fitted them themselves. I don't think even Gibson would be so slack as to make those 'routes'.

Those early ones are hard to come by though (I bought a set this year after searching for a good 2 years, for my 1975 Ripper) so you should be able to flip them quite easily.

The post holes and bushings are an unusual size... just a little too small for Schaller BMs to work as a replacement.

I do not know what make these are... i'm guessing Kluson, but it is just a guess. They are not mentioned in Gibson literature that I have seen.

[fidopunk]

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured, Jules. I just thought I would post to see if anyone would confirm that their routes were cleaner looking.

I wouldn't mind hanging on to them unless someone super-needed them, I love the '50's P Basses and I'm sure I'll get around to making one someday. Now I'm just worried about that missing ferule and how easy it would be to replace.