thunderdisaster

[wellREDman]

so my Krugerands into Gibson mission has struck the rocks.

I bought a 93 thunderbird from Reverb, when I got it and tuned it to pitch there was a horrible rattling when playing the open E and A. I took it to my local guitar tech to check out to see if it just needed a setup or  I had bought a lemon. 

The results are not good.
He got the buzzing to go away with a truss rod adjustment, but a twist in the neck means the G is always going to have a reasonably high action (TBH i could live with this, I played it like it and it didn't seem all that high)

But worse when he was putting new strings on it the E tuner cog is broken.

I dont know whether to at this point engage with Reverb to get my money back  or keep it and ask for the price of a new machine head to be refunded?

my guy says that to replace it with a non Gibson part will require a larger hole to be reamed which will obviously affect the value. how likely am I to be able to find a replacement?

what do I do ?

[gearHed289]

There should be no reaming required to replace the tuner. It's likely a Schaller M4 or Gotoh GB7, possibly stamped "GIBSON" on the back. I've got a set of (4) black Schallers that say Gibson that I've been thinking of selling, but they are for a 2+2 headstock (came off my Les Paul).

[TBird1958]

Hipshot also has some nice mini clovers that should drop in, they look great too. have them deduct 120.00 from the sale.

[uwe]

With the amount of neck breaks TBirds have, a spare tuner cropping up wouldn't surprise me.

Twists in maho necks are rarer than in maple ones, but they do happen.

I also don't think that one replacement tuner is going to affect the value of a '93 TBird in a relevant way. I for one prefer working non-original to non-working original.

[ilan]

Definitely open a dispute through Reverb and get your money back. Even if you can live with the neck twist, it seriously devalues the bass and makes it nearly impossible to sell. You may have to swallow shipping costs but it's worth it.

[n!k]

I've had a terrible run with Reverb with lots of surprise defective things. I'd absolutely return it, just on principle.

[Dave W]

Definitely open a dispute through Reverb and get your money back. Even if you can live with the neck twist, it seriously devalues the bass and makes it nearly impossible to sell. You may have to swallow shipping costs but it's worth it.

This.

The tuner is replaceable, the twisted neck isn't. Return it and get your money back.

[uwe]

True, keeping it with a twisted neck only makes sense if it was a singular piece not available anywhere else.

[wellREDman]

Firstly thank you all for your replies.

The tuner is replaceable, the twisted neck isn't. Return it and get your money back.

the twist in the neck is a non issue, I cannot see it and the action is completely acceptable. I only know its there because the guitar tech told me, and that he felt the action is higher than he would like for a set up.
  he also has suggested that the twist may be from having it stored with the top strings under tension and the E string slack  in which case I can store it with the
E and A under tension and the D & G slack which will likely pull it back.
99% of its job is to hang on my wall and look purty so I can easily do that.

There should be no reaming required to replace the tuner. It's likely a Schaller M4 or Gotoh GB7, possibly stamped "GIBSON" on the back. I've got a set of (4) black Schallers that say Gibson that I've been thinking of selling, but they are for a 2+2 headstock (came off my Les Paul).

unfortunately its neither a schaller or a Gotoh, both of those have a 14mm bore and the bass has a 13mm hole.

also the ears for the screws are in a totally different place

where are the ears on the gibson ones your thinking of selling and what is the bore size?
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I'm thinking of offering the guy who sold it the choice of full refund or I keep it and he refunds me £300 (I paid £1700) to cover the cost of repairs and decrease in value to restore it to Good condition

I also don't think that one replacement tuner is going to affect the value of a '93 TBird in a relevant way. I for one prefer working non-original to non-working original.

replacing it with a different tuner that will require an extra hole or reaming will surely impact the value won't it?

bearing in mind that I talked the wife into swapping a krugerand from our savings for it on the grounds that it is an investment and should hold its value

[uwe]

Tuners are replacement parts. Like any mechanical device they don't last forever. Getting a replacement one just shows that you kept the bass functional.

[slinkp]

For what it's worth, those look exactly like the tuners from my LPB1 of similar age. Per Rob's bass book they are "Gibson-branded Schaller".
I think Gearhed is right and they are Schaller M4.
Unfortunately, based on a little searching, I've seen brand new tuners called "Schaller M4" as well as vintage ones going back at least to the 70s, and the current ones look very different.  It's also confusing because there are various suffixes meaning I don't know what, but the M4S is completely different.

This one from about 1990 looks right to me, but chrome:
https://reverb.com/item/78037879-schaller-bass-tuner-m-4l-in-line-1990-chrome

This one purportedly from the 1970s looks similar, but the post is a little different. https://reverb.com/item/70648599-bass-side-schaller-m4-bass-tuner-1970-s-gold-m4g-original-vintage

[gearHed289]

Those are Schaller M4, exactly like the ones I have. Hamer used them too with the Hamer logo stamped on the back. Schaller often put guitar manufacturer names on their bridges too.