Members daves_obc Posted March 5, 2008 Members Share Posted March 5, 2008 I have an Alvarez 5037 12 string. I love the guitar, except for the plastic knobs on the tuners. A few of them have cracked and split, making tuning impossible. Does anyone know where I can get replacement knobs for the tuners? Here is a picture showing the tuners from a variety of angles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 5, 2008 Members Share Posted March 5, 2008 Start here http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Tuner_parts.html http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/Secondproducthead.asp?CategoryName=Tuning+Machines But it might be a problem to find small enough knobs for a 12 string (I used mini Grovers on mine to get them to fit correctly). A call to Alvarez might be in order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daves_obc Posted March 5, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 5, 2008 Thanks for the links. I just got off the phone with the Alvarez parts and service department. They have a few buttons left over, but they had fewer than the dozen I wanted. Plus, if they sold them all to me they wouldn't be able to help the next person who called. However, they had some tuning machines from another model that were all metal that they said had the same pattern, so they should just pop right in. They offered them to me for $3 each plus shipping, so I went with the metal ones. It looks like I get to learn how to replace tuning machines in a week or so. I checked with Stewart MacDonald and didn't carry the correct style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daves_obc Posted March 13, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Well, my new set of tuners arrived the other day. So, I switched out the ones with the plastic knobs for the metal ones. This was the first time I've done something like this. It went just fine. Here are a couple of pics of the guitar with the new tuners. I'm now able to play this guitar for the first time in a long time. I'd forgotten how good it sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missedmyexit Posted March 13, 2008 Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 3 dollars each sounds pretty reasonable. Putting this one in the plus column for Alvarez customer support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daves_obc Posted March 13, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Yeah, I'm completely sold on their customer service. I bought this guitar almost 20 years ago, so I wasn't really expecting much when I called them. The parts guy rummaged around and found me a solution at a more than fair price. They said that $3 was the dealer cost. I'm going to send them the tuners that I took off the guitar so they'll have more of those plastic tuner buttons on hand when the next person calls. I have no use for them now and they would be able to find someone who needs them eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 13, 2008 Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Sweet, Dave - glad you're playing your 12'er, and its looking pretty darn nice too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AugTPD Posted March 13, 2008 Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Glad it worked out for you. I've had a couple pretty good experiences with Alvarez in the past. BTW, nice looking 12 string! You don't see too many slope-D 12s out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daves_obc Posted March 13, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Thanks for the compliments. When I bought it I walked into the store convinced that I was going to buy a Yamaha 12 string. My 6 string acoustic is a Yamaha FG-430. I love that guitar dearly, so I figured that a 12 string Yamaha was the choice for me. But, after playing a few different 12 strings at the store I settled on the Alvarez 5037. I don't think I've seen another one since. The lack of a pickguard is what makes it look unique to me. I keep debating with myself over having a pickguard put on it. I've been debating it since I bought the guitar in 1989, and no resolution to the question is on the horizon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 13, 2008 Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 The lack of a pickguard is what makes it look unique to me. I keep debating with myself over having a pickguard put on it. I've been debating it since I bought the guitar in 1989, and no resolution to the question is on the horizon. The top has a beautiful color and I don't see any pick damage, so you are probably doing something right. Personally, I'm an anit-p/g sort of guy, but then I'm a finger picker. One nice option is to put a clear one on it - I believe that the wood will still tan underneith so you could remove it in the future and not have tan lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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