Crap Vibrato Parts

HarrySeven · August 2023

As is often the case, I currently find myself fannying about with products from the cheap and cheerful darker days of guitar manufacturing.

On the Bench currently are two flavours of MIK vintage Hohner SG Lion, both with shit vibrato systems - one sporting an Accutune (a misnomer if ever there was one) and the other, a Steinberger KB.

The main points of commonality between the two systems are that:

*Various components were made from tin foil and plasticine.

*They’re both long out of production.

The guitars themselves (like so much MIK output of the time) are actually very well made and feel great, but are let down by cheap ‘n’ nasty hardware and electronic components.

I’d sooner keep these as original as possible (and am already aware of the usual fixes/bodges to keep them operational), but in the first instance, I just thought I’d make my semi-annual request for parts/leads on complete/incomplete systems (or even whole guitars) to build up a stash of potentially/hopefully usable bits and pieces.

Keep ‘em peeled, please!

Funkfingers · August 2023

Photographs of the cavities for the respective vibrato designs might help.

Somewhere, I have stashed away a Whammy World adapter plate intended to allow a Kahler flatmount vibrato to replace a recessed Floyd Rose.

BabyFrankReborn · August 2023

For the KB Trem, there are spares available here;

https://www.headless-europe.eu/Steinieland/Parts_Trems_02.html

HarrySeven · August 2023

BabyFrankReborn said:

For the KB Trem, there are spares available here;

https://www.headless-europe.eu/Steinieland/Parts_Trems_02.html

Thanks - there are indeed, but what Bernd doesn’t generally supply are structural/carcass items, eg. baseplates, etc (hence the request for complete vibratos/project guitars).

Of course, I can whack a block of mahogany in the cavity and re-rout (or whatever), but I’d really rather try sorting the original components first.

CasperCaster · August 2023

Ahh, the Hohner SG Lion. I SO wanted one of these in my youth. Probably for the best that I never got one, and stuck with my Ibanez Roadster Ii, although the Pro-Rocker trem also has parts made from cheese and charcoal rather than actual metal.

BabyFrankReborn · August 2023

HarrySeven said:

BabyFrankReborn said:

For the KB Trem, there are spares available here;

https://www.headless-europe.eu/Steinieland/Parts_Trems_02.html

Thanks - there are indeed, but what Bernd doesn’t generally supply are structural/carcass items, eg. baseplates, etc (hence the request for complete vibratos/project guitars).

Of course, I can whack a block of mahogany in the cavity and re-rout (or whatever), but I’d really rather try sorting the original components first.

Gotcha... hope you can track down some parts

Funkfingers · August 2023

HarrySeven said:

BabyFrankReborn said:

For the KB Trem, there are spares available

what Bernd doesn’t generally supply are structural/carcass items, eg. baseplates, etc (hence, the request for complete vibratos/project guitars).

This is precisely why I am resisting the efforts of a local character to sell or exchange his Höhner G3T in my direction.

Its vibrato is latched in non-waggle mode but it still shifts a tiny bit under extreme string bending. I cannot tell whether this is evidence of pivot wear or sloppy manufacturing tolerances.

HarrySeven · August 2023

For your edification, entertainment and delight, voila…

https://i.imgur.com/Z9y5dm3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/L3nDUIw.jpg

Kittyfrisk · August 2023

Got's me an Epiphone Korean throughneck cousin with a Bernd fettled Steinie KB, but with fewer microswitches & pickups

HarrySeven · August 2023

Kittyfrisk said:

Got's me an Epiphone Korean throughneck cousin with a Bernd fettled Steinie KB, but with fewer microswitches & pickups

Ah, they’re lovely…

Funkfingers · August 2023

The ol' Epiphone Spotlight, with its plastic fingerboard.

Regarding the Accutune, would it be possible to have an unbroken example scanned and, then, 3-D printed in a material more durable than Philadelphia processed cheese?

Kittyfrisk · August 2023

Funkfingers said:

The ol' Epiphone Spotlight, with its plastic fingerboard.

Regarding the Accutune, would it be possible to have an unbroken example scanned and, then, 3-D printed in a material more durable than Philadelphia processed cheese?

Yes, Ebonol.
I wonder, would you describe some Les Paul Custom fretboards in the same way?
Not bothered, just curious

Funkfingers · August 2023

It amuses me that the fingerboard material could well be more hard wearing than some of the critical parts in the Steinberger KB vibrato.

Original Steinberger guitars and basses are entirely formed from graphite reinforced plastic. So is my Chapman Stick.

Kittyfrisk · August 2023

Funkfingers said:

It amuses me that the fingerboard material could well be more hard wearing than some of the critical parts in the Steinberger KB vibrato.

Original Steinberger guitars and basses are entirely formed from graphite reinforced plastic. So is my Chapman Stick.

The vibrato really took its description as being made of 'metal' to a whole new level of fantasy, but that had nothing to do with the rest of the guitar's construction, such as the woods & fretboard.
Bernd's replacement stainless KB vibrato posts are an elegant solution that really works to preserve the useability of the whole.

Gizmo · August 2023

HarrySeven said:

Keep ‘em peeled, please!

seen this ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394791123954?hash=item5beb627bf2:g:1tkAAOSwjOtkzV-L

ICBM · August 2023

Gizmo said:

seen this ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394791123954?hash=item5beb627bf2:g:1tkAAOSwjOtkzV-L

That looks like the InAccutune has already collapsed.

"The intonation is very off"

No shit...

I (sort of

) applaud HarrySeven's desire to try to salvage a working example of these with the original bridge (although I think his sanity is questionable

) but really, replacing the compressed-cheese nightmares with a bridge that actually works properly is by far the better solution.

Funkfingers · August 2023

Kittyfrisk said:
Bernd's replacement stainless KB vibrato posts are an elegant solution that really works to preserve the usability of the whole.

Does Bernd make replacement parts for the Steinberger style vibrato found on the Höhner G2T and G3T? Better still, a retrofit fixed bridge?

ICBM said:
I (sort of ) applaud HarrySeven's desire to try to salvage a working example of these with the original bridge

This would make some sense if H7 sought guitars in outwardly original condition as the basis of a museum collection.

ICBM said:
I think his sanity is questionable

His sanity is, to paraphrase the old Creature Comforts advertisement campaign, "easily turn on and offable." Certainly, when it comes to gear acquisition.

Jonathangus · August 2023

There's an ST Lead just popped up on the other FB:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/guitarsuk/permalink/6579823278743655/?sale_post_id=6579823278743655

HarrySeven · August 2023

Jonathangus said:

There's an ST Lead just popped up on the other FB:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/guitarsuk/permalink/6579823278743655/?sale_post_id=6579823278743655

Cheers! It’s on eBay too. Keeping an eye on it.

HarrySeven · August 2023

In answer to @Funkfingers, here’s a pic or two of a carcass:

https://i.imgur.com/ya3dr6i.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3SxyQ2V.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hbmX5fQ.jpg

Kittyfrisk · August 2023

Funkfingers said:

Kittyfrisk said:
Bernd's replacement stainless KB vibrato posts are an elegant solution that really works to preserve the usability of the whole.

Does Bernd make replacement parts for the Steinberger style vibrato found on the Höhner G2T and G3T? Better still, a retrofit fixed bridge?

He does do some R-Trem bits, website here https://www.headless-europe.eu/Bernds_Guitar_Pages/home.html
I had my KB sorted years ago when I bought it on a whim then discovered the undisclosed Leaning Posts of Steinberger issue. Looking for solutions led me to Bernd & he was an absolute gentleman to deal with. Hope he's doing well & can help you, but I think a retrofit replacement might be... a bridge too far.

guitarjack66 · August 2023

Kittyfrisk said:

Funkfingers said:

Kittyfrisk said:
Bernd's replacement stainless KB vibrato posts are an elegant solution that really works to preserve the usability of the whole.

Does Bernd make replacement parts for the Steinberger style vibrato found on the Höhner G2T and G3T? Better still, a retrofit fixed bridge?

He does do some R-Trem bits, website here https://www.headless-europe.eu/Bernds_Guitar_Pages/home.html
I had my KB sorted years ago when I bought it on a whim then discovered the undisclosed Leaning Posts of Steinberger issue. Looking for solutions led me to Bernd & he was an absolute gentleman to deal with. Hope he's doing well & can help you, but I think a retrofit replacement might be... a bridge too far.

Why do I suddenly feel like whistling Colonel Bogey?

Wrong film I know but...

CasperCaster · August 2023

There aren't too many replacements for Steinberger headless terms are there? Are J-Custom in the US still going?

WezV · August 2023

I never did find my old accutune, thought it would have turned up by now. I assume I left it behind in my old house, where it was used as a paperweight

Funkfingers · August 2023

ICBM said:

Gizmo said:

seen this ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394791123954?hash=item5beb627bf2:g:1tkAAOSwjOtkzV-L

That looks like the InAccutune has already collapsed.

"The intonation is very off"

No shit.

Looks to me as if the spring tensioning thingy has failed. Hence, insufficient resistance to string tension allowing the cam section to be pulled out.

At least, the skinny strip across the front hasn't cracked … yet!

HarrySeven · August 2023

WezV said:

I never did find my old accutune, thought it would have turned up by now. I assume I left it behind in my old house, where it was used as a paperweight

Dibs if it ever shows up!

CasperCaster · September 2023

To follow up on @HarrySeven thread, I don't have anything to add about the Accutune bridges except that I picked this up at the recent Manchester Guitar Show:

https://imgur.com/a/SPfdkfU

It was only a fiver, so no great financial loss, so I bought it in the hope that there may be salvageable parts on it. It has been bodged to fixed bridge with a piece of brass drilled.and screwed into the underside.

I'd like my fiver back, so if someone wants it then it's £5 collected from Ramsbottom, North Manchester. Or I'll post it for the aforementioned £5, plus whatever the cost of postage is.

Please.don't make me keep it.

HarrySeven · September 2023

CasperCaster said:

To follow up on @HarrySeven thread, I don't have anything to add about the Accutune bridges except that I picked this up at the recent Manchester Guitar Show:

https://imgur.com/a/SPfdkfU

It was only a fiver, so no great financial loss, so I bought it in the hope that there may be salvageable parts on it. It has been bodged to fixed bridge with a piece of brass drilled.and screwed into the underside.

I'd like my fiver back, so if someone wants it then it's £5 collected from Ramsbottom, North Manchester. Or I'll post it for the aforementioned £5, plus whatever the cost of postage is.

Please.don't make me keep it.

Yes please!

CasperCaster · September 2023

@HarrySeven I'm sorry, but I've become really attached to it, and can't stand to be separated from it.

Sorry for getting your hopes up....

Nah, just kidding, of course you can have it.
Please, please have it!

I'm a bit busy today, but we can sort via PM tomorrow or early next week.

viz · September 2023

Kittyfrisk said:

Funkfingers said:

It amuses me that the fingerboard material could well be more hard wearing than some of the critical parts in the Steinberger KB vibrato.

Original Steinberger guitars and basses are entirely formed from graphite reinforced plastic. So is my Chapman Stick.

The vibrato really took its description as being made of 'metal' to a whole new level of fantasy, but that had nothing to do with the rest of the guitar's construction, such as the woods & fretboard.
Bernd's replacement stainless KB vibrato posts are an elegant solution that really works to preserve the useability of the whole.

Yup. I used his kit for one of mine that had turned into cottage cheese, it was awesome. Fitted perfectly and performed beautifully.

Funkfingers · September 2023

CasperCaster said:
It has been bodged to fixed bridge with a piece of brass drilled and screwed into the underside.

Idea blatantly stolen from Kahler. There is/was an official part for locking off the cam on the flatmount Pro vibrato. It replaces the springs.

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