Tuners on 12 fret C. F. Martin Guitars
Martin guitars with 12 frets clear of the body, which includes virtually all guitars produced before 1929, have one of three styles of tuners:
enclosed "one-side screw" tuners on a Viennese Stauffer style head
ebony or ivory pegs on a solid Spanish style head
or geared machines designed to fit a slotted style head
Viennese Style "One-Side Screws"
The earliest guitars built by C. F. Martin had a headstock in a style of guitars created by his mentor, Johann Stauffer, with incorporating gears enclosed by a metal plate, with six tuning pegs in a row on one side of the head, a feature which was later borrowed by the Fender Company. Martin imported these gears from Austria, which were a major expense, comprising a significant portion of the cost of these early guitars.
1834 Martin Guitar
c. 1840 Martin & Coupa
Martin & Coupa Spanish
1840's Ivory Fingerboard Spanish Martin
Ebony and Ivory Pegs
In the 1840's, Martin introduce the solid head adapted from the guitars of Cadiz, Spain. These are the precursor to the solid headstocks prevalent on Martins to today. These early heads sported ebony or ivory pegs. The ivory pegs would remain an option into the early 20th century.
1840's Martin "Spanish Style" Guitar
Ivory pegs vary in shape, with rounder shaped earlier buttons and later buttons that are oval, and later 19th Century pegs that taper slightly toward the peg.
This photo is actual size on a 1920x1200 display.
1840 "Renaissance" Martin, 1840's 1-21 zig-zag Martin, 1867 Martin 0-34, 1870's Martin 2 1/2 - 26, 1880's Martin 1-21, 1888 Martin 2-24, 1894 Martin 0-42, 1896 Martin 2-42, 1899 Martin 1-28.
Earlier pegs were more consistent in thickness, with later pegs tapering to a thin edge at the top of the button.
Most, but not all ivory pegs, have a small decorative element on the top of the button, which varies from one to the other in size and shape, usually carved from the ivory, but some in black, or abalone, as on this 1840's "Renaissance" Martin.
1840's Martin "Renaissance" Guitar
1894 Martin 0-42
1870's Martin 2 1/2 - 26
c. 1867 Martin 0-34
1896 Martin 2 1/2 - 42
You can see here that one peg has been replaced by another which is rounder, with a larger decorative element on the top.
1899 Martin 1-28
This set of ivory pegs has three with small white decorative elements on the buttons, and three with flush black dots. It is quite possible that this set is all original to the guitar, with Martin having used pegs from two different batches, as the size and shape of the buttons are quite similar.
"Patent Heads" or "Machines"
By the 1850's, most Martins used geared tuning machines, the first of which were produce by JeromeThibouville-Lamy of Mirecourt, France, with sales outlets in Paris and London.
Martin 1860 2-24 with Jerome tuners
While Jerome tuners with bone buttons appear on the earliest Martins, these rare large bone rollers appear on only the earliest Jerome tuners.
1840's Spanish Style Alternate X Brace Martin Guitar
The very earliest Jerome tuners also have what I call "barrel" gears, with a flat round top, in addition to the bone rollers.
On finer mid-19th Century Martins, Jerome tuners are sometimes also seen with fancier, ornate carved pearl buttons.
The 19th Century Tuners, also with thick, heavy gears. following the Jeromes were made by Seidel of Germany.
Martin 1870's 1-26
Martin 1870's 1-28
Martin 1870's 0-40
This tuner, generally seen only on the uncommon top of the line at one time Style 40, is perhaps the most exquisite tuner seen on a Martin, featuring silver "Teddy Bear" style plates, and pearl buttons.
They may have been made by Seidel, but we really don't know who made these beautiful tuners as they were purchased not by Martin directly, but by his agent C. A. Zoebisch who did not provide the name of the maker on his invoices.
Martin 1870's 2-27
These unusual tuners that appear on Style 2-27 guitars are reminiscent of the beautiful silver tuner that appear on the early Style 40, but the shape is somewhat different, so it's difficult to say with any certainty who made them.
This is another uncommon tuner style that shows ups here on an unusual 1874 Martin with pearl buttons, but these may very well not be original.
1874 Martin 1-28
These three on a plate 12 fret tuners show that Martin used the Seidel style tuners with concentric circles on the corners at least through 1897.
Martin 1897 1-21
This 1902 Style 00-42 prototype for the Style 45, with pearl buttons, shows that the Seidel Style tuners with imprinted corners and those with concentric circles were used contemporaneously through the years.
Early 20th Century Tuners
Handel machines appear at the turn of the Century, with Dinsmore and Jager machines appearing a few years later, replacing the Seidels between 1902 and 1905, and tuners of this style were seen on most Martins until 1924.
Most of the three-on-a-plate 12 fret tuners with saw tooth ends and rounded "Mickey Mouse" corners, beveled gears, and an early engraved design were made by Dinsmore and Jager of Northhampton, Massachusetts.
A number of high end guitars and mandolins, seen often through the teens, were shipped with similar tuners with beautiful fancy buttons purchased from Louis Handel in New York. The Handel tuners have the same basic plate design as the Dinsmore and Jagers, so it is possible that Handel purchased the tuners and then resold them with fancy pearl or ivory buttons attached. Handel was Martin's primary provider for many years of pearl inlay work for their fingerboards, headstocks, and fancy inlaid pick guards.
1905 00-42S
These three on a plate 12 fret tuners with saw tooth ends and rounded "Mickey Mouse" corners have the common "Irish Rose" floral design.
Martin 1907 1-28
These tuners combine the fleur-de lis pattern with one version of the double hatched lines that would be seen often for many years. Thee tuners may have been made by D&J, as they were capable of making fine hand fitted tuners.
Martin "Nunes" 1917 Style 1400
Martin 1917 0-30
A plainer brass version of the D&J tuner, with simple hatched lines, was used on less expensive Martins.
1916 Ditson Style 22
1913 Martin Foden Special Style E
In July, 1919, the Waverly Novelty Company was formed in New York, and Martin began buying their tuners in 1920. Martin had become disenchanted with the fit of the basic D&J tuners, so the timing was good. It is curious that these have plates of the same design as the D&J and the Handel tuners.
Compare these tuners to the ones supplied by Handel...
In 1922 the company was incorporated as the Waverly Musical Products Company, and we begin to see "W.N.C." and then "Waverly Musical Products Co. Inc." stamped on the back of the tuners.
These tuners, likely made by Waverly, are seen on some Style 18 guitars in the mid 1920's.
This basic design was also seen contemporaneously on the Lloyd Loar era Gibsons.
1923 Martin spruce top S.S. Stewart 0-17 Special
The round-ended Waverly WG-31 tuners began to appear on most Martins in 1925.
The primary structural change that appeared with these tuners is the move away from "reverse gears".
These "modern" tuners can be identified in the photos below by buttons above, or in this case, to the right of the gears.
These Waverly WG-31 tuners with an engraved "Irish Rose" floral design were common on rosewood Martins in the 1920's.
1926 Martin 0-28
Martin 1926 00-28
The mid 1920's Style 45 had a more refined version of the Waverly WG-31 with the engraved Irish Rose in Silver
Martin 1925 2-45
The plain brass Waverly WG-31 tuners with an engraved outline were common on mahogany Martins in the 1920's.
Martin 1927 0-18K
This is one of the less common tuner styles seen on mid 1920's Martins. These may have been from one of the large but short lived orders from a company named Schmidt, who appear to have provided simple brass machines.
Martin 1927 000-18
These Waverly WG-31 tuners with an engraved leaf design were also used on better Martins in the 1920's, and were also seen on Gibsons such as the Nick Lucas Model.
1929 000-28
Inexpensive square end machines were used on many guitars built by many makers, and were used by Martin on their less expensive guitars in the 1930's.
Many, if not all of these, are clearly made by Waverly, with the same cogs and screws as on other Waverly tuners of the 20's.
Note that these tuners have "reverse gears".
Martin 1930 2-17
The "Clipped End" Grover tuners of the mid 1930's were most often seen in the form used with Martin's first solid headstocks with machines, but were occassionally seen on 12 fret Martins of the day.
Martin 1934 00-40H
Interestingly, while the old style Waverly tuners seen in the early years of the 20th Century were generally phased out in 1925, they still appeared on some 12 fret Martins, including the 00-18H and some Style 42, until the 1940's. Since very few 12 frets were made in these years, it seems the Martin may have used "leftovers", but you will note that these tuners are not of the reverse gear type, as can be determined by the pegs above the gears.
1941 Martin 00-18H
These Grover "open book" tuners are otherwise seen on Gibson guitars, not Martins, but appear on 00-18H from 1937...
