The Kluson Manufacturing Company, founded in 1925, was a prominent manufacturer of musical instrument tuning machines.

Origin

The company was founded as a machine shop by John Kluson in

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in 1925. Kluson had previously run a machine shop for

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. Kluson Manufacturing soon found a niche making tuners for string instruments, most prominently for the Gibson Guitar Corporation, to whom they were a major supplier. They also supplied other major guitar makers such as Fender,

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, and

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, among others. Kluson lost one of their most important customers in 1976 when Gibson switched to Schaller tuning machines. The company continued until 1981, when it folded.

Revival of the Kluson brand

The Kluson brand was acquired by Larry Davis of WD Music Products in 1994. Under his leadership the product was reconstructed with improvements and the brand was reestablished with some of its former customers, including Gibson Guitar Corporation and Fender. Kluson-branded tuning machines are now produced in Korea by WD Music Products based in

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. The Kluson brand was briefly licensed to TonePro Sound Labs Int'l, who produced a diecast version of the traditional Kluson-brand tuning machines.

The Kluson brand today

Original Reissues

Kluson has re-engineered many of the original products lines. Kluson now produces technologically improved versions of their original stamped steel tuning machines, #9 tailpiece, Waffleback tuning machines, and

Gibson Firebird The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson beginning in 1963. History The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's solid-body instruments, such as the Telecas ...

banjo tuning machines.

Expanding the brand

In addition to re-engineering original catalog offerings, Kluson has also expanded to include

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

, and Tune-o-matic bridges, tuning machine bushings,

pickguard A pickguard (also known more correctly as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other (often laminated) material that is placed on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument. The main purpose of the pickguard is to pro ...

brackets, and other hardware made in the United States. The Kluson "Supreme" series was introduced as an 18:1

gear ratio A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the Pitch circle diameter (gears), pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, pr ...

upgrade to the original stamped steel tuning machines. A locking version of the vintage stamped steel tuning machines is also available.

Revolution Tuning Machines

In 2015, the Kluson-brand expanded to produce a series of diecast tuning machines, the Revolution Tuning Machines, recognized as "Best In Show" by Guitar World after their debut at the

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References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.kluson.com 1925 establishments in Illinois 1981 disestablishments in Illinois American companies established in 1925 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1981 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Chicago Guitar parts and accessories String instrument construction Manufacturing companies established in 1925