Tuners/Threads for German/Czech shop basses

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Steve Robinson

With the help of Ken and this forum, I dated my Czech shop bass to approx 1918-1920, and part of this was the tuning machines which look right for between WWI and WWII.

Recently a screw came out and got lost; I went to the hardware and a 1/4-20 thread fit. Hmmmm..... Not metric?

So I am wondering.... when did the tuning machines get installed on these basses? Prior to export or were the basses ever finished in the states? Would the threading of those machine screws mean anything in dating the instrument? Just curious.

--Steve

They used inches before they went to metric. Tuners were usually put on before exporting from what I have seen.