MIMF

My 30 year old Epiphone Dove is feeling her age, I guess.

Today, the 11th fret simply fell out. Moments later the plastic button on the G tuning machine crumbled. Not sure what's going on - humidity hasn't changed markedly. The tuner button was probably ready to go.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to accompany my Middle School choir, and then play a two-hour set immediately after work.

The fret seats back in, with no noticeable buzz. I can find a little time to get a drop of glue in there to hold through tomorrow night. So, not great, but doable.

I don'tt have replacement tuners on hand. I've got some cheapo-open back ones I use one cigar box builds, but I don't want to re-drill for something that'll be in place only briefly. Any suggestions on how to tune this guitar up, other than pliers on the post?

My two back up gigging guitars are out of commission/town at the moment. I've got the call out to borrow one, but it's looking dicey. Any suggestions are appreciated.

The fret can be glued, at least temporarily. Stew-Mac sells a special tool to recrimp the tangs on a fret to make it hold better. That obviously won't do you any good in the short term, but you might be able to hold the tang in a vise sideways and dimple the tang with a punch and hammer to achieve about the same effect. Alternate the dimples from both sides. This just makes the tang wider to hold better.

For the tuner button, get a small cutoff of hardwood about the size of the button, drill a hole no bigger than the thinner dimension of the tuner post (they are usually flattened circles), and hammer it on. It may get you through the day tomorrow. (Pliers will get you by, too).

Well it worked. I got into the school shop on my lunch break. With only a drill press and a dull hand saw available I made a workable though huge and clunky piece. Some people in the audience got a kick out of it.
Thanks.