Luthiery Laboratories

StewMac sells a knob & bushing puller for the breathtaking price of $53.31, plus shipping, of course. Here is one I made in 5 minutes for about $2 in Home Depot parts. It consists of:

• 3/4" pipe plug
• 40mm long M8-1.25 ( coarse thread metric ) hex bolt
  
• generic washer that fits the bolt, more or less

Simply drill a hole in the end of the plug to fit the bolt. The bolt is of a suitable length to grab plenty of threads in the bushing without bottoming out in the hole. The washer is there to keep the metal bolt from chewing up the plastic plug. Not shown is some kind of padding to keep from bearing directly on the guitar finish, a folded piece of paper towel will do, or some stick-on felt padding.

This is by no means an original idea, although my use of the pipe plug brings the construction to its absolute greatest simplicity - all I had to do was drill one hole and the tool self-centers. The M8 bolt fits the majority of the imported bridge posts I have to deal with, one other requires an M6-1.0 hex bolt, 40-45mm, and a matching washer. For USA-made bushings, use a 5/16"x 24 (fine thread) hex bolt, about 1-1/2" long. Get all three sizes, and you'll have a kit that will handle anything, for about three bucks.

StewMac also sells a simple little plastic knob puller for about $8. These things are great, I have several so I don't have to hunt for one when I need it, and I highly recommend them. But $53 vs $2? I am speechless.