Realistic STA-2100

[Gnesen]

How did it go? I have one and cannot for the life of me get the tuner knob off

Does this one have a set screw? If not, just use two table spoons as levers (convex side facing the face plate) to pry the knob off.

Edit: the tuning knob appears to have a set screw that you need to loosen to get the knob off. You can see the small hole in the knob in the image below. It most likely takes either a small flat-head or a 1.5 mm Allen wrench.