Will it affect the tone?

[Ashley Long]

I was just wondering if changing the set of tuning pegs will affect the tone of a bass. I need to change the set on my old old bass and the tuners on it are the wooden shaft type so they are quite light. I have an old set of tuners of the metal plate kind which I salvaged from a write-off bass from a scool. They are good tuners but are really heavy in comparison. Ive not had to change tuners before so Im not sure. Will it affect the sound?

[ispider6]

Originally Posted by Ashley Long

I was just wondering if changing the set of tuning pegs will affect the tone of a bass. I need to change the set on my old old bass and the tuners on it are the wooden shaft type so they are quite light. I have an old set of tuners of the metal plate kind which I salvaged from a write-off bass from a scool. They are good tuners but are really heavy in comparison. Ive not had to change tuners before so Im not sure. Will it affect the sound?

I do not imagine that it will affect the sound at all. The tuning pegs should not be playing a role in the way the string or the instrument vibrates. $0.02? Yep, they're mine.

[Silversorcerer]

If it has any effect is should be small. Any change in mass of any of the parts of the instrument changes the way it vibrates to an extent. Specifically alterations to the mass of the pegbox/scroll area may change the B0 resonance frequency (the tap tone of the neck, fingerboard, and pegbox assembly). Whether or not the change you anticipate will make an audible difference in the tone of the bass or not is hard to say. Whether the change would be an improvement or not is impossible to say.

Would it be difficult to obtain matching tuning pegs?

[Ashley Long]

Not at all. The only thing is I cant justify spending £300 on matching tuners while I have a great set that I got for nothing which I could use. I cant imagine that harmonic resonace would be a crucial factor at that area on the neck, after all, many old english basses had amazingly heavy brass plates and tuners which did not affect them at all. My only worry is that the others are so light and that the bass is so resonant with the existing tuners, but they are 156 years old and the cogs are beginning to slip. I could have new cogs made I guess but that would again be pricey.

[Silversorcerer]

I wouldn't be extremely concerned about it, particularly if the substitution could be undone in the future in the unlikely event it didn't work out. If you are interested in a discussion of this issue that appeared earlier on this forum you may want to check this thread: Weight and Sound
If you dodge the lead bullets there's a gold nugget in there somewhere.

[Paul Warburton]

Your bass may sound better with the extra weight.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

I recently changed Tuners on a few Bass I have and I could hear a difference on all of them. One was Wood peg type to Ebony Wood Peg and I heard the difference between the painted maple and the real Ebony. Two were metal gears to Better Metal gears that were heavier and I could hear a more solid type attack and One Bass went from Rosewood Peg type to Heavy Metal/Brass type and that one had the most difference as the Bass seem to resonate a little more than before throught the entire instrument.

Not mentioned is that I can tune better with better quality gears and will not need to change them in my lifetime again.

[Alex Scott]

my bass sounded better after changing tuners, and I think it was because the new tuners were more solid. I went from wood peg tuners to some Sloane tuners.