real vs. generic Gotoh tuners

mike salazar · #1 12-13-2009, 05:38 PM

Are Gotoh brand tuners made in Japan? there seems to be a lot of Korean made "look -a-likes" being passed off as genuine Gotohs.
one tip off could be the price (substantially less for the korean copies),
also i think genuine gotoh tuners are stamped on the back "gotoh".

any experience with this situation?

hasbeen · #2 12-13-2009, 05:47 PM

"back in the day", if you were looking for quality, sealed tuners, it was Grover (from the U.S.) and Schaller, from Germany.

I recall seeing my first Gotoh tuners in the very early 80's. They were a high-quality, Japanese copy of Schaller tuners.

I visited a factory that was making Gotoh branded tuners in Taiwan about eight years ago. ...it was in Taipei. This factory was also making Grovers at that point too....and several other brands as well.....one brand, that I was importing.

I do not know if Gotoh has since moved to China. I don't think so but, I may be wrong.

hasbeen · #3 12-13-2009, 05:49 PM

btw, I don't know of any machines or guitar hardware being made in Korea.

mike salazar · #4 12-13-2009, 06:05 PM

thanks "has been",
i'd like to upgrade the tuners 2+2 on my di pinto bass, and am looking for machines that fit on w/o redrilling the mounting screw points.
they appear to be gotoh-style tuners, but have plastic ears.
any suggestions?
thanks, mike

hasbeen · #5 12-14-2009, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike salazar

thanks "has been",
i'd like to upgrade the tuners 2+2 on my di pinto bass, and am looking for machines that fit on w/o redrilling the mounting screw points.
they appear to be gotoh-style tuners, but have plastic ears.
any suggestions?
thanks, mike

I'm afraid I don't know without seeing the bass. You can try calling Di Pinto though and ask if Gotoh's would be a direct replacement.

fenderfunker · #6 12-14-2009, 05:14 AM

I hope they're genuine. I just ordered Gotoh GB 2N tuners for my Jazz bass, from a luthier suppliers. I'll let you know what they're like, when they arrive.

TaylorO' · #7 12-14-2009, 02:52 PM

Grover tuners used to be made right here in Cleveland Ohio. But since about 83 have been made in China. I got some Hipshots from upstate NY and i love them. sure they are 100 bucks, but they are great.

Senator · #8 12-14-2009, 09:50 PM

I bought a set of black tuners on eBay that were supposedly Gotoh GB7 tuners to replace my chrome GB7s. They say "MADE IN JAPAN" on the back of the tuners instead of "GOTOH" and the "G" logo. Other than the color and logo, they look identical.

To save me the trouble of opening them up, does anyone know if they're legit?

koobie · #9 12-15-2009, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaylorO'

Grover tuners used to be made right here in Cleveland Ohio.

Mr. Sperzel personally installed a set of his tuners on my Telecaster at his machine shop in Cleveland in the late 70's. Super nice guy. A lot of instrument/parts manufacturing used to come from the midwest...

MNAirHead · #10 12-15-2009, 09:23 PM

I've installed them on a Cirrus as replacements -- zero issues..

Who knows.. the cirrus gotoh copies may be stock.. looked identical in everyway.

fenderfunker · #11 12-20-2009, 10:09 PM

My gotoh tuners just arrived, and yes, they do have 'Gotoh Japan' stamped on them. Plus a little 'G' logo thingy. A$70.oo delivered from Luthier suppliers; 4 in a row, for my Fender jazz fretless project.

elgecko · #12 12-20-2009, 10:32 PM

I bought a set of $23 OEM Gotoh GB-7s off Ebay. They were marked "Gotoh" with a "G" logo. They're identical to the "Modulus" marked GB-7s I have on another bass.

They came installed on plain, brown cardboard (i.e. not packaged for aftermarket sale).