Hipshot D Tuner Pro's Con's

I have been using the Hipshot D-Tuner for over 20 years. DIG 'EM... but they aren't without their issues. What I have found is that when you flip the lever, it's a good idea to give your E-string a little tug to equalize tension from the tuner to the nut to the bridge. Also, if used a great deal, the tuner lever will stick a bit - some graphite dry lube works wonders for that (thank Rocco Prestia for that tip - he told me that at a gig!)

as far as models - here's the web site. It can get confusing if you want your tuning key to match with the existing keys:

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=6

I highly recommend these goodies and keep them on every 4 string I've owned for since 1989.

I think the main pro is that a tilt-back headstock makes the detuning sound nice, but interferes with the toggling between both set tunings accurately. Flat headstocks are more accurate, but not as solid. A lot will depend on your bass, choice of strings, ears, etc.

Pro: Allows you to quickly drop a string by a designated amount

Con: Costs money

I have the D-tuner on both of my main 4 strings (fretted and fretless) and like it a lot. Honestly, it's very easy to tune manually, but I've played in cover bands (and currently play in a tribute band) where a significant number of songs are in Drop D so that it makes sense to be able to do it on the fly.

It takes a bit of tweaking to get the dropped D to be in tune (and your E to still be in tune when you flip back) but once you get it, the screw stays in place fairly well. I generally only have to adjust mine once a month or so.

Pro - They are very useful and easy to work.

Cons - Drop D confuses me. I prefer a 5er for lower notes.

To each their own.

Pros: surprisingly accurate drop D tuning, unobtrusive looks, simple to install, simple to maintain, easy to use.

Cons: may add a slight amount of neck dive to some basses because of the extra weight (that might be a pro if your bass is bottom heavy though), and I always wish things were cheaper so I'll say cost too but really, it's a marvelous little piece of engineering and will last a very long time so I think it's worth it.

As for the dude above who says you might need to give your string a tug -- if the nut groove is properly sized for the string and you put a spot of graphite on both surfaces you will never ever need to do that.

I have them installed on all my 4 bangers.

uptowndirt said:

sounds good.......does the lever make contact with thumb in first fret playing ?

Click to expand...

Nope fitted and working correctly the lever falls to a vertical position, so unless you play like and upright you'll be fine!

I have these on 2 basses, a Geddy Lee Jazz & a '65 P Bass.
I tell anyone who cares to listen, they might be the single best piece of gear I've ever bought. They won't make you a better player or get you that perfect sound you dream about, but they do exactly what they're supposed to do and do it amazingly well. 10 minute install, no new holes to drill (new holes in a '65 P, Yikes!!) and split second - dead accurate tuning. No Brainer.

Pros: If you're playing in a band where drop-D shows up in a few songs per set, the ability to just go with it is awesome!

Cons: The headstock is now heavier.

Solution: To minimize neck dive get the ultralite model. From the front, you won't tell the difference, and every ounce of weight savings is a good thing.

To TRULY minimize the added neck dive, replace the other 3 tuners with Hipshot ultralites too!

All pros and NO cons...

Once you flip the lever into the dropped tuning, you can keep pushing the lever all the way around to get it out of the way if you need to (so it ends up doing a 180).

You can use it to get other tunings too. I use it to drop my B-string down to A. You could probably drop an E-string down to C or B even.

I put one on my fanfret project bass. In all honesty, I did it because I figured if I ever needed to play "Hash Pipe", it would be fun. I've found it to be very cool to drop to the D as a closing note in a handful of songs my band plays now. In most cases, I'll play the whole song in normal tuning (songs are in D), and there's usually a moment near the end that I can quickly flip the lever to accent the end of the song with a nice fat low D.

The E can easily go down to B or A if you want.

If you follow the proper setup procedure, it's very stable. Set standard tuning, flip lever to lower tuning, tune it, flip lever back to standard, retune, flip, fine tune, flip, fine tune, etc. Flip up and down a couple times, make sure it's in tune, and you're golden. It'll eventually go out a bit, but for a set or gig you're fine as long as you flip up and down enough times to ensure the tuning is stable.

White lithium grease, graphite, etc, or any other dry lubricant is necessary to ensure easy, smooth changes. Same goes for the nut so nothing binds.

Anyway, they're great and they aren't heavy.

I've had them since they first came out WAY back a long time ago. I put one on my first StingRay, and I don't recall if I'd gotten my Fender VS '62 yet, so I'm thinking I've had at least one since before 1983.

Pros- Instant IN-TUNE drop to D and back up to E IN-TUNE! In the middle of a song I can and have flipped either way. If you take the time to install, set up, and maintain them, and take the time to make sure your bass is set up right (especially the nut- almost NO mass-market bass company cuts a nut correctly at the factory anyway) and you use graphite powder in the nut slot and a good appropriate grease on the mechanism itself (I like bicycle grease, but that's partly because I have a lot of it around). It's a no-mar change on any of the basses I've had over the last 20+ years. I've got them right now on two Lakland 4-94s, a Fender VS '62 P, a Fender MIJ Jazz Bass Special, and a Guild Pilot. I've also had them on two Hammer Cruise Basses and two Music Man StingRays (pre EB). I've put them on Yamaha, Guilds, Peaveys, multiple other Fenders, and on a couple of Telecaster guitars and one Strat. They worked great on all except the Strat (duh- I told him it wouldn't work well on a Strat with a floating whammy bar!!).

Cons- You gotta invest some time and money in buying one and setting it up. It takes a little bit longer to adjust it each time you restring. You gotta learn to think that the notes on the fourth string are two frets different. On a very tight crowded headstock, you may need to adjust the string wrap so the tuner doesn't hit the ear of the A string tuner.

Pros far outweigh the cons in my experience. And I DO have a 5-string bass. It doesn't sound like my P bass, nor my fretless, nor just like my 494. The extra three notes it offers between B and D aren't that critical (the real advantage of the 5 is different fingering possibilities) unless I'm playing at church with the B-3 where there's a lot of Eb stuff going on.

jte

The only con is, sometimes it can take a bit to get it set up, but once it's there it's pretty stable.

Great piece of kit, got one on my Warwick.

Always wanted to put one on my Jag, I think this thread has convinced me. Nobody noticed any kind of a change in tone, right?

All pros no cons.
Takes a bit to set up when restringing, but worth the effort.
I know it works E to C with no trouble, but never tried it lower.

MM

I love 'em. I have one on a G&L L-1000 and on my Epi T-Bird. Lately, though when my A and E strings are in tune, the tuner pegs sit parallel with the headstock. When I flick the detuner, they touch. This knocks the bass slightly out of tune. So right now I'm bypassing it. This never happens on the G&L, just the T-bird.

I love how you can arrange your set lists around what you want to play, and not necessarily what you need for convenient tuning... Since we have a few songs in C and most of our stuff is in D, I built a bass with a D-tuner specifically to avoid having to tune up and down, without adding a string.