Do you replace stock Ibanez tuning machines?

[focusbob]

...to improve quality and not just to relieve weight (I understand the case for weight relief)?

Just wondering how people judge the quality of the stock, gotoh clone, Ibanez tuners found on most of their basses* and whether you upgrade to name brand tuners to improve the quality of your tuning machines when upgrading your instruments?

I know people swear by some stock tuners - for example, the ping tuners on squier and standard fender basses. How do stock Ibanez tuners stack up?

*my particular Ibanez basses in question are a btb845v, src6, agb205, and an MIK sr406.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I replaced my BTB676 tuning keys with gold Hipshot Y-key Ultralites.
Hipshot tuners and bridges have been my "go to" for quite some time.
And the tuners are reversible.

I use them on my Tune basses too.

 

[RSBBass]

On all the instruments I have owned, I have only replaced the tuners once, on a cheap Yamaha strat.Even then it wasn't necessary. The tuners worked. They just felt cheap. Since it was intended as a mod platform i went for it and am glad I did. So the question i more "do you want to" than should you".

 

[Jefenator]

I've found that genuine Gotoh & Hipshot gears usually turn more smoothly & have finer action than the lookalike knock-offs on every mass-produced import I've ever handled. I also trust them more.
Upgrading all 4 basses at once might be costly and unnecessary. Maybe do your most-used bass first and see how much you notice the difference.
If a gear feels like it might be starting to strip or seize, definitely don't ignore that.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I upgraded for both reasons: weight & performance. For whatever reason, I see more complaints about Ibanez and Warwick Gotoh-esque machine heads flying the flag of surrender. I use Ultralites and Res-o-lites:

 

[LiptonJigglers]

All the Ibanez bass guitars I've owned, the tuners have been pretty reliable. If memory serves me well, then I've only changed them twice.
Once because the little plastic spacer disintegrated. I probably could have bought a new spacer but I thought if it happend to one, then it's plausible it'll happen to the rest of them. So, out with the old and in with the new.
Another time, it was purely for cosmetic enhancements only.

 

[Chris Laarman]

The G-string tuner of my 1981 Ibanez MC-924 broke while tuning some two years ago, after some thirty years of being stored. - I have replaced this single tuner with one from a no-name set ordered through AliExpress. The current 3+1 behave as expected.

 

[Reedt2000]

If they ain't broke I wouldn't change em. I've also had a very positive experience with Ibanez tuning machines on guitars and basses.

 

[Killing Floor]

Jaco didn’t replace the stock Ibanez tuning machines…

 

[r_bnks]

I never replaced tuners for weigh relief. I did the opposite (not by purpose): Replaced all of my gotoh tuners on my Spectors to old Schallers which is way heavier.

I prefer the look and quality of Schallers over any other brands and don't care about weight or neck dive so it's a win for me.

 

[hbarcat]

I've owned 3 Ibanez basses and have had 5 tuning machines get loose and sloppy and 2 shafts suddenly shear off completely.

 

[fhm555]

If they ain't broke I wouldn't change em. I've also had a very positive experience with Ibanez tuning machines on guitars and basses.

My experience was mostly with Peavey and Fender as they were the basses I kept the longest. I bought a used Peavey Dyna that had a bad machine head but it had been damaged when the bass was knocked out of a stand, and I replaced some worn plastic washers in a set of MIM Fender machine heads, but other than that I've never had a problem with a stock machine head.