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G&L Tuners on a Stingray?

Britbonic

Britbonic

Supporting Member
Jun 20, 2002
1,047
279
San Francisco, CA
#1
Anyone ever try this?

Trying to lighten the load on my Stingray 5. Unfortunately, Musicman only offers lightweight tuners on some of their newer models like the Bongo, Big Al and they are a different size and design. Pretty certain that both G&L and Musicman use the same Schaller BML tuners. G&L makes a lightweight version that has some aluminum parts.

Looks like they should easily sway out but wondered if anyone has experience with this.
 
#2
OK, have done some hands on research so now I can answer my own question.

The G&L and Musicman Stingray tuners are both made by Schaller. I had one of each so was able to compare. Difference are slight - MM has slightly shorter shaft where the between key and gears. G&L uses an aluminum post instead of brass or whatever metal MM uses. That's what makes them lighter weight than the MM. They also have a dull finish where the MM version is chrome and shiny.

The Musicman tuner weighs 3.1 oz and the G&L weighs 3.1 oz for a difference of .8 oz. On an SR 5 that's 5 x .8 oz or 4 oz less. So essentially, you shave off 1/4 pound. Not a huge difference but every little bit helps. Initially, I was planning to purchase some G&L tuners but now I'm going to see if I can just buy the aluminum posts and swap those out. If it works, I'll end up with an SR5 under 9lbs!
 
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#4
Yes very successful. I contacted Schaller directly and they were willing to sell me 5 of the aluminum posts used for G&L tuners for a very reasonable price. If you are handy, it's a pretty straightforward process to change the posts. My SR5 now weigh 8lbs 14.2oz or 4kg 28g. Lighter than most 4 string basses!
 
#5
Hello!

Wow! Schaller really answered to my request and will deliver the parts in about four weeks! I´ll write about it.
Another alternative: Hipshot HB1 should be lightweight. But difficult to get in Germany and very expensive. Do you know those tuners?

Greetings from Germany
 
#6
That's great news. Glad to here they are responsive. Could probably sell many of them if people knew. Very simple change to make, just be careful to note how the pieces fit together when you take them apart. Yes, I'm familiar with the HB 1. These are not lightweight tuners, just replacement tuners for the stock Schallers. In my research, I have found that there is no lightweight direct replacement for the stock Musicman tuners. You could use Hipshot Lightweight tuners but that would require new holes in back of headstock.
 
#7
Britbonic said:
The Musicman tuner weighs 3.1 oz and the G&L weighs 3.1 oz for a difference of .8 oz. On an SR 5 that's 5 x .8 oz or 4 oz less. So essentially, you shave off 1/4 pound. Not a huge difference but every little bit helps.
Click to expand...
Kindly forgive the resurrection of a zombie thread. If the MM tuner weighs 3.1 oz. and the G&L tuner weighs 3.1 oz., that's a savings of 0.0 oz., not .8 oz.
 
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#9
Britbonic said:
So you felt the need to resurrect this thread just to point out that there was a typo in my original post?
Click to expand...
No, I am actually interested in the topic since I own a Music Man StingRay 5H and I love it except for that weight. My aim was not to embarrass you but to find out one key piece of information that was missing which I knew you had: the difference in weight.
 
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#10
selowitch said:
No, I am actually interested in the topic since I own a Music Man StingRay 5H and I love it except for that weight.
Click to expand...

I also read this thread with interest. So I contacted Schaller using the query form on the website...

Dear Mr. XXXXXX,
many thanks, and sorry, we don`t have.
Kind regards
Dr. Lars Bünning

Schaller GmbH
Dr. Lars Bünning
Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter
Managing Director – Owner

So it seems the short-peg tuners are OEM only these days...
 
#12
Relsom said:
The G&L lightweight tuners are available directly from G&L for $17.50 each. You can buy directly from their online store. Don't know if they'll ship to the UK though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I went with a set of short-key Hipshot HB-1 in the end... Not quite up to the quality of the Schaller IMHO - thinner base plate and meshing of the worm drive is not quite as snug - but pretty close.
 
#13
I recently bought a 2017 SR5 and 2012 SR4, I purchased a set of G&L lightweight tuners to reduce the weight. The G&Ls dropped right in, but the tuner stems are a bit longer.....looked like cheap import Sterling tuners. So I thought I would swap the aluminum tuner posts from the G&Ls to the MMs. Not going to work.
IMG_5206.jpg

The G&L cog will not mesh with the MM tuner stem. I thought about machining the aluminum post down to fit the MM cog, but there's got to be an easier solution.
Just by chance I removed a tuner from my 2014 Classic Series SR4........The G&L post fits the Classic cog; BINGO! The neck was 2.89lbs, and is now 2.54lbs......so about a 3oz reduction.
IMG_5217.jpg
 
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#15
Jonathan49 said:
Hello I am reviving the subject I wanted to ask if I could adapt it to my 1992 stingray so keep the mechanics but change the gear and the rod with a g&L thank you best regards Jonathan
Click to expand...
It’s a crap shoot, there was one Stingray I had that the cog and stud would not match. The classic reissues worked, I just swapped the tuner posts.
 
#16
Wow now 11 years old!

I sold that SR5 a few years ago. There were many things I liked about it but I just couldn’t get used to 3 band EQ. Found I was always tweaking but it never sounded quite right. For this tuner experiment, I reached out directly to Schaller and they were very kind to send me a few posts but eventually made it clear that this was a one off favor. Too bad as it really made a difference, especially on a 5er, and was a very easy tweak.

I’ve been lusting after one of the recent 70s reissues and when I find one in black with a good price and weight I’ll grab it and swapped out the last 4 stems that I own.
 

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