Gary Willis Ibanez GWB1005 tuners?

[shogunyuma]

Does anyone know what type of tuners Gary's got on his bass? Tried Googling, and it came up with SureGrip, can't seem to find more info on them or where one might purchase them.

 

[Aspidites]

You did not look hard enough.
They are proprietary so you will not be able to buy them separately.

The rest of the features remain the same but still deserve mention.
Custom Bartolini pickup and electronics -
Proprietary lightweight Sure-grip triple wing tuners -
Select light ash for the bolt-on body design -
3 piece maple neck with ebonol fingerboard -
Deep cutaway for complete access to the 24th fret -
2 Strap pins on the body to stabilize the bass when it's leaned against an amp -

 

[Bassslayer69]

yup....

 

[Andrew Jones]

His originals were TV knobs from radio shack that he'd put on the shafts of the tuners after he took of the wings.

This is what he did with his basses before he got the ibanez deal.


Aj

 

[Andrew Jones]

Here's a example

 

[shogunyuma]

Ok, thanks very much for that.

It's a pity that we can't get em...seems like such a great idea...outside the box thinking.

 

[Jazz Ad]

They used to be available from Gary on his site.
It looks like it's not the case anymore.

 

[MoireBass]

They used to be available from Gary on his site.
It looks like it's not the case anymore.

This is from Gary Willis' OLD (up until Dec. 2009) site:

Ibanez Sure Grip Machine Heads
Ibanez catalogue numbers:
2MH1GWB23K complete set (2-left, 3-right)
2MH1GWB23K-L for the left side
2MH1GWB23K-R for the right side.

You might try ordering them directly from Ibanez. These tuners are superb, so much better ergonomically than other tuners on the market. Normally, there's two points in the rotation of the tuner key where it just takes more effort to turn the key, due to the angle of your hand & arm (i.e. while wearing the bass). Willis' tuners eliminate that by using a three-lobe key on the tuner. Seems simple, but solves a minor annoyance that we've all just learned to put up with on every other bass for all these years. All basses should use these!

P.S. A lot of great ideas seem simple once someone finally thinks of them, ex: the wheel, constant-voltage crossovers.