Grover Machine Heads Fail

A word of warning to anyone who has a set of the ever-so-lovely Grover 142 tuners and wants to fit them to a Stingray - they are not reversible. I did some research and came up with differing opinions (as is the usual case) so decided to try and reverse one of the tuners that I'd taken from my P-bass. Not a good idea - despite being very careful taking it apart I found it very difficult to reassemble after determining that it can't be reversed and managed to destroy it in the process. They are not designed to be 'user-servicable'. Fortunately I had a set of Wilkinson's on standby and was able to get the P going again after a bit of headstock drilling. They're not as silky-smooth as the Grovers but more than adequate for the job. I'll have to look elsewhere for a quality set for the 'Ray (it's a Sterling Ray24 and the stock tuners are the worst I've ever seen on any guitar at any price - another warning!). Any recommendations?

 

I couldn't find a definition for 'misbusticated', but it's a real froobly-sounding word and I get the drift

 

I think I may have got a 'duff' Sterling - under tension the tuners feel as if there is a bunch of sand in the gears, they are truely awful. Otherwise it's a great guitar...

 

Having removed the screw from the end of the key with a hex wrench and removed the main gear, the key slides out of the assembly but will not fit in from the opposite direction - the housing dimensions are different at either end. I haven't been able to find a 3 + 1 configuration for sale so I shall invest in a set of Shaller BM's instead which are reversible and also have the compact baseplate. The Wilkinson set that I fitted to the P have the vintage-style large baseplates that are way too big for the headstock of the 'Ray. The Shaller's are not cheap, but will complement the other quality upgrades that I've made to the guitar, such as the Tusq nut, Nordstrand pickup and preamp circuit and the full nitrocellulose re-finish (yeah, I know nitro wasn't used on MM instruments but ***, it's lovely!). The Sterling Ray24 is such a good guitar that I don't mind spending a few hundred quid to make it into a really good guitar. I'll post some pictures in another thread at a later date...