Hardware options

[BigBear77]

I have a couple builds ongoing and I’m getting to the time to order hardware, more specifically bridges and tuners.
My question is, in your opinion do the more expensive hardware options work better at their intended function? Will they allow me to tune more easily and stay in tune better than a less expensive option? Will they affect the sound better. Or will I just be paying for a name?

 

[Gorn]

Good tuners might hold the tuning better than cheap ones. A bridge with more options for adjustability has, well, more options for adjustability. Besides sounding better because it's in tune, I don't think more expensive functional hardware will make for a better tone than cheaper functional hardware.

 

[Turnaround]

Even the cheapest of tuners will work. They may not last, they may break. Any bridge that anchors the strings and allows for intonation and string height adjustments will also work. It may bend, be hard to adjust, and not hold its settings. If you pay the premium price and buy Hipshot tuners and bridges you won't have any of these problems. Same goes for the other well-recognized brands.

If a tuner costs half as much and lasts half as long, it is a bargain?

 

[fhm555]

I’ve been using Fender MIM necks with stock machine heads on parts basses for a few years now and have never had any problems with them. Same with Fender Pure Vintage bridges, i’ve been using them, and Babicz bridges for a long time and same thing, no problems.

 

[Hopkins]

Expensive hardware doesn't necessarily function better than cheap stuff. It will however operate more smoothly, the plating will last much longer, and it will be better machined. Better tuners will have even tension, as where cheap ones will often have stiff, and loose tuners within the same set, and will have more slop than a more expensive tuner.

With Hipshot tuners on a well setup instrument, I can even tune down to pitch which is not an option with cheapos

 

[sissy kathy]

IMO Fender bent plates and their MIM tuners will do the job well. The bent plates aren't as adjustable laterally as some others, but if you are content with 19 mm string spacing they can't be beat. You get that at a cost of about $70 total, as opposed to $200+ for Hipshot and others.

 

[James Collins]

Once you go to the cheapest Amazon product, it will be more of a gamble. Not that you cannot find good deals, but often the actual quality is poor. This is one of the better videos that I have seen demonstrate a good review of this. It worked out, but he had to have replacements shipped out because some of them were broken or nonfunctioning at the time of purchase.

 

[bigtone23]

I avoid the cheapest stuff as it tends to not last, poor machining and finish, etc...
Solid, middle of the road hardware is the best bang for the buck. The MIM Fender stuff is this. Open gear elephant ears and bent bridges were the norm for Fender for decades and have lasted well.
Spending more than that involves the law of diminishing returns. I like to find the nicer stuff used, getting a used high mass Schaller bridge for the price of a new Fender bent plate is cool.

 

[bench]

please take a bridge that doesn´t force you to fiddle the strings through a tiny hole and then scratch the whole length of the string on the metal edge... i hate that. anything else is just a matter of taste and budget.