How often have you had to replace tuners?

[chaosMK]

I have had the same bass for 15+ yrs, Cirrus USA. Love it, gets the job done.

I have had to replace tuners on it twice. One (D string) 5 yrs ago and another (B string) went out recently. They seem quality in general. Nice finish, great to the touch, nice ratio. Stays in tune better than any instrument I have owned.

Just curious if anyone has noticed similar lifespan on basses they have used a lot.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Had to - never.

Wanted to - many times.

 

[two fingers]

Never had to.

 

[BurningSkies]

None. None times.

I have basses that I've had for 25 years that have toured and gigged and never needed new tuners. Hundreds upon hundreds of shows and way more hours than that. My 1973P that was mine for a bunch of years and someone elses' for a few decades of hard use still had original tuners.

 

[Vodyanoi]

My Ibanez GSR200 is ~20 years old, with lots of abuse in its early days, yet the tuners still operate nicely.

On the other hand, the plastic friction ring of the D tuner on my ~10 years old SR600 snapped recently, and while it still holds tuning and operates as before, i may have to replace it in the future. The ring, not the tuner.

So to answer your question: never. Or at least, not yet.

 

[bobyoung53]

I've never had to but am thinking of doing it on my Am Vintage Fender Hot Rod P/J, it's got those new dinky little tuners and they actually slip and I can't find anyway to tighten them up so they don't unless I'm missing something. Also the tuning ratio is too slow. I have a 1979 Rickenbacker 4001 with the original reverse tuners on it and they work better than the ones on the Fender, and the Ric has a lot of miles on it too. I've had plenty of Fenders with the normal tuners on them which I like and never had any problems with but hate these dinky little things. I like everything about the bass except for the dinky little tuners. I didn't even like the looks of those dinky little tuners when I first got it either.

 

[_Obra_]

Never

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I have had the same bass for 15+ yrs, Cirrus USA. Love it, gets the job done.

I have had to replace tuners on it twice. One (D string) 5 yrs ago and another (B string) went out recently. They seem quality in general. Nice finish, great to the touch, nice ratio. Stays in tune better than any instrument I have owned.

Just curious if anyone has noticed similar lifespan on basses they have used a lot.

Never

 

[stigbeve]

I've had to replace two on a cheapie Ibanez GSR200 (A & D) that I've owned for about 15 years and two on a Warwick 6 string Corvette (also A & D) that I had for about 7 years.

 

[Killing Floor]

Twice. The "needle" tuner I got in 1974 for kiddy violin lessons finally died when a battery leaked about 2 years ago. And I had a rack mount tuner which was and still is the dumbest thing I have ever owned, it didn't break but I got rid of it. I assume my Polytune stomp box will last 20 years or so even if I spill beers on it.

You didn't say "machine head".

 

[2saddleslab]

Never had to, but always replace w/ light weight tuners.

 

[JGbassman]

I’ve had to a couple of times on cheap basses. One was a Slick Brand bass with cheap Wilkinson style tuners (worm gear stripped) other was a 300 series Ibanez SR which fell off a stand and busted the housing.

The Slick bass took MIM tuners, replacing was as easy as digging through my parts.

The Ibanez took a standard Gotoh if I remember correctly.

I have replaced the set on my MIM Fender and Spector with hipshot tuners, just because I love them.

 

[TolerancEJ]

Never considered changing them for a bass. If I came into possession of an Xtender / D-Tuner key, I would probably choose one of my basses to swap the tuning key.

I will add that 2 of my Gibson guitars have one tuning key that drives me nuts. It’s the same string B-string too!

 

[callofcthulhu]

I've had tuners explode on three different occasions, all after pretty dramatic falls. One, a stand failure, the others were "probably shouldn't have left it leaning there" failures.

 

[Dragan]

Several times. All Fenders, even famous USA made

 

[BaltBass5]

Never

 

[jthisdell]

The ones on my 71 P are original, still work fine (the bass is so stable that it stays in tune very well). I did replace them on my NXT upright, mainly so I could fit Obligatos on it. Was still a struggle getting that E on but the Hipshots are a nice upgrade.

 

[Stevorebob]

I’m another in the never camp.

 

[cdef]

I did put mini-Schallers on a Framus Nashville once, but only on a whim. And I bought a set of cloverleaf Hipshots for my Peerless (Epi JC equivalent), but as there's nothing wrong with the originals I'm not in a hurry.

 

[Pings Bass]

Never in my bass playing life. My two oldest fenders (1976 & 1988) have original tuners. Heck, my 1938 Kay has original tuners, but that's a different animal altogether.