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How often have you had to replace tuners?
- Thread starter chaosMK
- Start date
I've had to fairly often.
I had an old Ibanez Musician that needed a new tuner - couldn't match the originals cosmetically. (The bridge also went crap-ola and there was no drop-in replacement; I was not very impressed with the hardware on that axe, given how exotic it supposedly was.)
One time I passed out on a gig (playing with the flu) and busted a tuning peg off on my way down.
On a lower-priced Yamaha one of the tuners had an internal meltdown. (Got to expect that on a budget axe - along with the pots & jack.)
I have a Warwick Streamer Stage I built in 2000 with an issue on one tuner but I think it's just the washer behind the peg. Those can be sourced for pretty cheap. (I was going to upgrade to ultra-lite hipshots but something about the original heavy Gotoh gears - the tarnished gold finish feels like part of the 'mojo'.)
That's it for now. (I'm looking at a vintage Musicmaster with pretty rough tuning action on the A string.)
I had an old Ibanez Musician that needed a new tuner - couldn't match the originals cosmetically. (The bridge also went crap-ola and there was no drop-in replacement; I was not very impressed with the hardware on that axe, given how exotic it supposedly was.)
One time I passed out on a gig (playing with the flu) and busted a tuning peg off on my way down.
On a lower-priced Yamaha one of the tuners had an internal meltdown. (Got to expect that on a budget axe - along with the pots & jack.)
I have a Warwick Streamer Stage I built in 2000 with an issue on one tuner but I think it's just the washer behind the peg. Those can be sourced for pretty cheap. (I was going to upgrade to ultra-lite hipshots but something about the original heavy Gotoh gears - the tarnished gold finish feels like part of the 'mojo'.)
That's it for now. (I'm looking at a vintage Musicmaster with pretty rough tuning action on the A string.)
Only once on a very cheap acoustic guitar, the ones that has the exposed brass gear. On a bass, never. This man be due to cutting my strings to size properly, and keeping them in tune. I’ve had Basses for over 40 years, the two I have now are 14, and 20 years old, and never had problems.
I had to replace a tuner in my 09 Dano Longhorn last year, but it was my fault because of trying to put a long scale E string on its flimsy little guitar tuner. Other than that, the only reasons I ever replaced a tuner was because of either weight savings (done it once) or replacement with a Hipshot Bass Xtender key.
I can also say never on any stringed instrument. I have had to clean and lube them, or straigten a key a time or two. I have wished for a greater ratio or less weight on few non-keeper instruments but never pulled the trigger. Since all of those instruments are now sold I probably made the right decision by resisting the temptation to upgrade them...would have never got that money back.
Never, but it occurs to me that the replacement rate would correlate with how often you change your strings. I don’t change them all that often so have never had a problem, even on cheap Chinese made basses.
I recommend a small dab of grease on the worm once a decade or so and give the tuner many turns. Any excess can be wiped off with a Kleenex.
I recommend a small dab of grease on the worm once a decade or so and give the tuner many turns. Any excess can be wiped off with a Kleenex.
Never on my basses but every 6 string guitar I have has had it's tuners changed. The tuners on my Aerodyne were Gotoh from the factory and they've been great. I do have a Hipshot drop tuner in place of the E Gotoh tuner.
Never had to but often do to get a better ratio. For bass, I shoot for at least 18:1. The instruments that I've NEEDED to change the tuners were always POS that I'd use for kindling before upgrading the tuners.
