How often have you had to replace tuners?

[mcnach]

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.

The only times I had to change a tuner was because of impact damage. Once on a bass I received that was badly packed and had a bent tuner, and another time when I stupidly rested a bass against my amp "it's just two seconds" and it fell (putting a nice little dent on the back of the neck too, although fortunately it got fixed with the damp cloth and iron trick).

It sounds like you've been unlucky, I can't imagine Peavey uses low quality hardware on that bass, that's a pretty nice bass.

 

[2F/2F]

IME, bass tuners do indeed get beat up much more than guitar tuners – especially the G tuner.

My main bass for about 10 years had a cloverleaf that was no longer firmly attached to the shaft. I'd sometimes find it in the bottom of the case. Pick it up, put it back in place, till the next time I fell out. Bashed it on a drum kit, I think. I used to play my bandmates cymbals with my headstock from time to time when things got going.

 

[Jay2U]

I never had to change tuning mechanisms. I did, however, optimize the tuners of a cheap Chinese P-Bass.

 

[somegeezer]

Having to is an odd thing to ever have to do. and strangely enough, I have. My 5 string is a super cheap thing that originally came with these awful die cast tuners. One of them snapped during a string change. Replaced them all with some lovely Warwicks. So smooth.

 

[andruca]

Only tuner to ever crap out on me was one from an 88€ kit P bass I built. 33 years playing and ~ the same amount 9f basses owned.

 

[Bodeeni]

Just had a tuner's paddle come loose and it caused a hell of a rattle. Took a bit to trace it, because it sounded like the truss rod broke.

 

[nilorius]

My oldest bass is made in 1994 - Fender Jaco tribute others are a bit newer, but had to change one tuner on my 2000 year Italian custom shop D'alessandro - I rotate and beat it and smashed, so it was my fault.

 

[thumpbass1]

I own a 2002 U.S. made Cirrus, and my D string tuner suffered the string post breaking off one fine day. From an internet search, I guess it has been a problem with some of the generic tuners that copied the Gotoh style tuners. I went ahead and replaced all of the stock tuners with genuine Gotohs, and they have been great so far. The only other bass tuner I've replaced was on a Univox Hi-Flyer Mosrite copy bass, my first bass as a kid back in the early 70's, because it got knocked over by accident and the peg on one of the tuners broke off.

 

[John Webb]

Replacement frequency....wha?
Adjustment sometimes....replacement never.

 

[bass-icly me]

I bought an Eppiphone EBO that had a previously replaced tuner that didn't match, so I replaced them all.
I would post pictures but my 'smart phone' is being a jerk.

 

[lfmn16]

49 years of playing I've replaced one tuner on a guitar because it broke. Other than that I've never owned an instrument I couldn't tune.

 

[lbbc]

Never

 

[Jim Nazium]

One more vote for "never"

 

[Thumpin6string]

Never on any basses I've owned in the past and absolutely never on the ones I built using only USA Hipshot Ultralites.

 

[SBassman]

Never. Never had a bass with a tuner that once worked and then broke in some way.

Only replacements were to trade up in quality/gear ratio.

It's generally not a consumable.

 

[MAJOR METAL]

I have Hipshot tuners on nearly all of my basses, so I've never had to replace them.

 

[donkeygrl]

Never

 

[onda'bass]

twice I had to replace, cheap ones. Got hipshot, never since and probably never will again.

 

[Acoop]

Old Fender tuners had play in them. ... They did the job, but they had a gap between tuning up or down. ... That's really the reason to replace tuners. ... If you're bass is going out of tune and you haven't knocked the tuners, that's a body wood issues. ... 40-years ago I bought an expensive, neck-thru 'designer' bass that would stay in tune at home but, once on stage, it wouldn't, and that wasn't tuners.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

1983 G&L L2k, no issues. 1986 Steinberger, no issues. 1996 Fender MIM P Bass:issues. Rough turning, sloppy, and don't stay in tune well. Not Fender's finest hour. A set of well made tuners from Schaller or Hipshot should last the life of the bass, it's a stupid-simple mechanism, but not the place to cheap out on.