installing Ibanez mono-rail IV (MR4), GOTOH machine-heads

Finally got tired of the gold-plated hardware, so I'm making the change over to cosmo black.
Package arrived at Walgreen's this morning, 3 days after I ordered, directly from Ibanez PA.
(2-1/2 business days)

MR4 saddles packaging by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:08 PM

They were triple-bagged. The screws & wrench in a tiny bag, in another bag with the saddle & all in a 3rd bigger bag:

MR4 packaging by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:09 PM

First thing I did was put a capo on loosely so I could remove the ball-ends from the saddles & not have to rewind the strings onto the posts when I'm done:

capo during install by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:10 PM

Here's a shot of the empty cavity, & the itsy bitsy teeny weenie ground-wire:

ground wire by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:11 PM

I was careful to get the screw into the loop of the wire when putting them on.
Unfortunately we have a little snag, one screw was too big:

one wrong screw by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:12 PM

For the moment I just used one gold screw under the intonation screw on one of them & if I didn't tell you, I doubt you'd notice.
I will contact Ibanez about getting a another screw.

All-in it went well, done in 30 minutes. Waiting for the cosmo black strap-buttons & time to make an order for some cosmo black Res-O-Lites from GOTOH, which should help me lose 1/4 pound from the headstock.

 

Hmm, how did I forget that?

SR1800E by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:15 PM

Another thing I forgot to mention, is to turn the screws counterclockwise to "start" threads.
You can feel the screw drop down into the previously cut threads & that's when it's time to reverse & start turning clockwise.
Otherwise if you move that screw in & out cutting new threads every time, eventually it will be stripped out.

 

I thought it would grow on me, but every time I tinkered even a little I took some of the gold-plated finish off!
Just last weekend I took the gold off the top of this machine-head screw:

finish came off gold-plated screw by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:17 PM

Over time the gold has completely worn off the aft strap-button:

gold-plating rubs off by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 26, 2019 at 2:18 PM

There are other marks here & there where it seems if you merely touch the gold with a screwdriver, Voila!, away goes the finish!

 

Sent an eMail to Hoshino on the day I installed them, but didn't see anything back.
Called them just now & it turns out they had shipped me another screw, but didn't respond to my eMail.
Sure enough, I checked the Informed Delivery page on USPS.com & there it is!

In other good news, the GB-350 machine-heads will arrive tomorrow, along with a cosmo-black bridge for my GSR100.

Cosmo Black strap-buttons installed yesterday:

cosmo black strap button by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 28, 2019 at 3:31 PM

This is the GOTOH EP-B3, 17mm diameter:

 

All done now, bridge, strap-button, & today the machine-heads:

Cosmo Black machine-heads by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 29, 2019 at 6:26 PM

Cosmo Black hardware - SR1800E by Killed_by_Death posted Jun 29, 2019 at 6:30 PM

total weight lost - 68 Grams

 

cheapest I've seen them:

GOTOH GB350 Res-o-lite Compact Bass Tuning Machines Tuners - Preconfigured Sets

I should add that Hoshino's eMails were going to my SPAM folder.