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Tuner snobs?

#41
maches said:
I have two basses (a 2010 Squier CV Jazz, and 1993 Korean Squier P-Bass). The tuners on the older Squier are licensed by Schaller and are a little looser when tuning while the no name tuners on the CV are relatively tight. Both seem to stay in tune equally well.
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+ 1 on this

I think it's interesting that people will put more money into something that already does its job. Yeah you could have a tuner that might wind up slightly easier, but come on guys...is a little extra elbow grease going to KILL you?

If it stays in tune, it does its job. The only thing IMHO that would justify a replacement of stock tuners that stay in tune well, is if you bought a lighter set to reduce neck dive. On my Squier VM, CV, and my Warwick Corvette...I might have to tune them up once a month if I've left them in standard tuning.

They stay in tune, what more can you ask of them? lol
 
#42
Handyman said:
Even the lowest end basses tend to have workable tuners these days. Its been a long time since I've seen a new bass with tuners that just won't hold a bass in tune.
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I've had a couple dozen basses go through my hands in the past 10 years, and NOT ONE has had tuners that wouldn't hold the string in tune when the strings were installed properly. The basses were often budget instruments from the 60's and 70's, and in some cases the tuners were bent - but in every case, they worked.

The other part of the equation is whether the tuners are made of material that will withstand normal handling and use. I've heard of Squier tuners breaking when tapped against something, but it has never happened to me. I reserve judgment on this, but my inclination is to say "don't beat up your bass and your tuners won't break."

I think most of the complaints (not all) only mean that:

  1. For some reason the owner doesn't like the tuners and decides to blame them for some imagined problem instead of just admitting they want different ones, or;
  2. The strings are not installed correctly and the owner doesn't know any better than to criticize the tuners.
 
#43
This is a tuner:

Invalid Link Removed

This is a machine head or machine:

YCHROME.jpg


You're welcome, always glad to help! ;)
 
#44
Here's my $.02...

My Squier VM Jaguar dropped from the back seat of my van to the floor of the van and the D-string machine head "neck" bent. Didn't affect operation other than being noticable that it was bent and different than the other 3. A week later, I was checking the tuning and the leaf of the machine head pops loose in my hand. This is where a cheap tuner can affect the bass.

Needless to say, I ordered Hipshot full-size replacemenst to include an Xtender. We are rockin' now!
 
#46
The only keywinds I have changed were on my '80 Ric. They were the stock Klusons and the E would turn about 45〫before it picked up the cog and altered the pitch. I didn't like that. Ric had a complete replacement set made by Schaller and stamped "Rickenbacker" for like $80, so rather than just install one that didn't match, I swapped 'em all out. Only then did I appreciate the difference between the Klusons and the much better Schallers.
 
#47
The tuners on both my VM squiers have absolutely no play in them and hold their tune from gig to gig. Those are basically all the requirements i look for in a tuner, unless looks come into play. Only issue i've had with them was snapping one off on someones head...
 
#48
Thanks to TB, I learned something about bass machine heads a few months ago.

I had a sloppy, rattling key on my Mexi-Jazz' cloverleaf tuners, bugged me quite a bit although it still held a tune. Someone told me to take the big round gear off and re-bend the spring steel plate sandwiched in between the gear and the tuner's backplate to maintain constant tension on the key.

Sure as heck, it worked. No more buzz, less slop, perfect.

That being said, when I build a bass from scratch and am not concerned with vintage looks, I LOVE the locking Sperzel tuners. Those are the Mercedes-Benz of tuners, in my opinion. Ultra-smooth, very low ratio, you can just feel that they're well-built, high-quality units.
 
#50
I have two basses with aftermarket tuners on them.
The first is my 07 Fender Jaguar. The MIJ Fender stuff is typically pretty good. The stock tuners worked ok and felt average when using them. The 80 bucks I spent on changing them over to black Hipshots was a night and day different in feel and when tuning with them, it seemed a little easier to "lock in" on the correct note.

The second bass is my EBMM SUB 'Ray. I bought the bass with these tuners on so I cant compare it to the stock ones, but they do tune just as well as the ones on my EBMM Stingray, but the Stingray is a $1400 bass so I would expect them to.

You can feel how smooth a set of Hipshots is when you use them. I can appreciate their quality and value if you're adding them onto a $400 Fender P. I don't see the need to add them onto a higher end instrument that should come with that type of feel already.
 
#52
the stock tuners on hwy ones (Ive owned 4) dont work for me because they dont accept large e strings ,also the posts are pretty small and I dont like to cut my strings so for me theyre unusable I like fender style reverse tuners and the fender stamped schaller 70's style better
 
#54
bassclef216 said:
To me it would be like some saying, "I really like that Honda Accord except for the crappy steering wheel. That thing is junk." I can understand that maybe it's ugly or something, but it's only a wheel that you turn to make the car turn...how can it be crappy or a peice of junk?
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Um, I had a really nice 1979 Accord hatchback but I put a great Italian racing style steering wheel in it because it improved the tone. :D
:hiding:
 
#56
Oh yeah, the stock Gotoh tuning keys (as mentioned above, a tuner is a device that gives you a reference for getting in tune! :p ) on my former AMERICAN VINTAGE '62 Jazz Bass were terrible, all four of them got very tight every 180º of rotation, making it a PITA to tune up. Now we are not talking some lowly Squier :D or slightly less lowly HWY 1 :D here but a Fender bass that is supposedly one tier below a Custom Shop bass, and I had to replace the [DEL]tuners[/DEL] tuning keys with superior Hipshot vintage style replacement [DEL]tuners[/DEL] tuning keys. :eek:
 
#58
I built a parts bass once, so I had to buy a set of tuners. I bought the $20 variety. The bass tunes up nicely, stays in tune, & gives me no grief whatsoever; no rattling, no binding, no issues. So what's to be gained by buying a set that cost 2x, 5x, or 10x more? I have better uses for my money than overpriced tuners.
 
#60
If you were to deal with many basses as I do at work you would quickly come to understand the differences it tuning machines. Cheap ones while fully functional are usually not very smooth or accurate. Most of them will hold pitch once you get it there but getting it "there" is just a bit more of a struggle. I find most inexpensive bass hardware to be made from soft metal which is much easier to strip and wear out in the long run. I can really feel the difference when using a string winder, cheap ones have a glitchy, jerky feel while high quality ones are smoooooth. The comparison I would make is between a BMW and a Yugo. Both will get you to the same destination but.......
 

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