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Why Use Anything But Hipshot Ultralites?

Icculus

Icculus

Jul 29, 2010
606
264
South Jersey
#1
TITLE MAY BE MISLEADING:

I'm literally asking "Why?"... not claiming that they're unbeatable. I've got them on two basses now and it's so nice how light they are and my neck angle just sits wherever I leave it after letting go.

I guess aside from having a neck that's already drilled for a different size, are there any known caveats to these?
 
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#2
Price,I've installed two sets of Carvin tuners in the last year(on two different basses),the Gotoh type.A set goes for about $35 and they're good quality,good enough for me to not even consider other tuners for twice the money.Just my opinion/experience,everyone's different!
 
#3
If you only have $35 instead of the retail price of Hipshots, I can see getting lesser expensive ones. Or do what I did: save up. They worth saving up for.

Some vintage instruments that have the traditional full sized tuners that have proven their worth I would leave alone. My Rickenbacker 4002 with factory stock Schaller minis fall into this category, as do rare Fenders with stock "Lollipop" tuners, early '70's Rickenbackers with wavy Grover tuners, and such. No, I'm not going to go putting Ultralites on a mint real '62 P-bass or similar.

For everything else, especially player instruments I earn gig money with, I systematically change out all my instruments to the Hipshot Ultralites. Not only are they lighter, but are smoother and more precise. Well worth the money, even on a $200 bass. A $100 bass? Unless it was a sleeper that is giggable, probably not, but you never know until you hear it on stage or in the studio.
 
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#4
I buy used sets cheap when I can.I have no complaits whatsoever with them.The factory is about an hour away from me in athe town where my stepson lives.If I ever get there during the week i'll stop in and say hi and check things out.
 
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#5
because the look of the big cloverleaf key and string post from the front of my fender with the little tiny gear in back just bugs me :)

if the broader question is "why use anything other than lightweight keys?" i'm with you 100%, and hipshot stuff is indeed really good.

i went with the schaller black "boron" housing lightweights, which have a big gear and housing and are also really nice (as long as you take the time to run a drop of mild loc-tite behind the little tensioning screws, otherwise they will back out and disappear).
 
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#13
Why use anything else? Because you are either in tune or you are not. Hipshot Ultralites are nice, but even el-cheapos will let you play in tune.

For that matter, why use Hipshots at all? If you are being a weight weenie, Res-o-lites are lighter: 40g.
 
#14
My personal opinion is that they should be on any bass that I buy. However, others feel differently.

The main oppositions that I see are the following:
1. The ol' trusty "It's not what Leo did, so it's wrong." mentality is widespread in bass land.
2. Some people don't like the way that they look. You can't really argue with taste.
3. Some people worry that lightweight tuners contribute to dead spots. Roger Sadowski supports this theory.
4. Some people want large tuners because lightweight tuners seem dinky.
 
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#16
The more appropriate question might be - why would any bass manufacturer not use ultralight tuners in the construction of their basses these days?

There are several different brands of ultralight tuners - all of them function as good or better than standard weight tuners and they help eliminate neck dive and bad ergonomics. Any builder that doesn't offer these today just really doesn't give a crap about the end user.
 
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#19
I had to replace the tuners on a NS WAV eub to accomodate the higher tension of real DB strings. I asked several main tuner brands wether their products could do this. Only Hipshot gave me na accurate answer and they were also the only ones that actually held up in real life. So I'm a fan. Nevertheless I would not use them on every bass. IMO the classic tone of a Fender style bass needs some weight at the top.
 

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