Official Luthiers Forum!

Whats the overall opinion of good tuners for the money....say $35- $75 range. Open back or closed?

Just curious?

Thanks Jeff..

I see the Gotoh 510 series everywhere.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guit ... uners.html

The Grover 18:1 Sta-Tites are pretty nice open back tuners.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I am also partial to the Grover 18:1 sta-tites, I think the open back Gotoh are also good but are 15:1 and I prefer 18:1. I have played guitars with the 21:1 gotoh closed back and they are real smooth and tuning is easy, but sting changes will need a lot of button turning.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I think it's hard to beat the 510 21:1's for smoothness, easy/accurate tuning & great look (as long as it's in synch with the overall look your going for).

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Dave
Milton, ON

I'm partial to Grover Rotomatics. Nice big knobs which are great if you have sore handitis.

Of all the tuners I used I had more trouble with the 510's than any. Grovers and waverliers are my choice.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Something that I really like about the Grover 18:1 open backs is that not only do they work well enough for the price paid but they are drop-in interchangeable with Waverlys should you choose to upgrade or downgrade a guitar. One of them has lager screws, can't remember which but beyond this swapping out is easy. Something else that I like about Grover when selecting lower priced tuners or should I say just not the most expensive tuners is that they are pretty light weight too.

I like Gotoh 510's too and I have used both varieties, deltas and regular with no problems. I will tell you that if you have nice smooth nut slots and Gotoh 21:1 tuners the accuracy that you will see with a decent strobe tuner is amazing.

Nice to have so very many great choices.

As a builder I'm just a beginner. I'm on my first build. I put Schaller M6's on it, but only because they were free; I won them online. However, as a longtime player, the tuners are the first thing I replace on my guitars. I have always used the Grover Rotomatics. Love them. Nice fat substantial buttons that make them easy to find and to turn, and I've never had a single problem with any of them in 25+ years of use. As a builder, i see no reason to switch.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I like the Grover Sta Tites. Low cost, smooth working, nice appearance, and light weight. Couldn't ask for much more.

Chuck

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First generation 18:1 Sta-tites had a lot of failures. I tried them, but after immediately having to replace a couple, I decided they couldn't be relied on. Perhaps they improved them later; I'm not willing to chance it. The failure point appeared to be the bushings on the worm shaft. When I called Stew Mac (who were of course great about sending replacements) their tech guy said, "Did you expect Waverlies at 1/3 the price?"

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

for the money Gotoh 51 's 21:1 are hard to beat....

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

They really did, honest. Worth another look, IMO.

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

I like the grovers too.

With the 510's the disks fell out on the back. I just put 510's on a customers guitar per request and check the back seal disks, they were loose so I pressed them back in.
Grover did a redesign of their tuners in the last 2 years that did improve the quality a great deal . Still I agree , once burned twice shy.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

They are making 21:1s now?? Wow. Did not know that.

Just a side note question: I bought some 5 Star Banjo tuners, and Waverly iveroid buttons from Stew Mac. But, the buttons are not right for the tuners (too small). Anybody know where I can get some Iveroid buttons suitable for banjo tuners?

Mike

These are probably not nice enough for most of your work, but we've had great experience with these on our student guitars:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guit ... uners.html
Out of at least 60 sets in the past 4 years, we've only seen a single defective tuner. They hold tune just fine and seem reasonably smooth. I would imagine the long-term reliability might not be as good as the standard fare, but that's just speculation (I've had no in-use failures so far).

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David Malicky

I have used about 100 sets of 510s .. no failures. I took an older set of closed back grovers off my first acosutic as the D tuner was starting to grind ... Gotohs for me.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I like the 510 minis. They give the guitar more balance. The downside is smaller buttons. I like the smoothness of the standard size but they can weigh a neck down. I've had worn gear issues with Grovers Rotomatics but not Gotohs. I don't care for the way the the gears are held in place on the Grover Sta-tites

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Sealed tuners: the inexpensive Gotoh Schaller style are reliable, excellent tuners. More expensive, the Gotoh mini-510.
Open back: Gotoh open back Sta-Tite copies, in spite of what some people have said about the plastic washers, I never had a problem with those. Like others I had failures with the old(er) Grover Sta-Tites design.
18:1 or 21:1 ratios are overrated, 15:1 is more than enough.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I agree but they are at the top end of the price range quoted.

How about for slot head steels?

This is the one that jammed on me shortly after installation a week ago. I decided I didn't want to risk it since the instument was a gift to someone else, so I re-drilled and went back to the Gotohs I normally use. I sure wanted them to work, they are so much cheaper.

Todd: Concrete floricide......!! Man I like that. I had a nice sharp chisel a few days back just jump out of my hand and do the same thing , didn't work though we applied artifical sharperation and brought it back to life. Making appointments with the appropriate medical folks for therapy.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Laurent,

Some players like a higher tuning ratio, and can hear the difference in intonation precision. I sure can.

I do like the 2nd gen Grover open-back 18:1.

Just one person's opinion, tho.

Kind regards,
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