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I used the mandolin version of these tuners to replace the worn out originals on my 1925 Gibson A-jr. I used relic nickel with black knobs. The quality of finish and aesthetics is superb. The knobs turn smoothly although a bit tight, I hear that they will loosen up over time. Great tuners for the price I think, so far. We'll see how they perform over time.

I replaced the worn out tuners on my 1970 00-28 with the bright nickel version of these. They seem to be pretty good quality for the price. I would have prefered a 16:1 ratio but they turn smoothly, the buttons look good (haven't tried to replace them) and they are definitely higher quality than the original tuners I replaced. My only real gripe is that, if replacing the tuners on a vintage Martin, these don't quite cover the original screw holes.

A few holes didn't line up on mine either. It wasn't too hard to fix though. I plugged the mis aligned original screw holes with a toothpick and Titebond, then redrilled the hole in the correct location. It worked fine.

I'm particularly interested in what it takes to replace the knobs on these things. They'd look insane with wooden knobs.

-Poor to average. The sample sets I received had a horrible yellow (lacquer?) finish over them - so not really as advertised.

-Of the three sets I ordered, two went back to Stew-mac. The other set was mounted on a local musicians instrument, and was back within 6 months - broken gears. I literally threw them in the trash.

-The stock buttons were ok. Stew-mac have really wonderful replacements however, which is great.

Thoughts? It is beyond me why anyone would put these on a high end hand made guitar, or fine vintage instrument. They look similar yes - but they are not true reproductions in terms of fine spec.

Now I'm getting second thought on these. I was planning on using one of the another versions of their repro tuners to go into an L-00 style guitar that I am building. I haven't ordered yet, but someone tell me yeah or nay!

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I heard a lot of good things about these tuners, maybe Tony received early versions? In any case SM tends to put excellent products out, and stand by them, so I wouldn't be surprised if those tuners were greatly improved now.
If you're not satisfied, you can always return them, no question asked.

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

The tuners suit me, for certain builds. I used them on this spec "0" size. They turn fine. I bought these when they first came out with the engraving.

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I look forward to your report Fillippo.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......