The best way to avoid this problem is to replace your existing tuners with the same brand that came on your guitar. The post diameter, the bushings, and the mounting holes vary across different brands and styles of tuners. May Need to Modify Your GuitarĪftermarket tuners won’t always fit on your guitar. This may or may not be enough to re-balance the guitar. You can shave some weight off the Schallers by replacing the steel tuning buttons with plastic ones. Multiply that by six tuners and you add a noticeable amount of weight. Schaller and Sperzel locking tuners use a big thumbwheel to lock and unlock the strings.
A guitar that’s already top-heavy and prone to neck dive, will get worse. If your guitar is already well balanced, more weight at the headstock could cause neck dive. Locking tuners will most likely weigh more than your stock tuning keys. You should consider the following if you are thinking about installing them on your guitar: 1. Of course, there are a few drawbacks to locking tuners. Guitar strings don’t like being removed too many times.
No worrying about whether the strings will slip after being retuned. Just loosen the strings as much as needed, perform whatever maintenance is required, and tune the guitar back to pitch. This is a huge advantage for guitars with floating bridges, truss rod access at the heel of the neck, or screws that are hard to reach with the strings on. Locking tuners keep the strings in place even when you fully detune the guitar. Loosening strings most of the way or removing them completely can make it harder, if not impossible, to put them back. These tuners can still save time, as you no longer have to cut each string to length before inserting them into the tuning post. Locking Kluson-style tuners such as those made by Kluson (Korea) and Gotoh (Japan) require a flathead screwdriver to tighten the locking mechanism. You can snip off the excess string length if you have time, or let it flop around until after the gig. Just loosen the thumbwheel, remove your old string, put the new string in, tighten up the thumbwheel, and tune the string to pitch. Some locking tuners (like those made by Schaller and Sperzel) can operate without any special tools. If you play with a heavy hand and are prone to breaking strings, locking tuners can be a lifesaver. Locking tuners remove any doubt that your tuning keys are to blame. But that makes string changes more complicated. Or you could try the popular method of “knotting” the string to prevent slippage. You could use fewer winds, but that could allow the string to slip off the post entirely. Vibrato loosens and tightens the strings enough to allow them to slip around on the tuning posts. These issues are most prominent on guitars with vibrato systems. What the heck happened?Īssuming your nut and saddles are properly set up, the tuning keys are the most likely source of the tuning problems. But let’s be honest-you’d never know if a few winds moved up or down the post a little.Īfter playing for a few minutes-pressing on the frets, sliding up and down the fingerboard, doing some blues bends-you notice one or more strings are out of tune. The wraps around each tuning post might look tight. Let’s say you just retuned your guitar with an electronic tuner.
Improved Tuning StabilityĪssuming your guitar doesn’t have a flimsy neck that makes the whole instrument shift around, there are two main causes of tuning problems:Įither your strings are getting stuck somewhere, usually the nut or the saddles, or they’re slipping around at the tuning post or the tailpiece (if your guitar has a tailpiece). Here are the top three benefits to having locking tuners on your guitar: 1. If they’re so great, why doesn’t every guitar come with locking tuners? While there are a lot of advantages, there are also some drawbacks to consider. Many mid-priced and premium guitars even come with locking tuners from the factory. Now that they’re one of the most common upgrades guitarists make. Players managed just fine without them for centuries. This provides a few advantages, like better tuning stability, faster string changes, and the ability to easily loosen strings for maintenance and setups. Instead of wrapping strings around the tuning post, locking tuners use a bearing to pinch the string and hold it in place. Maybe it’s time to consider investing in a set of locking tuners. Does your guitar have trouble staying in tune? Are you frustrated by how long it takes to change a set of strings?
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