LOCKING TUNERS, WHAT DO YA T HINK??

[jazzzbo]

What do you think about installing locking tuning machines, like Sperzel locking tuners, especially on older , player guitars? any personal experience, ideas, thanks, jazzz

[BCy2k]

Hi jazzz -

My only experience with them was on my older USA made Parker Nitefly. They were the locking ones and they were very solid and reliable IMHO. I could get away with a lot of above average whammy abuse including pulling upward, and if I'd done a good job stretching the strings it stayed in tune better than the similar PRS post locking tremolo system. I bought another set of Sperzels thinking I'd put them on my Tele someday but I never did and ended up selling them.

They do require some special things if you intend to put them on older guitars. The first thing I ran into when I tried to put them on my Tele was their post diameter was too big for the holes in my Tele's headstock. Had I pursued installing them I would have had to bore the holes bigger. The gear housing also has this funny little metal pole thing that sticks out of it where the gear housing rests up against the back of the headstock - parallel to the post itself. You have to drill a shallow (maybe 3/16ths or so) hole for this thing on each tuner. It has to be drilled in the precise spot too. This thing sort of functions in lieu of a set screw (they're screwless in case you didn't already know) to stabilize the tuner once it's in place. From there it's held in by the usual nut & washer on the face of the headstock.

Between the post diameter problem and this additional, precisely located hole required for this little set post thing, I gave up. It was not something I was comfortable doing.

I'd still say they're very good tuners - changing strings on them was a breeze for me.

[gemberbier]

Same for me: I have OEM gold Sperzels on my Cort S2900.
It is technically good stuff.
Whether you should use them or not, depends on the restorability of your guitar. If there are already new holes in the headstock, a few more don't matter.
On bolt-on necks THIS matters, because your neck in all original condition still has value as a donor part when the body of let's say your silver series strat has been hacked up for humbuckers.
If such terrible things have happened to a set neck or through neck guitar body, it doesn't matter what you do with the neck.

But I assume you mean a real "player guitar". I guess they will function very well, so what the heck...


Ginger

[KD]

I like them. They are very sturdy and well built. I especially like them for the 6 in line because of their staggered height. You don't need string trees. There reasonably priced also. I have a small drill press to enlarge the post diameter (on a Fender style headstock which is flat, haven't used it on an angled headstock). I recently bought a hand reamer which I haven't tried yet. I square up the tuner in the hole and press down to make an indentation in the back of the headstock then drill the set pin hole. They are a little heavy though. If you have a guitar that is already neck heavy you might want to consider something else.

[jazzzbo]

K, thanks for the info, actually i was planning on using them on my 1999 ar250, which is a real beater, i have some sperzels on my as 120 but i dont think im up to the installation process, maybe some shaller m6 would be a better scene, jazzz

[daveh]

I don't see how they would be an asset, if the OEM tuners slip, off they go!

[talmanut]

Sperzel makes a great product!  Some years back I installed a set on a Schecter Strat where I had to enlarge the holes (lacking a reamer, I used sandpaper twisted around a dowel, and got a good fit), and more recently I put them on a Sperzel-bored Warmoth neck.  Drilling the hole for the pin is no biggie, really.  The instructions tell you to press down on the tuner so as to indent the rear peghead wood with the pin.  Then use a sharp pointed tool to punch the exact center of the indentation.  I use a pottery needle, but a compass point works.  Push the needle deep enough into the wood that the no. 41 drill bit won't drift.  Put tape on the bit to keep from drilling too deep.  If you're worried about alignment of the three or six tuners, put a long piece of masking tape on the peghead, parallel to the holes, to help you see where the tuner edge should lie.  And if it goes in crooked, just plug the hole with a shaved-down dowel and re-drill.  I like to plug and retouch leftover tuner holes ... it just looks better.