Locking Tuner Recommendations?

bermudianbrit

Hi All,

I'd like to put locking tuners on my Eric Johnson Strat and Ruokangas Mojo Classic Tele.  Quite possibly the Les Paul as well. I detest string changes and, being blind, I struggle with some of the wrapping work...not as coordinated as those activities seem to require, I guess.
Recommendations for good quality ones that won't break the guitar's esthetics? I'll spend a little more if its really worth it.

Thanks

DrBob

Hipshot Griplok open gear are fantastic 

guitargeek62

^ yep, they became my favourites quite a few years ago! I used to use Gotoh magnum tuners on most things, but prefer the Hipshot now. I’ve never understood the appeal of Sperzel - ine they’re quite inaccurate, and are too easy to overtighten and damage the (nylon) locking pin, causing the string to slip - particularly with plain strings.

maltingsaudio

Sperzels on all my guitars, added bonus is you can rebuild them if you go from 6 a side to 3 a side or 4:2 a side, used them for the last 20 years and haven’t experienced what @guitargeek62 is on about but that’s just my experience unless they’ve changed the design?

guitars4you

You mention the EJ Strat - are you wanting to exchange like for like, so stay vintage style but now locking - In which case Gotoh sell them via the likes of WD and Fender offer them as well

Modern slick style tuners like Hipshot and Sperzel will require some modification to the hole/fitting

axisus

I bought GOTOH Locking Kluson Style Vintage Machine Heads for my strat. I'm not keen on them to be honest, they work fine and they do look good, but ...... whilst building guitars, or faffing around with pickups or electronics, I find myself taking the strings on and off quite a bit. These bastards damage the string too much so they snap at the locking point quite a lot. Bloody annoying. 

I've used Sperzels on some guitars and they work much better if you have to remove the strings a fair bit.

guitars4you

axisus said:

I bought GOTOH Locking Kluson Style Vintage Machine Heads for my strat. I'm not keen on them to be honest, they work fine and they do look good, but ...... whilst building guitars, or faffing around with pickups or electronics, I find myself taking the strings on and off quite a bit. These bastards damage the string too much so they snap at the locking point quite a lot. Bloody annoying. 

agree with that if you need to remove them - ie if you need truss rod access for say a vintage style Strat and have to take the neck off - With most locking tuners it is still possible to re-feed the cut off string through the hole 

Not an issue if you are doing any such work, whilst the guitar is having a re-string - But  not convenient for quick alterations 

guitargeek62

maltingsaudio said:

Sperzels on all my guitars, added bonus is you can rebuild them if you go from 6 a side to 3 a side or 4:2 a side, used them for the last 20 years and haven’t experienced what @guitargeek62 is on about but that’s just my experience unless they’ve changed the design?

If you unwind the locking key all the way and remove it from the rest of the housing you’ll see whether yours have plastic or metal pins. I believe the plastic ones were relatively short-lived, but that, combined with the meagre 12:1 ratio led me to looking elsewhere. That said, they do offer some great finish options if you want something snazzy, and are nice and light too. I’d still rate the hipshots over most other things I’ve tried though, short of PRS Phase IIIs - though the asking price for them is ridiculous.

hollywoodrox

I love my gotoh sg381s I put on my Squier contemporary strat

JustMe

Gotoh every time.

drwiddly

I have Sperzels, Schaller and PRS locking tuners on various guitars and have no problems with any of them.

A few years ago I bought a PRE SE Tremonti Custom and decided to put locking tuners on it as well as some other upgrades. I saw some good reviews for the Axetec locking tuners and thought I'd give them a try. For less than £30 for the set, I was blown away. To be honest, they're every bit as good as Schallers for half the price.

They do 6 a side as well as 3 a side so might well do for your Strat, without modification.

Philly_Q

For the first two guitars mentioned and maybe the Les Paul as well, depending on the current tuners, I'd definitely go for Gotohs - either with the thumbwheel on the back or the older type with the self-locking mechanism in the string post.

They'll fit the Kluson footprint, they look like Klusons and there's no need to drill any holes.

FelineGuitars

I'm liking the Graphtech Ratio lockers as you get the different ratio tuning as well as a locking tuner. 

Joe123

Any one tried the Wilkinson E-Z lock tuners?are they as great as regular locking tuners?thanks

musteatbrain

I 2nd the graphtech ratio.
Although they aren’t massively cheap and are probably more useful on a fixed bridge guitar if you use alternate tunings. 
They are very smooth and solid though.

Moloch

I went with Hipshot, as there were a wide range of heads available, as well as a mounting bracket which guarantees screwless installation on most guitars.

SpankThePlank

I have used Sperzels since they came out.  Never really had any issues with them but watch out for the early ones - the back can be unscrewed and removed completely, resulting in potential loss of the pins within which are not all the same length (I did replace one with a cut down nail and it is still fine!).

Maybe because of this the later ones DO NOT unscrew completely and you may bugger them trying to do so (guess how I know....?).  My oldest ones have felt a bit stiff n lumpy, so I plan to disassemble the mechanisms, clean and lube with graphite, reassemble and they should be lovely again.

On my CS strat I replaced the Kluson-type with the aforementiond Gotoh locking vintage jobs.  These are pretty good and I haven't had any issues. The only thing you have to be careful with is using the correct-sized blade/coin to undo the strings as the alloy is quite soft.  They really aren't much more hassle than Sperzels and will affect the tone slightly differently (not that I can tell...) but as noted there is no drilling needed.