Tuners/Machine Heads - how cheap before they're rubbish?

DartmoorHedgehog

Another question regarding my slide guitar project.

I haven't got any tuners lying around so I'm going to have to buy some.  Are the ones you can get for under £10 a set OK or is anything that cheap going to be pants?  It's only for a DIY project so I don't mind if they're not the silkiest feeling mechanisms, but I do want them to stay in tune well enough that I can use the thing assuming the build is successful.

The other obvious option is to buy some branded ones second-hand - looks like the going rate is around £20.  Actually, on that subject, anybody got a set with one broken/missing they want to get rid of cheaply? (I only need five).  I haven't made the headstock yet so inline or 3-a-side would be equally good.

earwighoney

I bought some Der Jung tuners for my acoustic guitar, which are open gear ones for about £15 which aren't Gotohs but they are fine nonetheless. 

I got them from here

http://www.magic-guitar-parts.com/epages/es337930.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=42014619&ViewAction=ViewFaceted&FacetValue_CategoryID=42014619&CurrencyID=EUR&CurrencyID=EUR&FacetRange_ListPrice=&FacetRange_ListPrice=

steamabacus

I put some cheapie tuners from Axesrus on to a mate's guitar recently. Just under £20 and absolutely fine and functional.

Tuners seem to be one of the areas of major improvement in cost/quality compared to when I started playing in the early 80s.

thomasw88

vanson are really good, and dirt cheap.

Fuzzdog

thomasw88 said:

vanson are really good, and dirt cheap.

Yup, I have a set on one of my partscasters and they've worked perfectly with no fuss for ages.

sweepy

I have a set of gold 3 a side gold Grover machineheads sat in a box, if that's of any good, I was going to eBay them

ICBM

Unless the gears are actually knackered or the casings won't hold them together well enough to mesh properly, *any* machineheads will work fine provided that they are firmly fixed to the guitar and they are strung and tuned properly.

I have demonstrated this on a very regular basis when asked to "change the machineheads because my guitar wont stay in tune" - the reason for that is almost always that they aren't, and once restrung using the simple lock-wrap method and tuned properly (only ever up to the note not down to it, to avoid any backlash) - and admittedly often with a little bit of oil or grease, the originals work perfectly.

It's the main reason you see so many vintage guitars with replaced machineheads - not because the originals were no good. If I had the money from unnecessarily changing the machineheads on every guitar I could have done but didn't, I could buy a very nice vintage guitar myself, but it wouldn't make me feel better about it .

But that said, if you're doing a DIY project not replacing old ones, by all means buy a quality set of heads second hand.

DartmoorHedgehog

Thanks for the comments.  

@ICBM, I agree.  Most of the ones I've had have been fine, apart from some really cheap open-geared ones that are just blatantly badly made and just hardly worked at all - actually the problem with them isn't that they don't stay in tune they're just nasty and go from so stiff it feels like the buttons are going to break off to utterly sloppy on each turn (the gears aren't round or the worm isn't straight or something)  They came with a cheap cigar-box guitar kit so I can't really complain.  I've just never bought a set before so didn't want to buy a cheap set if they're going to be really shoddy.

@sweepy, sounds interesting, I'll PM you about price etc.

Sporky

I've used the Axtec locking ones and they're absolutely fine.

Sarge

Jin-ho make Wilkinson tuners and are very decent and cheaper than the Wilkinson branded version.
I've used these a few times and never had an issue.

RocknRollDave

Sporky said:

I've used the Axtec locking ones and they're absolutely fine.

+1

DartmoorHedgehog

Thanks folks.  Sounds like the cheap new ones are probably OK then. I done a deal with sweepy for his spare Grovers this time.