bonne Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Happy owner of a Limited Edition 1991 Nick Lucas but one thing has bothered me all along, the lacking quality of the Grover De Luxe tuners, regular metal knob version. Keeping the guitar in tune is a bit of a struggle. In order to loosen a string before bringing it back up to pitch I may have to loosen the tuner as much as a quater turn before the gears jump and let go of the string dropping the pitch. Very loose and poor action. Anyone else here have one of these guitars with the same tuners? I have a 1995 Vintage AJ as well sporting what looks like Gotoh vintage tuners with scalloped metal knobs, looks like the #3389 tuners sold by StewMac. These work very well, tight, smooth and responsive. The plating on them could be better though. I would like to replace the tuners on the Lucas, and would've preferred Waverly. Gibson used these on later versions of the Lucas. Unfortunately the distance between the screwholes is 1 inch on the Waverly whereas the "vintage" Grovers and Gotohs are .936. Any other suggestions on replacement "vintage" tuners for the Lucas? Thanks JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 MOST tuning issues originate at the nut, not the tuners. Before giving up on the Grovers I would have your nut checked, it sounds to me as if the slots are pinching the strings instead of "cradling" them. This would cause ALL the symptoms you describe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 As Larry said, could be the nut is pinching them, which gauge of strings are you using, if it's 12's or 13's, the nut was most likely cut for lights (11's) so this could be the issue. Good luck with the fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 The problem you describe, as others point out, is at the nut, not the tuners. All tuners have a slight amount of "play" in them, called gear lash, that allows the spur gear and the worm gear to work together without binding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonne Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 As Larry said, could be the nut is pinching them, which gauge of strings are you using, if it's 12's or 13's, the nut was most likely cut for lights (11's) so this could be the issue. Good luck with the fix. I have 25+ years experience as a guitar repairman and the nut is very carefully cut and finished. No pinching! Gear lash seems to be the issue here, you can feel the lack of tightness as you turn the button. 1st and 2nd string tuners are especially bad on mine. Not a problem with the AJ tuners. The AJ is set up like the Lucas with the same strings (GHS Vintage Bronze). I have a bunch of other guitars, no such issue with any of those. Any Lucas LE '91/'92 owners here with a similar problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonne Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 I have 25+ years experience as a guitar repairman and the nut is very carefully cut and finished. No pinching! Gear lash seems to be the issue here, you can feel the lack of tightness as you turn the button. 1st and 2nd string tuners are especially bad on mine. Not a problem with the AJ tuners. The AJ is set up like the Lucas with the same strings (GHS Vintage Bronze). I have a bunch of other guitars, no such issue with any of those. Any Lucas LE '91/'92 owners here with a similar problem? This is the tuners on my '95 Vintage AJ. They look like Gotoh Vintage-style #3389 as shown in the StewMac catalog. Very pleased with them as mentioned above. Can anyone confirm that they are indeed Gotohs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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