I purchased a ES Les Paul a few Months ago, and it is wonderful, however I felt the same way about the tuners, and in fact my Epiphone ES Pro had Grovers, which feel a lot better techinically than the Kluson fitted by Gibson. I did not want to drill, enlarge or molest my headstock in any way, and have found Kluson Revolution Locking tuners to be a direct fit ( get the correct size however, there are Two, I bought the wrong ones initially.... Anyway once this idiot had ordered the correct size, they took 30 Mnutes to fit into original holes, look fantastic and are a league above the standard tuners in stability and feel !