Grover Super Rotomatics vs Grover Imperials

[drathbun]

I was admiring insguy's Five Star Custom J200 in the recent thread.

 

Although his Five Star is quilted maple (gorgeous btw), my Standard has some serious flame and made me examine what the big visual difference between the two might be. The major visual difference is the gold Grover Imperials on the Five Star as opposed to the gold Grover Rotomatics on my Standard. I've always admired the Imperials and took a look at the specs on them with a view to a possible upgrade.

 

The Imperials

have a .380" sleeve (fits in the headstock hole) and a .300" post.

 

The Grover Rotomatics:

have a .390" sleeve and a .236" post.

 

This means that a swap of Rotomatics for Imperials would have the Imperials a little small in the existing headstock holes and prone to slippage. However, there are TWO screws holding the tuner to the headstock on the Imperial. This requires drilling an extra hole, so going back to the Rotomatics would be impossible without exposing the new hole.

 

Then I saw the Super Rotomatics!

 

Grover Super Rotomatics

 

which have a .390" sleeve and a .236" post and only one screw in exactly the same location as the full size standard Rotomatics. This means they are a drop in replacement for the Imperials and have identical tuner buttons. The backs are different but with the ease of drop in replacement, and the ability to revert back to the Rotomatics, this makes it very tempting to give the Super Rotos a try!

 

Does anyone have a set of these Super Rotos?

[rar]

Does anyone have a set of these Super Rotos?

My wife's J-185 Rose Vine came with what I think are a set of these (although they're gold with MOP buttons rather than gold buttons, so I suppose that they could be Rotos with swapped buttons). Anyway, they are indeed simply Rotos with Imperial buttons, AFAICT, so strictly a cosmetic upgrade. No reason not to just buy a set of buttons from, say, AllParts rather than new tuners (although it might be worth double checking that the buttons are interchangeable first).

 

-- Bob R

[drathbun]

My wife's J-185 Rose Vine came with what I think are a set of these (although they're gold with MOP buttons rather than gold buttons, so I suppose that they could be Rotos with swapped buttons). Anyway, they are indeed simply Rotos with Imperial buttons, AFAICT, so strictly a cosmetic upgrade. No reason not to just buy a set of buttons from, say, AllParts rather than new tuners (although it might be worth double checking that the buttons are interchangeable first).

 

-- Bob R

 

Good advice Bob! I just checked out Allparts and they do, in fact, have the imperial button replacements. The Super Rotos and the full size Rotomatics are the same tunes with different buttons so the swap is dead simple. No need to remove the tuner from the guitar. Much cheaper too at $26 for a set of six.

 

Thanks!