Hi all. I recently purchased one of these interesting instruments as I had been looking for an acoustic f hole guitar. I really enjoy the instrument, I even spent time neck mounting a mini humbucker and cutting a new pickguard out of flamed maple (then ebony stained) so that I would not have to cut a volume pot hole in the original pickguard. Then cut a matching tailpiece insert to match the pickguard.
However, I have a problem with the tuning machines. They have a gritty feel and and do not turn accurately. I would like to replace them with a better tuner, but am hitting a dead end. I have read a few of the posts pertaining to this problem others who purchased this instrument also have and have not found a good solution. The problem is that the tuners have unusual spacing compared to aftermarket tuners from all of the tuner companies. I did an exhaustive search with Grover, Schaller, HipShot, D'Addario, Kluson, Gotoh, Schertler and more. I can find tuners with the proper hole spacing for the screws, but then the post is in the wrong place. Grrrrrr....
Anyway, I am hoping that someone has found a replacement tuner that will fit without modifying or drilling other holes into the guitar.
Any thoughts?