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Gold plated tuners????


onewilyfool

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I have guitar playing buddies who just can not STAND gold tuners. They almost retch when they see them. I never really thought about it much before they brought iy up, but why the strong negativity to them??? As it turns out, three of my Bozeman Gibby's have gold tuners. The '94 L-20 (Kluson), the 2001 SJ-200 Koa, (Kluson) and the 2012 Pure voice J-45 (Grover open back) Because of the colorings of the guitars, the gold seems to blend in perfectly with wood tones and seems the perfect factory choice for the guitar. So, whats the general feeling out there about gold plated tuners???

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Mine were so tarnished that I changed out the buttons, but not the tuners. I agree that the gold adds to the look of the guitars. I put pearloid buttons on the gold tuners, the results are striking with the bubinga b/s and light mahogany neck.

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For me, I LOVE THEM!! Easy to care for if you just keep them cleaned from the oils on your fingers. Would love some tulip pearloids in gold on my new Hummingbird. Don't know if I can bring myself to drilling any holes in the headstock to install. May just have to settle for gold Grovers to replace the nickle ones.

 

My first choice (but needs drilling holes) [scared]

Gibsongoldpearloidtuners_zps02283dd9.jpg

 

Aster

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I accept what came with the instrument.

 

I'm with you, Groper.

 

I have a set of Gold Grovers I was going to put on my old beater, (1969 Jubilee), but figured it'd be like putting lipstick on a pig...,and the Kluson's still work perfectly!

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Just love it all, keys, detail on the headstock, it's all just so GOOD!

 

Dang don't ya just love it when an ensemble comes together? [thumbup] Does it really "go" with the rest of the look of the guitar too so that it's totally balanced?

 

And hey!! Even pigs want to look purdy and deserve it don't they Rob? :rolleyes: Might give the Jubilee a new outlook on life.

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I find chrome tuners to be the best and longest lasting and most natural looking. I find gold tuners to be gaudy and artificial and phony looking. Sorry but you asked and that is my opinion. Many gold tuners get dull and blotted and discolored, and the gold plating is so utterly micro thin anyway, that everyone knows they are fake plated gold tuners. Yes, I am in the league that finds gold tuners disgusting, even repulsive. I once factory ordered a beautiful 900 series Taylor which came standard with gold tuners. I called Taylor customer service after ordering it, to have them put chrome tuners on it instead, and if they could not do that, I would cancel the factory order. They did it, Thank God. Whew!

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"Holy Shades of Art Deco glory Batman!!"

 

Love it Larry!! Dang that looks good. [thumbup]

 

What model is that on and what are those black wound strings?

 

Aster

 

That's the headstock of my L-5, and those are black nylon tape wound strings (LaBella #800M).

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it depends on the guitar.

 

generally I'm not a fan, but on my amber starbursts, it was obvious that gold was the way to go.

 

I'm thinking of switching my casady sunburst bass to hipshots - I'd do gold there as well, but when i did the same to the silverburst, I did black.

 

but a blanket 'gold is bad' seems a little silly to me ...

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I know that this is kind of an aside, but since someone mentioned it.....I also, feel that Gibsons look better with white tuner knobs. I contacted Grover about their open back tuners, which ONLY come in metal knobs, and the main man told me that Grover made white knob tuners, thinking that they would sell like hot cakes, and they just sat on the shelf......so they discontinued them. Sigh, I would replace EVERY set of Grover open back tuners I have with the white knob tuners if they still made them. I could go with (expensive) Waverly open back tuners, which have the white knobs, BUT the screw holes don't match making the swap more difficult, having to fill and drill a new screw location, and just too darn expensive.....If you guys ever find any of those NOS Grovers with white knobs, please let me know!!!!

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Yeah, I'm not really in love with the "green hue" plastic one, but I love those Pearloid white tulip style on the Kluson's I put on my reissue J-160E. Look great, work great, mounted right up in replacement of the green ones supplied.

 

The Pearls (white) with Gold, to me look great. I know I could have just changed the plastic ends, but I like the Deluxe stripe down the tuner middle too. A stupid little thing, but when you're changing out "why do something half arsed, when you can do it whole hog?" That's my motto any who. [biggrin]

 

Aster

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On Gibsons, one of my favorites is the chrome tulip button.

 

Not so fond of greenish tulips, but cream tulips are nice.

 

Gold is okay on some guitars, but generally not my first choice.

 

All that said, I only change them out if there's a functional problem.

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