A1Coyote Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Earlier this month I was asking for info regarding tuners for my kid's Epiphone LP Special II. It has the stock covered tuners that you see on most of the ones made in the last ten or more years. The posts on the Special II head stock has the "vintage size peg hole", or 8mm. So I had to find tuners that have 8mm tuning pegs. These are the tuners on his headstock before I started. The photos I took are pretty lousy, camera must be going south. I decided to try my hand at replacing the tuners on this 2007 model. I picked up a set of TonePros Kluson Deluxe 3X3 Tuners, model TPK33-N in NICKEL finish. They cost me $48.95, which is about average on ebay. They have a tuning ratio of 16:1. Appearance wise they look like the Kluson type tuners you see on SG's, only the tuning pegs are the vintage style 8mm like the stock tuners. The reverse is a double line "Kluson Deluxe". The first thing you notice is that these are well made, and completely sealed. The cover is a thick metal housing that cannot be opened. High quality construction. The kit comes with 6 tuners, 6 peg bushings, 12 screws. I was hoping these might be a "drop-in" swap out. But nothing is easy. The stock tuner is flat on the bottom with just the peg extending out. On the TonePros Kluson (sorry for the crappy photo)there is a 3/16" sleeve that extends below the bottom of the tuner where the tuning peg extends out from the housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A1Coyote Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 I removed the first tuner seeing that the bottom was flat, As soon as I saw that I knew there would be some extra work. I tried the fit, and the hole size (just a tad under 5/16")was too small to accommodate the housing sleeve. I measured the sleeve diameter and it was 10/32". So I went for the drill & drill bits. The stock bushings fit the Kluson pegs, so I left them in. I took a 5/16" & 11/32" drill bit out and masking taped the bits 4/16" from the tips of both bits. I did not want to bore out any more wood than was necessary. I removed all the old tuners and did one carefull pass with the 5/16" bit first. Then finished off the second pass with the 11/32" bit. When I was finished cleaning out any saw dust (not much, it was mostly like reaming out the peg holes out)I put all six tuners on to check the fit, and it turned out fine, they all fit correctly. I did one side at a time for mounting the tuners. First thing I had noticed earlier was that the bottom two tuning pegs are offset slightly and not in alignment with the top two tuners. I used the straight edge rule out of a square, and placing the one edge against the inner edges of the top 2 tuners, I clamped the rule down with a small wood clamp with rubber cushions in the jaws and lightly clamped it to hold the tuners square to each other. I used the pointed end of a scribe that fit into the mounting screw holes, to start the holes for the screws. I tightened down the top two, and then used a drill bit as a spacer or shim to align that third tuner with the straight edge. Then again used the scribe to start the screw holes and tighten it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A1Coyote Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 Because of size constraints, I then removed all three tuners on the left side so that I could repeat the process and install all three on the right side. Once that was accomplished, I re-installed the three on the left. I took my time and I am pleased with the results, as all the tuners are aligned and square. They look pretty darn good too. The overall appearance has improved, I really like the way the Kluson Deluxe tuners look on the LP Special II. As the tuners are a 16:1 tuning ratio, my son should get some long and accurate service out of these tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve112 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Well done, A1Coyote. Those vintage style tuners look really good on the LP and are as good tuners as ANY LP would utilize. Very tidy, well executed mounting job! So let us know the ease and speed of tuning and stability, much appreciate the process and thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A1Coyote Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 I had such a tough time finding the correct info, that I wanted to leave something tangible for anybody else looking for a way to replace the tuners on their Special II's. My son says the tuning is easier & more precise per his electronic tuner, he can dial it in faster, and it is staying in tune now. An aspect that was never really a consideration is that aesthetically, the look of the guitar has also been improved. So it has been a worthwhile upgrade to my kid's guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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