Blayneb Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Recently bought a 2001 Cherry Dot that I really like, however a few of the tuners are rough, stick so was thinking of replacing and upgrading them. Can anyone recommend locking nickel tuners that would be a drop in replacement? I'd prefer locking mainly for quicker string changes (if no such locking drop-ins exist I'd forego that if necessary). It currently has one hole nickel Grovers which I assume are the stock tuners. Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Grover makes a drop in locking tuner to replace the regular ones. I think they're the 502 series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blayneb Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 Thanks badblues! I'll check them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blayneb Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 OK so after looking further at the Grover 502 locking series and reading further reviews, it seems that the 502s have a somewhat shorter shaft due to the locking design and also do not come in nickel, only chrome which would not exactly match the rest of the ES hardware. Gear ratio is 14:1 so I found (due to a very helpful review on Amazon) that the 102 non-locking series does come in nickel and has an upgraded 18:1 ratio while also matching the same shaft height as the original Grovers. I think I may go with these available on Amazon Prime with a return option should they not work out. I'll just have to live without locking, but the advantage of the 18:1 ratio may make up for it hopefully! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsjazz Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 (edited) The stock tuners are 18:1 Nickel Grovers. They are good, solid reliable tuners that should last another 20 years if not more. I’d do an exact replacement. Edited November 16, 2021 by Willsjazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blayneb Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 (edited) That's exactly what I did Willsjazz: 18:1 Nickel Grovers! They dropped in as an exact fit. I just had to push some toothpicks into the screw holes as the new screws would not grab the wood in the holes and tighten which worked out fine, They look and work great. Thanks for the reinforcing advice! I also just switched out the old zinc tailpiece for a new aluminum (nickel - non-locking) one which is 1.1 oz vs the old one which was 3.1 oz. Those 2 ounces seem to make a difference as the acoustic resonance/volume increase is quite noticeable. The sustain electrically also seems to be noticeably increased (at least I think so!).. 😉 Edited November 17, 2021 by Blayneb add a description Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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