Changing tuners.....

[onewilyfool]

I just changed the tuners on my Harmony Sovereign 1260. I used these three-on-a-plate tuners from Stew Mac:

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/Golden_Age_Restoration_Tuners_for_Solid_Peghead.html

 

The back of the headstock of my guitar looked like Swiss cheese. There had been at least 3-4 generations of tuners put on over the 50 years of it's life, all tuners with different holes for the body of the tuners. It was not pretty. The above tuners covered all the damage, and fit and work like a charm. My question IS: what are the best tuners to replace the Kluson Waffleback type Gibson tuners, and the Grover Rotomatics type Gibson tuners with MINIMAL damage to the back of the headstock, ie. no new holes, or old holes covered??? And while we are at it, Has anyone ever swapped out Grover Sta-Tites open back tuners with Waverly or vice versa? They look quite similar. I just hate having the back of my head stock full of holes.....thanks.....

[dhanners623]

If you dig down on the StewMac website -- i.e., click on the tuners you're interested in, then click on "specs" -- they pull up line drawings with the measurements of screw holes, etc., so you could compare them. For example, the centerlines of the screw holes on the Grover Sta-Tites are listed as 1.01 inches (25.65 mm) apart, while the screw hole centerlines on the Waverlys are listed as 1.0 inches (25.40 mm) apart. Not a lot of difference.

 

And yeah, the Golden Age Restoration tuners are great. Put a set on my J-45, and liked them so much I even stuck a set on my Republic 12-fret slot-head steel-bodied duolian.

[Swicket]

Waverlies were a pretty straightforward upgrade on my J-45 - no extra holes, etc.