Another machine head/tuner question

[J-200 Koa]

My most recent Gibson has Grover Imperial tuners which I

dislike very much. Unfortunately, the footprint (impression)

of the Imperial is larger than any other tuner I have been

able to find.

 

I do not want to plug and fill the original holes or have

unsightly marks on the back of the headstock, so I

think there is only one option: change the buttons with

another Grover tuner.

 

Has anyone ever switched buttons from one style of

tuner to another and how did it work out? I'm thinking

of a Rotomatic button in place of the Imperials.

[Jayla]

I recently changed the machine heads on my guitar, from the stock Gibsons, which were perfectly functional but which I didn't like, to Waverlys. The luthier had to drill a new hole for the top screw, but the footprint of the new tuners cover it up. If you look real close at the back of the headstock, you can just barely see the faintest impression of the outline of the top corners of the old tuners. If you don't look real close you'd never notice it. Here's a shot of the headstock as it is now, i.e. with the Waverlys:

 

 

If you're seriously concerned about whether or not you'd have to drill new holes, why not see if you can get the specs of the tuners you'd like to install and measure them against what you currently have. If you can't find specs and/or have other questions, ask your luthier or the manufacturer of the new tuners about it. They should be able to tell you what you need to know.

[jchabalk]

the waverly's all tend to have exact drawings of the specs listed for each tuner. So with a ruler and/or a caliper you should be able to tell exactly how the installation will go and if you'll have to re-drill etc...

 

Here's a link to one of the specifications:

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/3/Waverly_Guitar_Tuners/Specs.html#details

[Jayla]

the waverly's all tend to have exact drawings of the specs listed for each tuner. So with a ruler and/or a caliper you should be able to tell exactly how the installation will go and if you'll have to re-drill etc...

 

Here's a link to one of the specifications:

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar' date='_solid_peghead_tuners/3/Waverly_Guitar_Tuners/Specs.html#details [/quote']

 

This is exactly what I did, and based on these specs I thought that the holes would line up exactly, which they did not. Not a problem in the end -- my luthier just drilled a new hole and the new tuner covered it.

[J-200 Koa]

I checked the specs on all major brands. The Imperials must be

the biggest tuners known to man.....everything else is smaller.

Hopefully changing the buttons will suffice.

[Jayla]

Well, keep us posted and post pix when you have a chance.

[jchabalk]

hi there Jayla!

 

Your guitar looks great with the waverlys!! are those the "Ivoroid" tuners, or the "Ivoroid vintage?"

 

Looks like the Ivoroid but i wanted to check, i'm thinking of getting a set myself. Do you have any picture of the back of the headstock, or a before/after of the guitar.

 

Looks beautiful!

[Jayla]

hi there Jayla!

 

Your guitar looks great with the waverlys!! are those the "Ivoroid" tuners' date=' or the "Ivoroid vintage?"

 

Looks like the Ivoroid but i wanted to check, i'm thinking of getting a set myself. Do you have any picture of the back of the headstock, or a before/after of the guitar.

 

Looks beautiful!

[/quote']

 

Hi jchabalk -- those are the "ivoroid" tuners. Here's Stew Mac's page for them, which is where I got them. (You can see more images by clicking on the "pictures" tab.) I got the gold ones to match the original hardware.

 

I didn't take any "before" picks of my guitar, but it looked like this one here. (Check out the close up of the headstock; that's the way mine was.) I did post some recent, "after" pics in this thread. The pix are on page 2.

 

I haven't taken any pics of the back of the headstock, but will try to do that later and will post them here.

 

For the record, the guitar sounds at least as good as it looks!