Gibson Tuners

Are the Grovers Kluson style? I have had problems with the Kluson tuners on my Fender Toronado in the past, but that was more because I was not familiar with how to properly string a guitar with Klusons. I don't know what your experience level is with them, but they can be great from what I understand, if strung properly. I am still working on mastering them myself.

Tuners are often blamed for problems with strings staying in tune. They very rarely are truly to blame. (Even the cheapest, crummiest ones.) It's almost impossible for a worm gear drive to be turned by torque on the driven member with the spur gear on it. (The post.) They're not going to slip.

However, it's very common for strings to be wound on the post in such a manner that they can slip. Or with slack in the windings that will be taken up later in an irregular manner. Or for the strings to bind in the nut slots, causing tension imbalances between the parts of the string above and below the nut, which can result in slippage later causing it to go out of tune. You can have problems with binding and slippage at the bridge, too.

Check out all the other stuff, most especially your stringing technique and the free movement of the strings in the nut slots.

Check out all the other stuff, most especially your stringing technique and the free movement of the strings in the nut slots.

Yup I usually keep a "Carpenters" pencil handy at my bench for every string change... (the flat pencils). A lil dab of lead in the slots works great every time. :)

Lil trivia question.. anyone know why those pencils are flat and not round?

Hmmm anyone anyone? :)

So the darn things don't roll away when you putem' down for a second.

So the darn things don't roll away when you putem' down for a second.

We HAVE A WINNER!!! :)

Funny how a lot of people don't know that.....lol

We HAVE A WINNER!!!

Oh Oh Oh, What did I win! What did I win!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Funny thing, but now that I think about it the Klusons do seem to go out of tune faster. It could be all in my head.

I'll do a test with Kluson, Grover and whatever other brand I have tonight. I'll leave them out on stands and test in the morning.

I know it could be any number of things, but I'll try to choose guitars that have relatively fresh strings that have stretched. I'll tune them all a bit high, then under, then to pitch.

Next I'll get my white lab coat, and that little shiny headband mirror thing and that little hammer you hit peoples knees with.

I'll let you know in the morning.

Lil trivia question.. anyone know why those pencils are flat and not round?Most especially when you're working on a nonlevel surface like a roof.

Nick, I'm not going to pay much attention to your results, whatever they may be, unless you put one tuner of each type on the same guitar neck, with a nut slotted for the same size string on each, and the same break angle between the nut and tuner post. I figure you know how to wind strings.

There are just too many variables for comparison of different guitars' tuning stability to say anything about the tuners. Anyway, like I said, tuners don't generally detune by turning under string tension. It's simple enough to mark their position; then you can watch them for weeks if you like and see if any of them turn.

my martin stays in tune perfectly...i can leave it in the case for 2 weeks and it's still more or less the way i left it.

same goes for my Squier, surprisingly.

i had a guy tell me my Ibanez wouldnt stay in tune cos the stock tuners were crap. so i took the guitar to my tech, had him give it a real setup (i didnt know how to do this myself yet) and when he was done with it, it stayed in perfect tune with the same tuners, so it wasnt the tuners. and yeah, the tuners are crap, those basic economy ones. blah. i really have no problems with my guitars staying in tune. even if they do go flat, they stay relative to each other. i can't complain

My two favorite guitars, my Johnson Tricone and Agile AS-820 semihollowbody, will both stay nicely in tune with themselves for long periods. That wasn't true when I was new at changing strings and not so neat about how they were wound on the posts.

Ricochet, can I still wear the white coat?

Sure. You're welcome to wear mine, if you can. I haven't been able to fit in it for years.

Interesting discussion... I have to say, that I really do think it is the tuners. I have 5 other guitars that all stay in tune perfectly. I don't think it is my winding technique. I had the SG setup by a pro and it still bangs out of tune over the course of two or three nights (I guess if I played it more maybe it wouldn't drop out of tune).

I've seen and heard a LOT of negative comments about the Gibson Deluxe Kluson tuners, which is the reason I suspected the tuners in the first place (or maybe that is why I started to notice the guitar going out of tune more rapidly than my Strats).

I got a good deal on a set of new Grover Vintage tuners, so I'll slap them on and let you guys know what my finding are (Nick, you can still keep the coat).