Tuners

This is a photo sampling of the tuners I typically install on guitars. I can get and use other tuners, but these are the main ones that I recommend and use on my personal guitars.

A brief lesson on Installing Tuners

Waverly:

These are the cream of the crop tuners. They have the best turning motion, last the longest, have a flat base that makes full contact with the headstock and look good. They have two qualities, though, that keep me from recommending them in many cases. 1) they're expensive. My cost is $125 from Stew Mac and I just can't afford to buy enough to get a lower price. Even if I could, it's still going to cost you well over $100 for a set. 2) the tuner shafts are taller than I'd like. I feel that shorter shafts get the string closer to the peghead, resulting in less vibration loss and creating a better break angle over the nut. Sure, you could wind the string down, but you've still excess shaft material sucking up vibrations. Yes, it's a small difference, but a bunch of small things add up. Still, if you want to pay the bucks, Waverlies are the best overall tuner.

Schaller Open Back

These are a new tuner on the market.  I feel they are the second choice to Waverly.  The footprint is the same as a Waverly/Grover- that's the good news. The bad news is that the grommet is a little larger diameter, so you'll have to ream out your old holes a little to get the new grommets to fit. The other bad news on the grommets is that they're round and I sure like hex grommets better. And because the shaft is .236" diameter as opposed to Waverly and Gotoh's .248-.250", you can't use their grommets. Bummer. If they just had hex bushings!!!  

They turn really well, though, and are a good feeling tuner.  The buttons feel a little flatter than every one else's.

   Martin                               Schaller

Gotoh Kluson copies and Grover Sta-Tites

Kluson tuners were used on a lot of old Martins and these are Gotoh's copies of those tuners. I use these a lot as I feel the cost/performance ratio is about right. They have low shafts, work acceptably, and are relatively inexpensive ($25-35). They used to come stock on Santa Cruz and Collings guitars before the development of Waverlies. The disadvantages of these tuners are 1) the tuners will typically last about 5-10 years before they get loose, 2) the base is "cookie-cutter" and doesn't make full contact with the peghead. In spite of this, I use these tuners a lot because they're direct fits for old Martins that used Kluson tuners (Waverlies have a slightly different footprint), and they look and work well.

Grover Statites were also used quite a bit on old Martins. The newer versions are an inexpensive tuner that look good and work acceptably well. They're hard to retrofit on old guitars because the grommet and tuner shaft are a little small, thus require some shimming. The gears are not nearly as good as Waverlies and you'll notice some slop in them when there's no tension on them. Under string tension, though, they work fine. And they're cheap ($25-30). The tuner shaft is a little too tall for my tastes, but the base is nice and flat and the gears are all metal. Another problem with them is that the grommets only come in "round" and I like "hex" grommets for the looks. I've only installed a few sets of these because of the retrofit problems, but they're decent tuners.

Grover Statites (left), Gotoh Kluson copies (right)

Here's the difference in shaft height between Grover (L) and Kluson copies (R).

Gotoh with Waverly type buttons

A third type of tuners is the Kluson copy with Waverly type buttons. These combine the low post and footprint of the Kluson copies with the scalloped buttons of the Waverlies. I'll use these to dress up a guitar and give it a different look. The slightly larger buttons give a little more tuning leverage, too.

These are a good choice for those who like gold tuners. Gold Waverlies cost $185/set and Gold Gotohs run about $60/set. Plus, I think the gold plating actually looks better on the Gotohs.

Genuine Kluson

This is a set of open-back Klusons from a '50's Martin.

And LAST of all

These are the kind of tuners I take OFF. They're heavy, they have a lot of parts that get loose, they're ugly, the shafts are tall. They do turn smoothly (until they don't...).

I finally got these tuners all together and did some measurements on them.   "Shaft height" is height of shaft from the base of the tuner to the top of the shaft.  "String height" is the height of the string hole from the base.  "Shaft diameter" is the diameter of the string post.  Weight is the weight of 1 tuner in grams.

                             Shaft Ht       String Ht.   Shaft Dia.    Weight

1. Rotomatics:     28 mm         23 mm       .236"        46.6 gm
2. Gotoh :             25 mm         20 mm       .250"        25.7 gm
3. Grover:             29 mm        24 mm       .235"        22.4 gm
4. Waverly:           27.5 mm    22 mm       .248"          27.5 gm
5. Schaller:          27mm         22 mm        .236"          25.0 gm
6. Martin:            28 mm         23 mm        .236"         22.0 gm
7. 50's Kluson   25 mm         19 mm         .253"         23.5 gm

This means that the total weight of a set of Rotomatics is almost 11 oz. and the weight of a set of Gotoh Kluson copies is about 6 oz.  Which would you rather having hanging at the end of your guitar neck?

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