Locking tuners
MissYouAllDay
Posts: 939
Hey all,
I am considering investing in some locking tuners. Would this stop me from having to constantly tune my tele after doing bends and such? What are the best type of locking tuners? How much are they? Do they have to modify your guitar alot for installation?
Thanks guys
I am considering investing in some locking tuners. Would this stop me from having to constantly tune my tele after doing bends and such? What are the best type of locking tuners? How much are they? Do they have to modify your guitar alot for installation?
Thanks guys
I miss you already, I miss you always
I miss you already, I miss you all day
I miss you already, I miss you all day
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I forget exactly which tuners can swap in and out with stock Fender tuners that require no drilling or modifying. But there are locking tuners that you can get that won't require anything like that, you'll just need to do some research.
However, I don't think that tuners are your problem here. They might be... but if you go out of tune after a lot of bending, my guess is that the strings are binding up at the nut. The nut is the piece the strings rest on at the top of the neck, on the headstock side:
http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/images/necks/string_nut_1.jpg
If the slots in the nut aren't cut properly, they will bind up on the strings when you bend up, causing the string to stick. You can fix this two ways: one, take it to a good guitar repair shop/luthier, and have him either re-cut or just replace the nut (depending on the nut material and quality):
http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=string_nut
Two, go to a music shop and ask for some kind of nut lubricant (and just TRY to say that with a straight face). They usually will have some kind of liquid-graphite lube that you can use to put in the slots of the nut:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/429800/
1. Do you stretch your strings when you replace them? This is very important.
2. How many winds around the peg do you do on each string? You do not want more than two or three
3. What kind of tele you got?
4. What size strings you got? 9's are more prone to going out of tune then 10's etc...
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SO then what do locking tuners accomplish? I also strum really hard and that puts them out of tune quicker. Would they help that?
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Mccready correct me if I'm wrong. Locking tuners help restring quicker and keep the winds down off the pegs, Pull it thru the tuner lock it cut it tune it. I don't think that would help much.
American Made fenders have good tuners and saddles. You strum hard, that doesn't help much, but even then I've seen guitars stay in tune really well when being beat.
You should try 11's, if you can handle them.
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They also keep the string from slipping at the peg, causing tuning problems. The whole point of the double locking tremolo (Floyd rose) is to lock the strengs down so you can go wild on the tremolo bar with bends and not have to retune. Single lockers certainly help.
a nice smooth nut and bridge (which you should already have anyway it's new)
I'd go with getting the guitar setup for 11's at 8/32's off the fretboard (you're fingers will be ok after a while and you're girlfriend will love you) and while you're at it use a slightly lighter guage pick. That will soften you're attack on the strings. While getting it set up you could inquire about the cost of a graphite nut, which is smoother than the plastic or bone that you have on your guitar currently, this also would help tuning stability.
I've never had a problem with Fender's stock tuners, but that doesn't mean there aren't lemons out there. Locking tuners are very nice, especially for re-stringing, and they do add some tuning stability (although if you're a good stringwinder, you can get a string to "lock" on a non-locking tuner).
However, I maintain that this is more likely a problem in the nut. Paco suggested a graphite nut, which will provide you with the ultimate string-glide. I'd personally prefer a well-cut bone nut, I feel it provides better tone and resonance. But for someone who plays heavy and hard, and bends a lot, graphite is probably the way to go (short of the double-locking Floyd Rose system, which is ugly as hell).
The only hard part is finding a good, qualified luthier or tech to replace the nut. It's definitely not something I'd suggest a novice tackles on his own. However, if you wanted to try something as a quick-fix, that nut lube works. It may take a week to really break in, but it works.
I wonder if you can order a nut from PRS... they have that funky we-won't-tell-you material that seems to be really good for the job. It's kinda like a hard plastic-rubber.
Well I teched for a friend at his bands album release party, they were going to play a long show, and he has this old Kramer with the floyd rose locking set up on it. With the open tuning he uses on about 4 songs it works great, I never touched it at previous shows, tune it once and leave it. Well at this one it was a different story, when the string broke on the first song of the night. I thought about changing it for about a 1/2 of second then said the heck with changing that, he is going to have to make due with what he has.
Well if it was a non floyd rose guitar, I would of had it changed in no time, and had it tuned and ready to go. But not with the floyd rose.
I like the "11's" idea!
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Not to mention needing about a half-dozen allen wrenches for the job...
If you're a wild whammy player metal geek, then a Floyd Rose is pretty cool. Otherwise...
I have a Cort Explorer that has a pseudo-Floyd Rose on it, but I took all the locking features off it. Eventually, I'm going to have the nut replaced from the locker to a bone or graphite, but for now... it's just fine.
Yeah, I detest having to find an allen wrench to change a string.
I love lockers probably because I'm a crappy string winder and I love to pull it through and cut it.
Though I have actually stepped into the 20th century and I have purchased a string winder so maybe all that will change, regardless the new fender will have lockers so I will change strings more frequently.
Have you guys ever seen the cool floating deal that Parker uses on the Flys?