BassAgent Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) Right, so I have this lovely little guitar: And it sounds mighty fine. I might swing some new pickups in at some time, but for now I'm more concerned with the tuners. I rarely used it in a band, but today I was rehearsing with my new reggae band and it detuned like hell without having used bends and such. I'm going to put a new nut on it, but I'm still not sure what tuners to install. Gotoh? Grover? Kluson? Schaller? So many choices... I like the vintage Gibson look (you know, the ones with the plastic knobs), so I can make it look like this a little bit: But all of the brands I've named above make those, and I don't know/see the difference... Oh, and speaking of this guitar: it has the "Gibson" truss rod cover which I think is b*tt ugly. I'd love to have some other cover. Maybe "Dot", maybe black, different anyways. Who knows where I can get a 3-screw truss rod cover? Edited January 16, 2015 by BassAgent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I put Sperzel locking machines on my Dot (Studio). The stock machines were shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Ime, it's rare for tuners to be responsible for a guitar (or bass...) for not holding its tune. Did this occur suddenly..? Have you changed strings of late..? Are all the strings affected..? 'Twould be quite something to have all 6 tuners start 'losing it' all at once. Broken, worn-out, uncomfortable, esthetics; I can think of many reasons for changing, but not [i]that[/i]. I could be wrong, of course. Just my tuppence-worth. Edited February 26, 2015 by Dad3353 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 (edited) Nine times out of ten it's a binding nut. A quick buff of each slot with some waxed dental floss and a smidge of PTFE often does the trick. The other time out of ten it's slack windings round the post. Every time I tune up I give the strings a good tug, tune to pitch then give them another tug. Repeat until they're still in tune after a good tug. After that they usually stay in tune for a couple of hours. Edited February 27, 2015 by skankdelvar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yes, the above is sound advice. When I put on a new set, once up to pitch, I have the guitar lying flat on its back and pick it up by the middle of each string in turn. I give the instrument a gentle shake (up and down, like a yoyo, but less so...), and then tune 'em all back to pitch. It can be a bit frightening at first, but rest assured; the string won't break (if there's a doubt, do this over a soft surface such as a bed...). This process makes sure that any slack or binding, spare 'give' or potential stretch is taken out of the string. I don't do this often, as I tend to change strings only when they'll no longer hold their tune, usually 18 months-2 years or so. Some of my guitars hold their tune even longer. Yes, one of mine is a Samick 335, very similar to your Epi (but sunburst, of course...). Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Mariner Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Replace the nut first and foremost, or better still, as suggested already you can lubricate (or even slightly widen, using the next size up string) the slots. I've owned a few guitars with tuning problems at first, and it's always been down to a badly cut nut. Before they started using PLEK to set up their guitars, Gibson were notorious for sticky nuts ( ) so at least your copy is trying to be authentic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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