"Wilkinson" Tuners

[onemanband]

Hi,

Anyone knowledgeable on "Wilkinson" tuners??

Are these the one's fitted to the MIM "Pawn Shop" series as the specs only quote "standard" tuners.

I'm familier with Grover, Gotoh and most of the other suspects, but don't know this brand, are they any good?

Edited May 18, 2013 by onemanband

[Zenitram]

All their other stuff is great. Pick ups, bridges, etc. They're solid, dependable; they're a Ford Focus brand rather than a BMW or a Nissan Micra.

[jezzaboy]

I have used the large open geared ones that look a bit like the old Fender ones and the small 2 + 2 ones that are suitable for the likes of an Ibanez. They are decent tuners and I found they hold their tuning well especially the 2 +2 ones. I have a set of black ones on my P bass and they are nice and look better than the chrome ones to me. They are cheap as well. All the wilkinson stuff is decent gear in my experiance.

The tuners fitted to the Pawn Shop Mustang aren`t the same as the ones fitted to the MIM standard P or J basses, they are like the smaller diamater tuners that are fitted to the cheaper range of Japanese Fenders.

[RandomBass]

Can't go wrong with Wilkinson in my experience. Solid dependable gear - ask any Vintage bass owner.

[BobVbass]

Yes as above - I swapped the tuners on my paisley bass to wilkinson as the reverse tuners were doing my head in! Good solid stay in tune so all you need

Edited May 19, 2013 by bob_pickard

[gary mac]

I've used them and found that they were everything I would expect from a tuner, and at a good price.

[martthebass]

Same here, swapped out the piece of crap tuners in my Squier P with chrome open geared. Good tuners, good price.

[LITTLEWING]

'Scuse my higorance here, but all this pish about good and bad tuners, how can a tuner gear (unless it's really a ten pence far East item) actually let a string go out of tune? A string needs retuning because you've just stretched the tits out of it with a bit of enthusiastic playing for a while, surely. My Squier VM Jazz has had no tuning issues in a year and a half. In fact, each time I take it out of it's case it's exactly the same as I left it, as does my Yammy BBN5. If I'm seriously missing something here, I'll sit and humbly take it all on board and happily digest new found knowledge.

[BigRedX]

Not everything from Wilkinson is great. I have a bass with a Wilkinson bridge that from an adjustment PoV is massively and unnecessarily complicated to use, while seemingly offering no advantage over a more normal totally (and far more easily) adjustable model like the Schaller 3D. Given my experience of it, finding this bridge on another bass would seriously put me off buying it.

[Roland Rock]

I've always been a bit wary of cheaper hardware, especially Wilko's own brand stuff, but it's good to know these tuners do the job well










;-)

[Musky]

[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1368955929' post='2083289']
'Scuse my higorance here, but all this pish about good and bad tuners, how can a tuner gear (unless it's really a ten pence far East item) actually let a string go out of tune? A string needs retuning because you've just stretched the tits out of it with a bit of enthusiastic playing for a while, surely. My Squier VM Jazz has had no tuning issues in a year and a half. In fact, each time I take it out of it's case it's exactly the same as I left it, as does my Yammy BBN5. If I'm seriously missing something here, I'll sit and humbly take it all on board and happily digest new found knowledge.
[/quote]
That's my experience as well.

Except for the really cheap and nasty stuff, everything I've ever used has held it's tuning well. As in play a gig, turn up to a rehearsal the following week and it's still in tune. As long as the tuners don't get moved when they're living in a gig bag and there's no big temperature changes they scarcely get touched. The main difference is how smooth the tuners feel and their tuning ratios (and the two points may not be unrelated).

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1368955929' post='2083289']
'Scuse my higorance here, but all this pish about good and bad tuners, how can a tuner gear (unless it's really a ten pence far East item) actually let a string go out of tune? A string needs retuning because you've just stretched the tits out of it with a bit of enthusiastic playing for a while, surely. My Squier VM Jazz has had no tuning issues in a year and a half. In fact, each time I take it out of it's case it's exactly the same as I left it, as does my Yammy BBN5. If I'm seriously missing something here, I'll sit and humbly take it all on board and happily digest new found knowledge.
[/quote]

I have to disagree, surely a tuner put's a string under tension and if it doesn't have the resistance to maintain the tension then it will begin to unwind.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1368955929' post='2083289']
'Scuse my higorance here, but all this pish about good and bad tuners, how can a tuner gear (unless it's really a ten pence far East item) actually let a string go out of tune? A string needs retuning because you've just stretched the tits out of it with a bit of enthusiastic playing for a while, surely. My Squier VM Jazz has had no tuning issues in a year and a half. In fact, each time I take it out of it's case it's exactly the same as I left it, as does my Yammy BBN5. If I'm seriously missing something here, I'll sit and humbly take it all on board and happily digest new found knowledge.
[/quote]

But strings have a fair amount of tension on them all the time, so by this theory, they would stretch out of tune just by doing nothing. I don't think playing puts too much extra tension on the string, unless you are playing slap, and even when I play slap, my strings hardly detune. It all comes back to fulcrum points. When you bend a string, you are essentially increasing the tension, and the string slides a bit out of the nut and bridge, and when you stop bending, it should return to the point it was at before, but it doesn't always, and that's when it detunes. It's more of an issue with 6 string guitars than basses, as the longer scale on basses seems to be able to absorb these changes in tension much more easily. I've used crap tunes before, and the bass has gone out of tune pretty easy. They do make a difference, but beyond a certain point, it's just a brand name. I've used Wilkinson tuners before, and they are pretty good. Really reliable, good solid gear, and pretty cheap. You should just go for it. I used the old Fender style ones.

[threedaymonk]

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1368961170' post='2083367']
I have to disagree, surely a tuner put's a string under tension and if it doesn't have the resistance to maintain the tension then it will begin to unwind.
[/quote]

It's been a while since I studied mechanics, but I don't think that's correct.

Worm gears are relatively inefficient due to the sliding interface between the wheel and the screw, and it's the friction between the (large) contact surfaces in a worm gear that prevents it from running in reverse. It's not really a question of resisting the tension: the force due to string tension is either large enough to overcome stiction, in which case you'd never be able to tune the thing up, or it works.

Edited May 19, 2013 by threedaymonk

[lee4]

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1368944509' post='2083194']
Can't go wrong with Wilkinson in my experience. Solid dependable gear - ask any Vintage bass owner.
[/quote]
Own one.Like it.Feels solid and sounds great.

[Mr. Foxen]

I've once had an issue with the footprint being huge, and not fitting on what appeared to be a standard headstock. Used the on the Octobass due to being huge.

[Donnyboy]

I've got a set on my Jazz , big eared ones. I've not had any problems.
I like big ears !

[Telebass]

Wilkinson HWJB200 tuners are great. They are, IMHO, the best tuners if you want the long-stemmed 66-75 look for your Fender.
And usually under 25 squids a set.
What's not to like?