Replacement tuners for my Epiphone Dot and more...

[BassAgent]

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

[NancyJohnson]

I put Sperzel locking machines on my Dot (Studio). The stock machines were shocking.

[Dad3353]

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

[skankdelvar]

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

[Dad3353]

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.

[Ancient Mariner]

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.