Machineheads too big for headstock

[Mariner72]

I've just took delivery of  a relatively decent pbass neck from China. It seems my Wilkinson machine heads are too big for the headstock. Can anyone recommend anything smaller but retaining the elephant ears?? Cheers guys

[dyerseve]

When you say they are too big do you mean they won't for through the holes in the headstock? If that is the case you will need to tell us the diameter of the holes so we can advise suitably.

I take it you aren't keen to drill the holes to increase their diameter to for your existing machineheads?

Photscould also help

[nilebodgers]

??or does the footprint of the tuner stick out over the edge of the headstock??

 

[Mariner72]

Guys, holes are good ferrules sit fine. It's the diameter of the tuner, not enough space on the headstock to accommodate all four. I'll provide photos when I make back to the homestead. Thanks for reading the post

[lemmywinks]

Wilkinsons have a large footprint from memory, I put some on a fretless (Mighty Mite neck) and the baseplates were touching. Most decent manufacturers will include a technical drawing on their site, here's the one for Schaller BM:

Here's the Gotoh GB640:

Gotoh also do a machine head with a very small baseplate:

https://g-gotoh.com/international/product/gb528s.html

Hipshot Ultralites would also fit no problem, pricey though even for licensed ones.

Edited January 22, 2018 by lemmywinks

[Mariner72]

Super, yes the Wikinson footprint is larger than you realise. Shame as they are good machine head. Need to keep these build costs down. Wonder if some second-hand Squiers off the site might do the job?

[lemmywinks]

I've used cheap Fender style tuners and they've all been fine, you can get a full set on eBay for £8 delivered and it wouldn't surprise me if they're exactly the same as the stock Squier ones. Unfortunately the cheap-but-good option for Fender style basses is Wilkinsons and you've already tried those!

 

Personally I would hunt for some decent used ones on the FS section here, might have to wait a bit but it'll be worth it.

[Andytre]

most of my bitsas have cheap as possible fender style heads from ebay, they are smaller than the ones i took off a neck and needed the holes re drilling. pretty sure they are smaller than Wilkinson ones. there pretty good for the money, never had a problem with tuning stability and they've taken couple of whacks and still work fine and didn't disintegrate! but do take a while to come through.   

[fretmeister]

Hipshot Ultralites.

 

Tiny footprint and save a surprising amount of weight.

[discreet]

On 22/01/2018 at 18:35, Mariner72 said:

Can anyone recommend anything smaller but retaining the elephant ears?? Cheers guys

19 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Hipshot Ultralites. Tiny footprint and save a surprising amount of weight.

Hipshot Ultralites have the elephant ears and a tiny footprint, as mentioned above. You can buy the licensed version (still Hipshot but made in Korea) for £13 each (plus £4 total shipping) from Bass Direct:

http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Hipshot,_Licensed_tuners.html

They stop neck dive in its tracks - even if you didn't think you had neck dive - and they will save you half a pound (226g) on the total weight of your bass. Having fitted a set I wouldn't use anything else.

The only downside is that the biggest version (1/2" - 13mm) are slightly smaller than standard Fender-style headstock tuner holes, so you need appropriate bushes. These are readily available and well worth getting. Or use aluminium or copper tape for a snug fit.

Edited January 24, 2018 by discreet