AlexDelores Posted January 31 Posted January 31 I’m looking at getting some Hipshot Ultralite 3/8 2 x 2 tuners for my Gretsch and I’ve noticed that they sell a set for £140 ish and then also a ‘licensed’ set for half the price. They look exactly the same other than ones made in USA and one in SKorea. Any reason anyone can mention to not bother getting the cheaper ones? I’m happy to spend the difference if there’s a huge difference in quality, but equally, I’m wondering if the difference will be noticeable at all… So thought I’d ask the question here before buying and see if anyone has experience… TIA Alex Quote
neepheid Posted January 31 Posted January 31 The licenced ones are slightly heavier than the USA ones. The main difference is that the licenced ones are not reversible, unlike the USA ones. So if you're confident you won't ever need this feature, then crack on and save some money (and still lots of grams off your headstock) and go for the licenced tuners, they're still top notch. 2 1 Quote
fretmeister Posted January 31 Posted January 31 They're both very good - I get the USA ones as I like to be able to reverse them if needed, and because of the small additional weight saving. But I wouldn't bother getting the USA if a bass already had the Korean ones on it. I do wish the string posts were slightly tapered to force the string to the bottom, but I can't have everything. BTW - the Y key ones are a little lighter than the clovers, with the lollipop in the middle. I believe the Y keys are the lightest tuner ever, but for clovers the Sandberg lightweight tuner is a little lighter. The Sandbergs are a real pain to get in the UK though as their online shop currently won't ship out of the EU. 1 Quote
AlexDelores Posted January 31 Author Posted January 31 Thank you kindly. I assume by reversing them you mean if I ever wanted to put them on a 4 in line headstock? Sorry for the naivety, other than adjusting a truss rod, this is the most DIY I’ve ever done to a bass 😅 Quote
neepheid Posted January 31 Posted January 31 Just now, AlexDelores said: Thank you kindly. I assume by reversing them you mean if I ever wanted to put them on a 4 in line headstock? Sorry for the naivety, other than adjusting a truss rod, this is the most DIY I’ve ever done to a bass 😅 Yes, changing them from left handed to right handed and vice versa. 1 Quote
AlexDelores Posted January 31 Author Posted January 31 Brill, thank you 🙏 I’ll go for the licensed then as I’m sure they’ll be a hell of a step up from the stock Chinese ones on it at the moment. Quote
Chienmortbb Posted January 31 Posted January 31 I have a set of USA ones and to be honest, they are not a patch on the Gotoh Res-O-Lites. 2 Quote
AlexDelores Posted February 2 Author Posted February 2 That’s good to know, I’ll take a look! I’m going to be putting a Gotoh B201B4 bridge on it anyway so not set on Hipshot. Quote
neepheid Posted February 2 Posted February 2 On 31/01/2025 at 19:53, Chienmortbb said: I have a set of USA ones and to be honest, they are not a patch on the Gotoh Res-O-Lites. Depends which ones you're talking about. The GB350 (GB707 sized) Res-o-Lite have plastic buttons and I ain't touching that with a barge pole - I don't care how smooth they turn and how light they are. That's Lotus levels of "add lightness" for me. Quote
michael2003x Posted February 3 Posted February 3 I have the long shaft Gotoh resolites (GB640s) on my Thunderbird, superb quality and look insane. I like the torque adjustment as well , nice touch Quote
Kev Posted February 3 Posted February 3 On 02/02/2025 at 11:18, neepheid said: Depends which ones you're talking about. The GB350 (GB707 sized) Res-o-Lite have plastic buttons and I ain't touching that with a barge pole - I don't care how smooth they turn and how light they are. That's Lotus levels of "add lightness" for me. Plastic?! Wow, talking about taking advantage of this odd obsession people have with saving a few grams on an instrument weighing thousands. Mad. Quote
fretmeister Posted February 3 Posted February 3 On 31/01/2025 at 19:53, Chienmortbb said: I have a set of USA ones and to be honest, they are not a patch on the Gotoh Res-O-Lites. They are lovely and light but the posts are small - bit annoying for your average Fender sized headstock hole. Either need about 2 metres of plumbers tape to widen the bushing or fill the holes completely and then redrill. Ain’t got no time for that! 🤣 Quote
Chienmortbb Posted February 3 Posted February 3 25 minutes ago, fretmeister said: They are lovely and light but the posts are small - bit annoying for your average Fender sized headstock hole. Either need about 2 metres of plumbers tape to widen the bushing or fill the holes completely and then redrill. Ain’t got no time for that! 🤣 They do two ranges, one is for the standard USA models one is for far-eastern guitars (including Fender Japan) Quote
AlexDelores Posted February 6 Author Posted February 6 Think I’m may actually go for some Gotoh GB707 instead. My main concern was tuning stability rather than reducing weight and I can save about £20 on them against the licensed HS and they’ll already be a huge step up from the existing Chinese ones. Thanks for everyone’s help with this 1 Quote
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