Retrovibe UltraLite tuners

[MartinB]

Here's my Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass V:

 

 

The neck is fairly chunky, and though I wouldn't necessarily describe it as divey, it's definitely not perfectly balanced.

Each tuner + bushing + screws weighs 93g:

 

 

What if they weighed... less?
Enter Retrovibe UltraLite tuners! https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-ultralite-bass-tuning-machine-heads-clover-leaf-or-lollipop-only-224g-per-set/

 

 

57g each, that's more like it! 180g less in total, which doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things - but every little helps when it's at the end of a long lever.

Much like Hipshot Licensed 1/2" tuners, these are designed for a 3/8" (16mm) hole - but the Squier's are more like 17-and-a-bit-mm. There are metal adapters available, but they're a bit spendy for what you get. My alternative: a small sample piece of maple veneer from eBay, and cutting a strip to fit neatly around the circumference of each hole. This reduces them enough to give a nice snug fit on the bushings. There are only two screws needed for each tuner, and they're not close enough to the existing screw holes to cause problems. 2mm drill bit for the pilot holes; wax on the screw threads before fitting them, as they're tiny and the hard maple is at risk of snapping them. Et voilà!

 

Is it life-changingly better? No. Is it marginal improvement that makes this bass slightly less unwieldy? Undoubtedly!

[MartinB]

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that there's no 4+1 set available from Retrovibe. I imagine that you if you asked David nicely, he'd sort you out - but I didn't, because I wanted to test a theory.

While looking for affordable lightweight tuners, I also came across these: Allparts TK-7567-010

There's not a lot of information provided - in particular the expected headstock hole size - but they looked quite similar to the Retrovibe ones. So I took a punt on a single left-handed one. And sure enough:

 

I'm would imagine these are the same model too: https://shoppartsland.com/kg700-r4-cr-p127/

Anyway - Retrovibe is still the best place to go for these, and they came with screws that felt less flimsy than the Allparts ones. Just wanted to share this extra info to help anyone fruitlessly googling the dimensions of the Allparts ones in the future 😄

[Lozz196]

I’ve done similar - using Hipshot Ultralites - and imo it’s a worthy modification, makes a bass balance better and less wear on the shoulder. 

[MartinB]

On one of my other basses I replaced the stock tuners with Gotoh GB640s - but at the same time I replaced the bridge (standard Fender-type BBOT) with a heavier Gotoh 201B-4. The end result was that the total weight of the bass barely changed - but since what I'd lost at the headstock I'd added at the bridge, the balance was much improved. I'd have done the same with this one, but it's already my heaviest bass and I didn't want to add any more weight! 😅 Even with just the combination of lighter tuners and a strap with some grip on the shoulder, it's become more comfortable to play.

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by MartinB
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