Tuner upgrade for an SG

[Jono Bolton]

This is one for those who play guitar as well as bass. I've recently bought an Epiphone G400 for a very reasonable £80. The seller had upgraded the neck pickup to a Gibson and stuck a set of Grover Machineheads on it too. However, the Grovers are awful, I need to retune every 15 minutes or so. It could also do with a decent set up, but while the strings are off I want to get shot of the awful tuners that are on it just now. Does anyone have any recommendations for new keys that would give rock solid tuning stability for Gibson-style guitars?

[Mr. Foxen]

I got some Klusons on mine, proper snot green jobs. Very smooth, they were imperial size for real Gibsons, so I had to drill out the holes slightly to fit the grommets in.

[Hutton]

Really surprised about the Grovers. I've still got the original set on my Martin D28 and it stays in tune for looooooooooong periods of time. I can take it out of the case after weeks of non-playing and it's still in tune. I've had the guitar from new in 1979 and it's just fantastic. Are the tuners definitely Grovers? Is 'Grover' stamped on them? I've never heard anything bad said about them. However, I've also never seen the subject raised on this forum so who knows!

[Commando Jack]

I have an Epiphone G400 too and the Grovers that were factory fitted aren't the best either. Apparently the locking versions are much better, but I'm pretty disappointed with the standard ones. Just letting you know that it doesn't seem to be a faulty set anyway.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='Hutton' post='910930' date='Jul 31 2010, 08:04 AM']Really surprised about the Grovers. I've still got the original set on my Martin D28 and it stays in tune for looooooooooong periods of time. I can take it out of the case after weeks of non-playing and it's still in tune. I've had the guitar from new in 1979 and it's just fantastic. Are the tuners definitely Grovers? Is 'Grover' stamped on them? I've never heard anything bad said about them. However, I've also never seen the subject raised on this forum so who knows! [/quote]

+1, I've got Grovers in my SG Junior & they're absolutely solid - never had a problem with them & they do get hammered. Though like Hutton I know they do seem to get a bad press but not in my experience.

[Dave Vader]

Might not be the tuners, if you do a lot of string bending, the strings might be sticking in the nut or the bridge, try lubricating the strings (wd-40, fast-fret, other stuff) before you spend out on tuners. I did it years ago with my hofner, only to find it was just sticking.
If it is the tuners, I've always found wilkinsons to be cheap, and reliable.

[Ancient Mariner]

It'll almost certainly be the strings sticking in the nut. Even if the tuners are really worn and sloppy, provided you've strung it properly, stretched them in and tuned up to pitch from flat (never tune down from sharp) then they'll hold tuning.