Which "6-in-line/vintage" locking tuners should I upgrade to?

[matarroano]

Hi!

I'm locking to buy a set "6-in-line/vintage" locking tuners to upgrade the stock ones on my Modern Player Jazzmaster...

Which ones would you recommend? I'm eyeing these set of Kluson M6VLC Magnum Locks. They "sound like" quality stuff, being around 70€. Or I could settle for other Kluson options at around 40€... Maybe a set of 70€ tuners will "look bad" on a 500€ guitar. Overkill, much?!

Should I go for any other brand? Which one would you recommend as another viable, good quality option?

Any and all thoughts on ideas on this is very much welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

[alexpigment]

Out of curiosity, why locking? Also, what's wrong with your current tuners?

[matarroano]

Out of curiosity, why locking? Also, what's wrong with your current tuners?

It's easier to change strings. I'm lazy. I've grown used to locking tuners and I like them better. That's pretty much it. Thanks for your reply!

[alexpigment]

Fair enough. You're not going to improve tuning stability in any way with locking tuners, so if slightly quicker string changing is worth the money to you, those look like a fine option. I don't think 70€ is really that crazy for a set of name brand tuners. Keep in mind those are just Gotoh tuners sold under the Kluson name, so you might be able to find the Gotoh SD91 locking version for cheaper. Gotoh also sells the thumb wheel version as well. I can't really weigh in on which mechanism is better - I've only used the thumb wheel type.

[andy_tchp]

IME those are a massive pain in the arse to restring compared to regular vintage-style slotted machine heads.

To the point that I got rid of the set I had and went back to the regular old Gotohs that Fender use.

[alexpigment]

Yes I agree that I find more downsides to locking tuners than upsides, but the OP prefers them so to each his own.

[andy_tchp]

If those are 'easier' to change strings on then the OP may (must) be doing something wrong/weird when trying to restring the slotted type.

[Larry Mal]

Jesus Christ. No, he's not doing anything wrong- you are doing something wrong.


So, guys, let me tell you something you maybe don't know, and it's something that has pissed me off for years now. Every time you ask about some locking tuners you get a bunch of clowns popping up saying the same crap- you must be doing something wrong, you don't need those, and my favorite: "I don't have any problem with my tuners".

It's incredibly rude.

It's really not unlike if someone asked about a Jazzmaster and got patronizingly told that they should just play a Strat instead. Some people prefer locking tuners- that's why they are for sale everywhere and dozens of makers and a lot of different models. Get over it. Give the guy some basic respect for knowing what it is that he wants and quit offering an irrelevant opinion to the contrary. If you know the answer to his question, then give it, if you don't then move on.

[Larry Mal]

To try and answer the actual question because I know that some people prefer locking tuners just like I do and I respect people's decisions, the best I have ever found are the Kluson Revolution locking- they are much better than those other Klusons you linked to above.

You'll need the "no collar" option I'll imagine, which are hard to find for some reason.

Here is a set in gold that should give you an idea what I'm talking about.

I prefer the Revolutions to these Gotohs, but I do use these Gotohs on a couple of my guitars since as a guitarist for well over twenty years I know what I want on my guitars and am entitled to having an opinion and it's not wrong:

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... g-machine/

Hope this helps.

[alexpigment]

So, guys, let me tell you something you maybe don't know, and it's something that has pissed me off for years now. Every time you ask about some locking tuners you get a bunch of clowns popping up saying the same crap- you must be doing something wrong, you don't need those, and my favorite: "I don't have any problem with my tuners".

It's incredibly rude.

I honestly don't think I was being particularly rude, so hopefully i'm not part of the "guys" that inspired this rant. I will say, however, that it is very important to vet the reasoning for someone wanting locking tuners, as annoying as that may be. At least 3 out of 5 times, people who are asking about locking tuner recommendations are trying to address poor tuning stability, and in those cases, the OP should be made aware that their money could be better spent elsewhere. The OP in this thread clearly made it known why he prefers locking tuners, and so I fully respect his decision.

At any rate, I can see how seeing the same pattern pop up is a sore subject to you.

[Larry Mal]

Well, it's not a rant, first of all, I'm just pointing out a breach of internet etiquette. It's considered rude to dismiss someone's articulated question in favor of soapboxing.

Again, it's just like if someone said "I've decided to get a Jazzmaster, which model should I consider" and people responded by "vetting" the questioner and insisting that a Strat or a Les Paul would be a better choice for that person.

He stated he wants locking tuners, he stated why (he prefers them) indicating that he has the experience needed to make this decision. He's not asking if he should get locking tuners, he's asking about which model he should get regarding a decision that he's already made- respect that, and address his question.

I can only tell you that it's annoying as shit, and I know, because I've gone through it any number of times. I am now probably one of the most knowledgable person on locking tuner models on the internet, and I've had to be, since I found I couldn't get any actual answers regarding locking tuners, all I got was annoying, unwanted, smug and unsolicited opinions.

Now I just try and intercept locking tuner threads here and elsewhere to spare people the annoyance of what I'm seeing here.

[alexpigment]

I agree with what you're saying. I just wanted to point out that while there may be a small bit of rudeness in this thread, I really don't think it was coming from my end. And if it was, my apologies to the OP.

[Larry Mal]

I should not be calling out anyone in particular, so don't think I have any hard feelings towards you or anybody else. I just want to make it clear how unhelpful it is to question and belittle someone's choice about locking tuners. They are a perfectly valid decision to make that a lot of people enjoy making, if it's helpful for someone to use them (and it is) then try and be respectful of that.

[alexpigment]

I agree with this entirely. The only reason for positing the question first of "why locking tuners?" is because the safe-t-post design already on the guitar is a brilliant form of a locking tuner, albeit without the 'less winds' concept. The strings are locked in by a 90-degree turn inside the tuner shaft itself - but I will accept the argument that the high E can a bit more finicky in this regard. A well setup Jazzmaster will return to 100% correct pitch through any form of tremolo use or 'divebombing' with those safe-t-post/vintage tuners. Anyway, the OP gave his respectable reason for wanting locking tuners, I made my recommendations for locking tuning keys, you made yours - let's all move on and have a great day

[Larry Mal]

The Safe-T post is a great design, it's basically the design that bass guitar tuners use and I never mind stringing basses for whatever reason.

Also, to get back to the original question, that first set of locking tuners that was posted looks to me like the "automatic lock" kind of locking tuners, and I deeply dislike those. You put the string through, and you turn the knob a bunch of times, over and over and over and over, until the mechanism locks. If you have a string winder then it's only a passing annoyance, if you don't, it just sucks and frankly takes longer and is more of a hassle than just the Safe-T design.

Most common these days is the Grip-Lock type tuner, and those are the ones I use most, but they have a design flaw as well. From time to time, the little inner rod that holds the string in place does not descend, and you have to kind of tap on the top of the tuner until it falls back into place. Not a big deal, I guess, but I would sure feel like an idiot have to stand there and do that on stage.

From the viewpoint of functionality, this kind is the best in my opinion. They have little barrels on top that work flawlessly, you just unscrew them a bit, put the string in and screw it back down. There's nothing that can go wrong that way, but they don't really look good, and I've always thought about the nightmare of being on stage, losing one of those little barrels (which can happen) and then you don't have a working guitar.

And despite my claiming to be some kind of big-ass expert, I'm not aware of a model of those that exists for vintage type Fender instruments.