Locking Tuners.

JonathanAnon

Hi guys,

anybody any opinions on these:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/planet-waves-auto-trim-tuning-machines-6-in-line

I was gonna just go ahead and buy these but a few people are mentioning that the strings can slip out of the locking system.. which would be a nightmare..

Would I be better off just fitting a locking nut and changing the intonation?

Demeyes

What guitar do you want these for? I'd see if you can find out what locking tuner is a direct replacement for the tuners you have so the swap will be easiest. I doubt the string slipping thing is a big issue.

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Would I be better off just fitting a locking nut and changing the intonation?

That depends on the kind of bridge you have. There's no point on fitting a locking nut unless your bridge has fine tuners. If you have a bigsby or strat style trem you shouldn't fit a lock nut because when you clamp it down you won't be able to adjust the tuning, which is an issue because the lock nut can make them slightly sharp when it's locked down.
Also what do you mean by changing the intonation? That's not really an issue with the nut or tuners.

Squidgy Black

Get the schaller locking ones, never mind the fancy arsed string cutting ****e.

Never had a problem with the schallers ever.

-Chris-

I have these PW tuners and haven't had any issues with slippage.

Maybe they just weren't tightening them properly

Dublin Guitar

I use locking tuners on my Les Paul with a Bigsby and it functions really well in alternate tunings. Has made using the Bigsby a lot easier too. Recommend them for any guitar with a trem

JonathanAnon

Demeyes wrote: »

What guitar do you want these for?

sorry should have posted this.. It's a Pacifica 112v..

That depends on the kind of bridge you have. There's no point on fitting a locking nut unless your bridge has fine tuners.

Not sure how , but I completely forgot the fine tuners.. That's not gonna work..

stetyrrell wrote: »

Get the schaller locking ones, never mind the fancy arsed string cutting ****e.

lol, yeah that is what I was thinking.. I didnt want to get sold on a gimmick..

I'm not sure what to do.. I play footloose and a few other string bendy songs, and dont have time to tune between songs.. I'm just a bit worried that I'm bringing more trouble on myself by getting locking tuners.. especially what I read about the Planet Wave tuners..

Squidgy Black

If you're doing any kind of bending for live shows, either get locking tuners, or have your guitar set up extremely well intonation wise.

On the subject of not being able to tune between songs, have a look at the tc electronic polytune.

One quick strum and it'll show you if any of your strings are out of tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGBG2OeayMY

JonathanAnon

stetyrrell wrote: »

If you're doing any kind of bending for live shows, either get locking tuners, or have your guitar set up extremely well intonation wise.

Hi Ste, I appreciate what you're saying about that very cool looking polytuner, but at the moment I'm taking it from the approach of finding the best way of physically keeping the strings in tune..

Right now the only option that seems to make sense is installing locking tuners.. I'm just trying to weigh up the options.. I'm a bit put off by the fact that the music stores I rang today responded to my question by saying "locking whaaaa?".. Apparently they are not as commonly used as I thought..

Squidgy Black

The lads in musicmaker definitely had the schallers in a couple of weeks ago.

Waltons have them too, but they're ridiculously expensive.

Ravelleman

It's debatable whether or not locking tuners will actually make much of a difference. They don't stop guitars from going out of tune. They just make restringing them easier and reduce the need to wrap the string around the post, something which, if done badly, can cause the string to slip. It's a common misconception.

If you have problems with string slips, learn to string the guitar with less wraps.

Demeyes

If you are having problems with it going out of tune you should see about getting a new nut cut. If it is poorly slotted you will have strings getting caught and then going out of tune when you do a bend or use the trem. You can use a mix of pencil graphite and vaseline and apply some to the slots too to help with string friction there, it works pretty well.

I'm not sure what to do.. I play footloose and a few other string bendy songs, and dont have time to tune between songs..

If you get a good tuner you should be able to tune in a few seconds. Get someone to do some crowd talk while you check and tune your guitar after some of the more problematic songs.