Locking Tuners Are Great!

[anitoli]

I tried many guitar with different locking tuners designs and each and every single one of these guitars I was able to put it out of tune. I played them as I would normally play most guitars, and yet from simple finger bending fretted notes sharp/up, the string go out of tune. I tried to take a lot of things into consideration, but in the end I never found a locking tuner system that works as markets. So, based on my experience there is no locking tuner system that will keep your guitar perfectly in tune at any given moment; you're always gonna need to perform adjustments on locking tuners, which makes them kinda pointless imo. I know people use them and love them, which is cool if that's how you want to spend your money and time, but for me it's a waste of time and money.

Perhaps if you're just gonna play a style where you don't finger bend the strings and/or don't do finger vibrato and/or don't use a tremolo arm and/or don't play too aggressively, then yeah, your guitar may stay in tune very well with locking tuners, but then maybe another guitar with a great setup (but no locking tuners) would hold it's tuning just as well under the same playing style.

Were you always using the same string brand? I think some brands do not stay in tune as well as others.

 

[Michael Roe]

I am telling you, this is no secret: Pull your string out of your nut. Put some nut sauce in that nut slot. Bam! Stays in tune better than with locking tuners and a dry nut slot.
You can buy "nut sauce" or just make your own- what I do. Just get a small container and put some Vaseline in it. Then sprinkle some graphite powder in the Vaseline. Mix it up good. Use a toothpick to get some of the sauce and place in nut slot.
Ta Da!!!!!

 

[KraftyBob]

I am telling you, this is no secret: Pull your string out of your nut. Put some nut sauce in that nut slot. Bam! Stays in tune better than with locking tuners and a dry nut slot.
You can buy "nut sauce" or just make your own- what I do. Just get a small container and put some Vaseline in it. Then sprinkle some graphite powder in the Vaseline. Mix it up good. Use a toothpick to get some of the sauce and place in nut slot.
Ta Da!!!!!

I use graphite powder but never thought to mix it with Vaseline. Going to have to try that.

 

[GuitarIV]

I am telling you, this is no secret: Pull your string out of your nut. Put some nut sauce in that nut slot. Bam! Stays in tune better than with locking tuners and a dry nut slot.
You can buy "nut sauce" or just make your own- what I do. Just get a small container and put some Vaseline in it. Then sprinkle some graphite powder in the Vaseline. Mix it up good. Use a toothpick to get some of the sauce and place in nut slot.
Ta Da!!!!!

Never used vaseline, always just graphite from a pencil tip. Good idea. Refiling nut and bridge slots also always helps.

Yeah, locking tuners might not be the ultimate solution, I just agree with others here in regards to string changes. Also if you get all the other problem areas on the guitar fixed, not having additional windings on the tuning posts surely helps

 

[MarshallDog]

Here are the places where I bought my exact replacement Gibson style Kluson locking Tuners from on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_...id=112670722587&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

 

[anitoli]

Here are the places where I bought my exact replacement Gibson style Kluson locking Tuners from on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_...id=112670722587&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

Awesome, thanks.

 

[Trumpet Rider]

I have Sperzels on two of my guitars. String changes are so much faster than the old fashioned way.

 

[anitoli]

Another item that should be standard equipment on all guitars.

 

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

Were you always using the same string brand? I think some brands do not stay in tune as well as others.

No, not always the same brand. I do agree that certain string brands have a tendency to "malfunction" in some sense (I tend to see that most with strings that use a round core with their wrapped strings). But in the instances where I was using guitars with locking tuners, the strings varied in just about every detail.

We used different string brands, different string gauges, different string materials (e.g. nickel plated steel, pure nickel wound, coated strings, etc.) different tuning (e.g. standard tuning, 1/2 step below standard, open D, open G, etc.). The variety in brands, materials, and tuning should have weeded out a pattern for one particular string brand, string type, string gauge, but the results were the same: the strings would always slip out of tune when using any locking tuners.

 

[Neil S]

Locking tuners are stable. It is a mechanical property of the design, anyone having problems had instabilities somewhere else on the guitar or possibly poorly fitted tuners, and will have tuning problems with or without locking tuners.
They must be set up like in the photo below with no wrap or they are no different to any other tuner.
I don't find that any tuning pegs slip any way, its the problem of certain strings returning sharp after tremolo use that effects me. Once a string is stretched properly they are pretty stable until they eventually break on all my guitars.
When looking at other peoples guitars the biggest problems I see with tuning are the guitar is intonated poorly, or it is tuned perfectly with a tuner then pushed out of tune in certain chords by the guitarist. If you tune perfectly with a tuner your guitar will still be out of tune on certain chords anyway, the guitar is not perfect and can not be tuned perfectly.
I find to match open E with a perfectly tuned open D I drop the pitch slightly of the G.B.E strings. use your ear to get the best compromise between a slightly out of tune E and D. It sounds much better than having the E perfect and then hitting this atrocious out of tune D that you hear all over the internet in youtube vids.
I have watched people blame the guitar for this on many occasions when its just a matter of understanding and managing the shortfalls of the guitar itself.

Lock

• Neil S
• Apr 8, 2019

 

[GuitarIV]

Locking tuners are stable. It is a mechanical property of the design, anyone having problems had instabilities somewhere else on the guitar or possibly poorly fitted tuners, and will have tuning problems with or without locking tuners.
They must be set up like in the photo below with no wrap or they are no different to any other tuner.
I don't find that any tuning pegs slip any way, its the problem of certain strings returning sharp after tremolo use that effects me. Once a string is stretched properly they are pretty stable until they eventually break on all my guitars.
When looking at other peoples guitars the biggest problems I see with tuning are the guitar is intonated poorly, or it is tuned perfectly with a tuner then pushed out of tune in certain chords by the guitarist. If you tune perfectly with a tuner your guitar will still be out of tune on certain chords anyway, the guitar is not perfect and can not be tuned perfectly.
I find to match open E with a perfectly tuned open D I drop the pitch slightly of the G.B.E strings. use your ear to get the best compromise between a slightly out of tune E and D. It sounds much better than having the E perfect and then hitting this atrocious out of tune D that you hear all over the internet in youtube vids.
I have watched people blame the guitar for this on many occasions when its just a matter of understanding and managing the shortfalls of the guitar itself.

Lock

• Neil S
• Apr 8, 2019

You're absolutely right. I noticed the same thing, I usually tune using my tuner, then play through all basic chords, E; G; C; D; A minor and tweak the tuning of the strings (mostly the G string) until all of them sound ok.

Regarding Intonation I read about the Buzz Feiten system and also saw quite a few videos where people would intonate slightly sharp or flat depending on the string and their playing style. I think if you want a perfectly intonated guitar you can go ahead and get a custom instrument with the Evertune bridge and true temperament frets. I hate the look of those, it seems like the frets have melted but it seems to work:

 

[Neil S]

You're absolutely right. I noticed the same thing, I usually tune using my tuner, then play through all basic chords, E; G; C; D; A minor and tweak the tuning of the strings (mostly the G string) until all of them sound ok.

Regarding Intonation I read about the Buzz Feiten system and also saw quite a few videos where people would intonate slightly sharp or flat depending on the string and their playing style. I think if you want a perfectly intonated guitar you can go ahead and get a custom instrument with the Evertune bridge and true temperament frets. I hate the look of those, it seems like the frets have melted but it seems to work:

Those frets look like they would make for some pretty sick sounding string bends, a bit like an old record player with really bad wow (as in Wow and flutter)

Yes, I find the G is flattened the most. Look at the guitar in the photo, The G string is flattened all the way along the neck.

Another thing when recording in cold weather, is to tune after you have played for a while and your guitar and strings are the same temperature as your hands.
Sounds silly but it is enough to put one chord shape out of tune. You hear a chord that started in tune sound out of tune at the end of the recording, or when you go to double track.
Try it, tune the guitar when it is cold. Then lay your forearm along the strings to warm them fast and re check the tuning. All the strings expand differently, now your chords sound like crap.

 

[hudpucker]

ALL my electrics get locking tuners. Current faves are Hipshots due to their light weight.

 

[Adieu]

I got some penny Chinese lockers to replace busted Korean tuners on a cheapie, seem to work alright

 

[KraftyBob]

Too funny you guys mention the G string. I have to tune that slightly flat on my SG and Strat. For some reasons it’s more prevalent on those two guitars.

I’m so glad I read this thread because I thought it was something I was doing!

 

[Neil S]

Too funny you guys mention the G string. I have to tune that slightly flat on my SG and Strat. For some reasons it’s more prevalent on those two guitars.

I’m so glad I read this thread because I thought it was something I was doing!

To get all chords sounding good you have to follow the G slightly with the B and E. The fretboard above is a good graphical representation
of how imperfect the guitar is tuned when tuned with a tuner. This is one of the main reasons a lot of people think the guitar has gone out of tune. It didn't
"go" out, it already "was" out.

 

[Derek S]

ALL my electrics get locking tuners. Current faves are Hipshots due to their light weight.

+1

Aside from the LP, all of mine have some sort of locking gizmo, either the Sperzel, disc tuner type or the old fashioned locking nut. I'm comfy with them and knowing no amount of abuse will knock me outta tune. As for the time consuming string change...heh, it does take a few extra minuets but big deal, I usually just grab a couple of guitars due for new strings, plop down in front of the tv, relax and change 'em, the horror. If you wipe your strings down after playing, they last a long time anyway, so no biggie.

 

[KraftyBob]

To get all chords sounding good you have to follow the G slightly with the B and E. The fretboard above is a good graphical representation
of how imperfect the guitar is tuned when tuned with a tuner. This is one of the main reasons a lot of people think the guitar has gone out of tune. It didn't
"go" out, it already "was" out.

Makes me think I should dump the tuner and go back to fretting the string at the 5th/4th fret above the one I want to tune like when I was 12 years old and we started with a tuning fork...

 

[Trumpet Rider]

It helps to use a tempered tuning when you adjust intonation at string changes. In short, this means setting your intonation at various points on the neck as opposed to open string/12th fret.

 

[JeffMcLeod]

My 2018 SG came with Grover Lockers.

I tune my Dean V each string to the tuner, and it's 100% spot on. In tune AND intonated 100% perfectly, everywhere on the neck. Unbelievable how perfect it is.

I have to tweak the G, B, and E on the SG. Freakin' Gibson...