Tuning Machines

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Tuning Machines

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Exitao

Posts: 907
Joined: Mar. 13 2006
From: Vancouver, Canada

Tuning Machines

Tuners, machine heads... whatever you call them...

What's the big deal? Why is there so much variability in pricing?

Once you get to a mid-level quality of tuner, with a decent gear ratio, what makes one set worth $500 more than another set?

Is it luxury detailing? Better quality buttons, nicer ornamentation? Design aesthetics? Or is there really a justification for spending as much money on the tuners as I did for the rest of the guitar?

What are we looking for when we look at tuning machines?
I assume that the gear ratio allows for more accurate/easier tuning.
A certain degree of quality helps with ensuring that it doesn't detune and endures.
We want it to look good with the rest of the guitar.
What else is there that I should know about?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 31 2008 17:10:20

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Exitao) 1 votes

Tuning machines are like everything else.
You have basic, which is normally bad. (bad funcion rapid wear)
Midlle, which is normally best value for money (acceptable funcion med. wear)
High, best quality but a lot more expensive. (good funcion long wear)

To this you add materials and design and you have a full scale puzzle

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 0:53:27

Exitao

Posts: 907
Joined: Mar. 13 2006
From: Vancouver, Canada

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Exitao)

Thanks for the answer Anders. Like all good answers, yours brings more questions to mind.

What kind of wear do these things suffer?

How can one discern the quality of function?At what point do you get diminishing returns on function?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 1:18:59

Ricardo

Posts: 14892
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Exitao)

keep em oiled and dust free, and they will last forever. But shoot, who can remember to do THAT???

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 9:33:17

bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Ricardo)

I recently changed my tuners and took a Rubner model.
Rubner's tuners have all the same measurements and every material you can get exists in a low price version and various higher priced versions.

Now here is the "big" deal about the price - they all work the same.
They may cost 20 or 200 € and the only differences are in the engravings and the knobs. And nowadays the engravings are not even handmade, except for the really expensive ones. Not a long time ago they made every engraving by hand.

Thats what you pay for!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 10:39:28

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Exitao) 1 votes

Rubners are a bit special.
They use the same gear for all their machine heads. The cheap ones are very good quality/money relationship. The more expensive ones are poor quality/money relationship.

Other brands like Gotoh, use different quality gear. And the precission of the tuning and the wear is different.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 14:00:25

bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Anders Eliasson)

I was quite content, because i got a set with ebony knobs for half the price.
They really made my guitar look better.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 14:54:32

bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to bursche)

the old, cheap looking, kitschy ones (okay, it's me who doesn't like them, but I don't even know the maker)

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 15:01:03

Doitsujin

Posts: 5078
Joined: Apr. 10 2005

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Exitao)

eehh ok now jokes about the look of the guitarheads of marviguitars.... Good night!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 15:43:40

Exitao

Posts: 907
Joined: Mar. 13 2006
From: Vancouver, Canada

RE: Tuning Machines (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

keep em oiled and dust free, and they will last forever. But shoot, who can remember to do THAT???

Dust free? Pretty easy, I think. I usually leave my chamois draped over the head.

As for oiling... um.. what kind of oil and at which points do you drip/squirt the oil?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2009 16:42:51