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I'm after some tuners to replace the ones on my 1975 Conde blanca. Top side tuners have been replaced in the past and the bottom side has the original set but both are quite rusty and stiff. Can anyone recommend a brand that is not too over the top price wise, I've been looking at Rubners and Rodgers but I'm not sure of the price on the Rodgers yet. Any advice is appreciated. Kind regards Patrik
Of course there are many options, Gotoh, Rodgers, Sloane...Blake & Robson seems like they're dissapeared, and one more high end I just can't remember it's name...
Shape of plates – if existing ones have lyre ends and you replaces with shorter more compact plates you might have some cosmetic work to do.
Gotoh are good value if they work in terms of size. They offer different shaped plates and different roller diameters. The 14:1 ratio tuners are acceptably smooth and not too heavy. The more expansive 16:1 ones are super in operation but a bit heavier I think. I have both and I am very pleased.
One other thing. If I had a good guitar from the 70's, I would try and replace the tuners with something similar to the originals but I know that not everyone has this opinion.
Sloane tuners if they will fit your dimensions. They are really first class, extremely durable and reasonably priced, at least in the U.S. Check www.stewmac.com
Unless mine were mounted lop-sided on both sides my experience with Sloanes (tight, uneven torque and thus relatively imprecise) is that they range far below makes like Graf. And my Graf tuners again don´t compare to tuners like Scheller.
Which is why it disturbs my eyes besides to see the best functioning tuners midways in above list of makes.
To the TO: If interested in Scheller tuners, make a search and you´ll find reviews from me and others.
Best tuners at decent price on the other hand have been ones that I found on an upper estudio from Burguet. He told me that they were named "Reliance Dixon" or such and made in Korea.
They were second best to Klaus Scheller´s despite of being no super expensive boutique gear. Allowing instant precision tuning. Very smooth, with even torque. Unfortunately I made no special picture of them.
Ruphus
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I bought some Sloane tuners for a Caceres Blanca a while back They were around the $200 aud mark - great tuners
For my 86 conde I lashed out and bought the 'media luna' tuners from the Felipe conde shop Not sure where they outsourced them - Rodgers ? Alessi ? Maybe But they are also great tuners - just cost a small fortune
Would recommend either of these or as suggested look through the gotoh catalogue
Looking back at inexpensive Gotoh tuners as well as the "premium" Gotohs that I still have, it shows that folks who recommend these have not tried really good mechanics yet.
If you want to roughly know how well functioning gear feels and turns like, tweak a bit on humble but decent tuners for steel stringed guitars. See how smooth and evenly they turn?
This can be had for nylon strings as well. Rarely, but it does exist.
Looking back at inexpensive Gotoh tuners as well as the "premium" Gotohs that I still have, it shows that folks who recommend these have not tried really good mechanics yet.
Premium Gotohs good enough for Paco's stage guitar although no doubt you could find better.
Would that mean that a car of someone like say Fernando Alonso would always be assembled of best technology? Is there inherent consistency to a commingling that top performers ought to be owning perfected tools throughout?
One of the worst guitars I ever held in hands was the cherished axe of Russia´s most popular modern musician ever. He would take it with himself across the globe wherever he went, guard it like a gem, and not even look at any other guitar.
Or J.J. Cale, the king of music to me; he would tweak ordinary factory guitars and experiment with them. He was so low-fi even that he dismissed the option of tracking in top of the line studios, instead went with an engineer he liked personally and consequently with the humble gear that the man used.
I think there is not much sense in relating to popular artist´s habits when evaluating instruments and gear.
They could either be very picky and specialized like say Lenny Kravitz and his educated passion for vintage, or care only little about instruments, let alone accessoirs.