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Post subject: Re: LOCKING TUNERS- WHAT"S YOUR OPINION?
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 6:06 am
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Locking tuners work best with a graphite or graphtech nut and string trees, also graphite bridge saddles.
If you're just going for locking tuners and OEM appointments on the guitar don't expect to use them to the fullest.
If you don't spend a lot of time dive bombing or frightening church going old ladies with your whammy bar antics you might not get much out of them anyway. Some old timers swear by wrapping the un-wound strings far more than the 4-6 times recommend by the back of the package. I once had the pleasure of asking Blues Legend Albert King why he did this and he responded he didn't go out of tune, then walked into a dressing room with smoking hot women who's combined age was still far less than half of his. Evidently he was doing something right on both counts.

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'79 Fender Strat 3 bolt
'95 Takamini Sante-Fe New Yorker Parlor
'96 Fender American Standard LH
'98 Gibson SG LH
'03 G&L ASAT LH
Marshall JCM 900, BOSS, EH, Dunlop effects


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Post subject: Re: LOCKING TUNERS- WHAT"S YOUR OPINION?
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 6:56 am
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Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:01 pm
Posts: 1598
StratDragon wrote:
Locking tuners work best with a graphite or graphtech nut and string trees, also graphite bridge saddles.
If you're just going for locking tuners and OEM appointments on the guitar don't expect to use them to the fullest.
If you don't spend a lot of time dive bombing or frightening church going old ladies with your whammy bar antics you might not get much out of them anyway. Some old timers swear by wrapping the un-wound strings far more than the 4-6 times recommend by the back of the package. I once had the pleasure of asking Blues Legend Albert King why he did this and he responded he didn't go out of tune, then walked into a dressing room with smoking hot women who's combined age was still far less than half of his. Evidently he was doing something right on both counts.




Yea, I probably should have said something about dive bombs. Ok...I don't, as a general rule, do this a lot. When I do feel the need for such antics, I have my trusty old Kramer which I've equipped with a Kahler trem, locking nut., etc...nearly impossible to throw that sucker out of tune, LOL! Beyond that however, as I said before, I really see locking tuners, graphite nuts/saddles, etc., as more of a gimmick. Most of it usually seems to be aimed at folks who really don't know too much about how guitars actually work. Never really saw the point of throwing away money on stuff like that. Most of the time I have far more problems from issues such as temperature and humidity than any actual concern with the tuners themselves.

Now I will say that I used to be one of those guys who yea...used to seriously over-wind my strings. Did that for a lot of years in fact. Now a days however, for my regular Strats I usually just use the "over and under" locking method when replacing my strings (with the exception of the vintage tuners or course). Seems to work just as well with far fewer turns of the machine head. I guess a lot of it comes down to how you play...except for a very few select tunes, (ala Tommy James' "Hanky Panky"), I typically just use my trem bar primarily for a bit of "expression" and it seldom gives me any problem at all. I'm not really that heavy handed with my trem(s) at all...and on the rare occasion when I need to be, it's not that much of a problem for me to check my tuning afterward.

That said, for someone so inclined, I seriously doubt that even locking tuners would really make that much of a difference on most Strats. If you're a metal head or just really prone to dive bombs, you're probably better off with a double locking system either way. I never really cared for Floyd Rose myself....never liked the feel and always thought they were too much of a pain to setup...but for someone so inclined, I'm pretty sure Fender offers some viable options on that front.


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Post subject: Re: LOCKING TUNERS- WHAT"S YOUR OPINION?
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 9:45 am
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Joined: Wed May 04, 2016 4:57 am
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lomitus wrote:
StratDragon wrote:
Locking tuners work best with a graphite or graphtech nut and string trees, also graphite bridge saddles.
If you're just going for locking tuners and OEM appointments on the guitar don't expect to use them to the fullest.
If you don't spend a lot of time dive bombing or frightening church going old ladies with your whammy bar antics you might not get much out of them anyway. Some old timers swear by wrapping the un-wound strings far more than the 4-6 times recommend by the back of the package. I once had the pleasure of asking Blues Legend Albert King why he did this and he responded he didn't go out of tune, then walked into a dressing room with smoking hot women who's combined age was still far less than half of his. Evidently he was doing something right on both counts.




Yea, I probably should have said something about dive bombs. Ok...I don't, as a general rule, do this a lot. When I do feel the need for such antics, I have my trusty old Kramer which I've equipped with a Kahler trem, locking nut., etc...nearly impossible to throw that sucker out of tune, LOL! Beyond that however, as I said before, I really see locking tuners, graphite nuts/saddles, etc., as more of a gimmick. Most of it usually seems to be aimed at folks who really don't know too much about how guitars actually work. Never really saw the point of throwing away money on stuff like that. Most of the time I have far more problems from issues such as temperature and humidity than any actual concern with the tuners themselves.

Now I will say that I used to be one of those guys who yea...used to seriously over-wind my strings. Did that for a lot of years in fact. Now a days however, for my regular Strats I usually just use the "over and under" locking method when replacing my strings (with the exception of the vintage tuners or course). Seems to work just as well with far fewer turns of the machine head. I guess a lot of it comes down to how you play...except for a very few select tunes, (ala Tommy James' "Hanky Panky"), I typically just use my trem bar primarily for a bit of "expression" and it seldom gives me any problem at all. I'm not really that heavy handed with my trem(s) at all...and on the rare occasion when I need to be, it's not that much of a problem for me to check my tuning afterward.

That said, for someone so inclined, I seriously doubt that even locking tuners would really make that much of a difference on most Strats. If you're a metal head or just really prone to dive bombs, you're probably better off with a double locking system either way. I never really cared for Floyd Rose myself....never liked the feel and always thought they were too much of a pain to setup...but for someone so inclined, I'm pretty sure Fender offers some viable options on that front.



I did the locking tuners, graph trees and graph nut, Jan Brady braces bridge (Fender OEM) on my '97 Strat and that sucker did NOT go out of tune in rehearsals or shows so the combination for my use; not a gimmick by any means and I used that stock bar like Adrian Belews demonic nephew. I covered the string slots on it with 1/2 of a #2 pencil but I didn't break strings, I didn't go out once I broke a set in.

_________________
'79 Fender Strat 3 bolt
'95 Takamini Sante-Fe New Yorker Parlor
'96 Fender American Standard LH
'98 Gibson SG LH
'03 G&L ASAT LH
Marshall JCM 900, BOSS, EH, Dunlop effects


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