I read that the Eric Johnson Strat has staggered tuners so it does not need string trees. When I look at photos of this guitar the tuners look normal to me. I don't see any difference. What is a staggered tuner?

Adding string trees puts more downward pressure as the strings cross over the nut and it really helps to remove strings buzzing in the nut.

The post are different heights pulling the strings downward at different angles.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Hmm. That's interesting. But wouldn't any difference in the tuners be undone by the height of the nut?

_________________
Fender Classic Series '50s Stratocaster, 2-Tone Sunburst
Carlos 207
Dunlop Crybaby
Digitech RP50
One WORKING Pro Junior

The tuners are all lower than the nut.

There all lower then the nut of course in the headstock and doing what the trees would do.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Hi 357mag: a photo being worth a thousand words, here's a pic of some staggered tuners. You can see that the top e string post is much lower than the bottom E, the ones in between graduated in height. The top e has a slightly steeper downward angle after the nut and so doesn't need a string tree to stop it jumping out of the nut slot:


Cheers - C

I think I recognize that particular no name neck! Maybe not though.

"The Neck With No Name"...

Hehe - actually, I believe Clint Eastwood is supposed to be a reasonably handy blues pianist, is that right?

Yes, you do recognise it...

Cheers - C

The purpose of a string tree is not really to prevent a string from jumping out of a nut. How is that gonna happen anyway? It puts additional downward pressure on the string to eliminate annoying buzz in the nut.

One disadvantage I can see to these staggered tuners is the posts are so short that you can't wrap the string around the post much at all.

Don't know but I think I would rather have normal tuners and string trees cuz they work just fine.

Shorter post are no problem when strings are put on proper.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Well, you only need two to three wraps on the tuner posts, the staggered tuners are plenty long to achieve that. Personally I think they are an improvement over having multiple string trees.

A all to common problem is too much string wrapped around post causing more tuning instability problems! Less is more (Better Stability)

One of the advantages of locking tuners is that you only need about a half of turn on the string post. Thus keeping the guitar more stable as far as staying in tune!

What is the purpose of a locking tuner anyway? How does it hold a guitar in tune better than a normal tuner?

I don't follow what a locking tuner does.

Hi again 357mag.

As a matter of fact, when I've played my Strats without the top strings running through the tree I have indeed found the strings to come out of the slots occasionally - and I'm not a hard player. That is what the trees are for: try it and see. I've found no buzz issues at the nut with or without the string trees.

The potential disadvantage of string trees is that they introduce an extra possible location for friction on the string, which can sometimes interfere with it returning perfectly to pitch after bending or whammy use. Not a huge issue, but...

Cheers - C