I know this is up for debate and its all opinions but..

I recently acquired a MIM Fender Strat. Reverse headstock from GC. The person that owned the guitar previously to me changed out the tuning keys to Planet Waves. They are locking. I am not a fan of them.. at all...

SO, that being said...

I am looking at just the Fender 70s left handed tuning keys. But I would like to hear others opinions about them and what others may suggest instead.

THANKS!

I have always beena fan of putting the best tuners on for that particular guitar.

I put a set of Gohto's Delta's on my Larrivee acoustic....21 to 1 ratio
A set of Sperzel Locking on my MIM Strat.
A set of Locking Grovers on one of my build
A Set of Carvin on the other Build
even swapped to a better set of Gohto Vintage on my CS 56.

Point is the novelty of certain tuners fades rapidly when tuning becomes an all too often repeated adjustment.
I would just look for the best, If you go to both the www.stewmac.com and the wwww.lmii.com sites they both have quite an extensive inventory of tuners for just about any application.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I put the chrome Fender locking tuners on my MIM about a year ago and have never looked back. 18:1 ratio (I'm pretty sure don't quote me on that without checking first) and they keep the guitar in tune.

Basically, a tuning machine that slips or does not hold the guitar in tune is worthless.

I have sperzel (spelling?) locking tuners on my MIA strat. They keep it in tune too.

Locking tuners are not for everybody but they sure do make string changes a lot faster.

I have Waverly's on my Martin Acoustic and those are really nice tuners too.

Like the guy who posted before me, invest in good tuning machines and you will be happy.

Jeff

The issue I am running into is finding left handed ones. I dont like the Planet Waves really, but I am not opposed to giving the locking keys ago at all.

Anybody give me any direction on finding a set of lefty ones for the reverse headstock??

thanks again

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

The only machineheads fitted to a Fender that I have ever had a problem with, were a set of Kluson vintage copies fitted to a CIJ Strat; they were diabolical! I have had many Fenders over the years and, apart from the CIJ misery, they were all problem-free. The most stable set I ever had was on a 99 US Tele - I only ever had to tune that guitar when changing strings. Nothing I could do (and believe me I tried!) would put that sucker out of tune.

Just curious but why do you not like the Planet Waves tuners? You didn't explain the issue you have with them.

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

What's wrong with the Planet Waves? I like the price but if they have problems it would be nice to know exactly what it is.

Thx,

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

The first thing I do to any new strat or tele I buy is get on ebay to one of my favorite ebay stores and buy a set of Fender/Schaller locking tuners. I like the ones with the "F" logo on the back. Takes me 10 minutes to swap them out for the originals. They fit right in place perfectly and I'm off and running. They make string changes a breeze and do the job a tuner needs to do just fine.

The original owner drilled larger holes for the planet waves.

Would the Fender lockings still work or would I need conversion bushings?

I hate when people do things like that. It kind of locks you in to a certain product or is one heck of an effort to make changes. I don't know how you would pull it off if the holes have been drilled out. I don't know if anyone would even make bushings that would fix the problem. I'm sure some of the gurus of guitar builds here will have an answer but not me. I keep it simple. I never do funky stuff to the guitar.

I had an issue like that recently -- holes slightly too large to properly fit the fluted bushings for a set of vintage-style Kluson re-issues. I ended up affixing a wide strip of .003" brass shim stock into each of the headstock's holes with epoxy. The metal shim was just thick enough to provide the bushings with a nice, snug fit.

You can find sheets of brass, copper, aluminum, and steel shim stock at most hardware stores.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Now after restringing the guitar my action is so low that i cant note anything above the 12th fret basically..

I dont get these things at all.

I didnt touch anything besides the tuners...

Any advice?

Did you perchance go to a lighter guage when you changed those strings?

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I went heavier. I have loosen the truss rod a great deal and while it did help, the strings still buzz. I guess im going to have to go find a guitar tech since the guy i use has decided to only come in a wednesdays