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Post subject: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:07 pm
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Hello all,
After 30 years, I have finally picked up my guitar again. It's a 1969 Sunburst with a few reversible mods. I don't have the original tuners, which were horrible, but I want to replace the big clunky Grovers I put on when I was 17 with some new F tuners. I ordered the 70s vintage tuners but the bushing don't quite fit. I don't want to risk splitting the headstock by forcing them in and I don't want to ream out the holes. My understanding was that they would fit out of the box. I guess my question is SHOULD they fit? I can't imagine the holes got smaller over the years? IF they don't fit, are there any aftermarket bushing that will?

I'm good with the guitar as is; it is one of the most beautiful sounding strat I have ever heard. I just wanted to return it to a more stock appearance without buying some vintage ones.

Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:52 pm
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The repro "F" tuners are dimensionally different from the originals. To use them you'll need to ream your existing headstock holes to accommodate the bushings. There is no alternative save for finding an intact set of original "F" tuners.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:49 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
The repro "F" tuners are dimensionally different from the originals. To use them you'll need to ream your existing headstock holes to accommodate the bushings. There is no alternative save for finding an intact set of original "F" tuners.

Arjay


I was afraid of that. I guess I will try to find some good ones on ebay.

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:10 am
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I've seen a few sets listed there ("deep pockets" are mandatory when bidding).

:wink:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:03 am
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The prices seem to be around $200, which is nuts for a guitar I paid $200 for back in 1974. I remember that the tuners were decent for their time but mine were pretty clunky and made it hard to tune accurately sometimes. I had planned to save the parts but over the years they got traded away I guess.

I still can't believe a 69 is now "vintage", lol. They were some great guitars but none of us thought they would ever be worth much. Now people keep wanting to buy it for crazy money. It must be the beer enhanced finish or all those years in smoky nightclubs. You can almost smell the 70s. :lol:

My wife wants me to sell it, but I told her that I would sooner sell her because I can always get a new wife but a 69 strat is hard to find.

Eh, I thought it was funny... :P


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:48 am
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The "F tuners" from the late 60's were not very good. You may want to reconsider putting those in. I think the current vintage reissue tuners would fit though. I say that because I once bought an Allparts replacement neck for my '67 tele and transferred the F tuners to that neck. Recently, I built another guitar around this Allparts neck (after restoring the original '67 neck) and put a new set of Fender vintage reissue tuners in it. I don't remember having any signficant fit problems. Possibly I had to ream it out a little, I don't remember.


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 4:56 am
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Stewmac nor Allparts either one sell workable conversion bushings?
if all else fails maybe Guitar Fetish would have something.........

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:55 pm
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I just thought I would post an update.

I ordered a set of '70s style F tuners. They came with a set of bushings which were too large for the peg holes. Rather than ream the holes, I took a chance and ordered a set of vintage bushings. The measurements seemed right and sure enough, they popped right in the way they should. I used the existing screw holes and was able to mount the tuners easily. So, if you have a vintage '66 to early '70s strat with the 11/32" holes, here are the parts you need:

Vintage tuner key bushings - 0994946000
'70s "F" tuners - 0990822100

I have to say that except for the shine, the tuners do look vintage, and fit just as poorly as the originals, lol. Actually, it's not that bad, and the tuners ARE much better than the originals, although not quite as accurate as Schaller Les Paul tuner's they replaced. But I was going for restoring the original look. I was going to pop for some originals but most of what was available was either garbage, incomplete, or absurdly overpriced. I mean seriously, I only paid $200 for the guitar back in 1974, and now people want more than that for tuners that sucked back then. :lol:

Anyway, HTH...


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 7:00 pm
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Good deal.

I'm glad it worked out. I might need to get them some day for my 70s Strats.

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 7:12 pm
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JmiJ wrote:
I just thought I would post an update.

I ordered a set of '70s style F tuners. They came with a set of bushings which were too large for the peg holes. Rather than ream the holes, I took a chance and ordered a set of vintage bushings. The measurements seemed right and sure enough, they popped right in the way they should. I used the existing screw holes and was able to mount the tuners easily. So, if you have a vintage '66 to early '70s strat with the 11/32" holes, here are the parts you need:

Vintage tuner key bushings - 0994946000
'70s "F" tuners - 0990822100

I have to say that except for the shine, the tuners do look vintage, and fit just as poorly as the originals, lol. Actually, it's not that bad, and the tuners ARE much better than the originals, although not quite as accurate as Schaller Les Paul tuner's they replaced. But I was going for restoring the original look. I was going to pop for some originals but most of what was available was either garbage, incomplete, or absurdly overpriced. I mean seriously, I only paid $200 for the guitar back in 1974, and now people want more than that for tuners that sucked back then. :lol:

Anyway, HTH...


All that's left to do now is to POST SOME BLOODY PICS!

:wink:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:27 pm
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Lol...

I grabbed this one from my phone. The guitar still has the Grovers on it. I'll post some better ones in the pics thread tomorrow....

Image

It has brass bridge saddles, a brass nut, thicker Les Paul style frets, and dip switches for each pickup. All were popular mods back then. The switches gave it a bit of versatility in the studio. The previous owner put the extra string thingy on it for some reason. It's the most "strat" sounding stratocaster I have ever heard.

Rory Gallagher played a set with it at Starr's nightclub in '78 (I think) when he broke 2 strings on his guitar. I was in the house band and happened to be standing next to the stage and just handed it to him, lol. He played it like I never could. Great player...RIP.

And yes, that is a Frontman 10G. I had a '60s Twin Reverb back in the day but I traded it for something or other. Then I got married and had to get a real job. :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:28 pm
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A true survivor with some history......nice!

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:53 pm
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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:28 pm
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That's a beautiful guitar. I've always dug those brass "keyhole" saddles.

"It has brass bridge saddles, a brass nut, thicker Les Paul style frets, and dip switches for each pickup."

I hate that I'm so pitifully pedantic, but those are mini-toggle switches (they look to be on-off-on so you can reverse the phase of each pickup), not DIP switches. Here's what a DIP (Dual In-line Package) switch looks like:

Image

(That's a slider DIP -- there are also rotary DIPs and rocker DIPs, but all DIPs are designed for PCB mounting.)

Sorry -- I know that no one cares about DIPs.


Last edited by strayedstrater on Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Tuners for 1969 Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:37 pm
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In an attempt to redeem myself a little, SRV's "Lenny" Strat had somewhat similar chromed brass keyhole saddles -- as you said, a lot of vintage guitars had "upgraded" parts installed during that period, back when they were just "used guitars":

Image

Lenny was altered quite a bit more than yours -- refinished, brass nut, mandolin pickguard crudely inlaid in the body, Asian replacement neck, Gibson/Schaller PosiLok strap button on the upper horn (really weird that he left the other button stock).

Yours is almost a virgin in comparison.


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