Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 Hi all. I was a member during the golden era before all the changes. In the last 6 years I have visited HCEG very little. I have kids now. Twins! They are cool but take lots of time. Being a dad is a great gig. Soooo... I recently bought an Epiphone ET-275. A 1970s HH MIJ budget electric. I love the vibe and feel of these guitars and got one when the opportunity arose. Mine is the sunburst variety. It has all of the original parts and the lined, cardboard case. Unfortunately "all original" includes the covered, stamped tuners. A worse set of keys I have never seen. One is tight another loose another is tight then loose and they are all sloppy. I've worked on them and I can get them to work adequately for a moment then they loosen and are crap. THE PROBLEM I knew going in that I would probably need to change them so their badness isn't a surprise. What is a surprise is the thickness of the headstock. The ET-275 headstock is 0.70"/18mm thick. A Fender Stratocaster's headstock is, by comparison, 0.57"/14.3mm. Finding machines that will drop in with string posts tall enough and don't require reaming is proving to be a problem. MY PREFERENCES I want to use a vintage style, stamped machine with a 9mm bushing. I do not want to ream the holes or counter-sink the new tuners. Any vintage-style machines I've found so far have string posts that are too short. The tuners I found that will work are cast tuners that work will require reaming the 9mm holes to 10mm. I don't know what is available in locking tuners but I'd prefer something that is vintage A FEW TUNERS' POST HEIGHTS The Originals - 0.91"/23.2mm. I would like to find a vintage style tuner with this height. Grover Sta-Tites - 0.85"/21.75mm. The posts on these are too short. String will feed through the post but no room to wind it. Kluson Supreme KTS90SLN - 0.78"/19.9mm. Too short. String will not go through the post Too bad. Out of the box these are very nice. 18:1, nice plastic, translucent knobs and stamped. Lightweight. Generic Kluson style. It's post is a little shorter than the Kluson Supreme. So... no go. Machines with safety posts have the same problem. I do not want to ream the headstock but I can't find a tuner that has: A) A string post at least 0.91"/23.2mm tall B) Uses a 9mm bushing Has anyone changed the tuners on one of these Eppies? I've seen pictures from the backside of ET-275s with replacement tuners but I've never seen a picture of these with string wound on them. I can't find a thing about problems with an extra thick stockhead on these Eppies either. I dunno. I need some help. Any suggestions and advice you can throw my way is muchly appreciated. I'm eager to get this Epi into action! ragastrums PAT PEN Posts: 1 Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 9:55 pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 What about thinning the headstock? Take a little off the back with a plane or sandpaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 I don't even want to ream the holes from 9 to 10mm. Sanding would require taking off 4mm of headstock. Not gonna do that. All I want is a vintage machine with press-in bushings but a longer string post. About 2.5mm longer. You'd think that getting a vintage style tuner with a slightly longer post would be easy. I can't find any. I never really thought about post length but 2.5mm is a huge and critical difference. 20mm won't work, so it seems, but 22.5mm will.If I do have to ream the holes there are many choices to be had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 Maybe give Stewmac a call? Perhaps they can steer you in the right direction... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 Grover Sta-Tites - 0.85"/21.75mm. The posts on these are too short. String will feed through the post but no room to wind it. The specs say the post height is 23.5mm according to the manufacturer's drawing. 9mm press in bushing as well. As long as they'll fit lined up at your hole spacing, they should work. https://www.grotro.com/media/ticc/products/2012/6/1/V97.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 Yes. Your advice is most likely what will happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 I checked the drawings. According to their measurements Sta-Tites should work. My mine don't measure up though. My calipers have them at 21.75mm and I when I hold them in the headstock with a bushing they are too short. Don't know why there is a discrepancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 I have been studying this for an hour or so and all the conversions I see were to tuners with 10mm screw in bushings. I took a look on you tube and it seems that enlarging the holes with a reaming tool is a simple operation. If I can play guitar (Some argue that point. ) I can ream a squared up hole in a headstock. I'm intrigued with Sperzel Sound-Lok machines. The optional buttons (Ivoroid, Pearl, etc) make these an attractive choice. They are milled from aluminum. That might keep them lightweight. I'm going to get everything I need to make the conversion and hopefully take photos or a video as a guide for future owners of ET-275s. There might be one or two others out there. Thanks for your help gentlemen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 The specs say the post height is 23.5mm according to the manufacturer's drawing. 9mm press in bushing as well. As long as they'll fit lined up at your hole spacing, they should work. https://www.grotro.com/media/ticc/products/2012/6/1/V97.jpg There are a few different models of the sta-tites. You want the 97 model. I'm betting you have the 98. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 Don't bet the farm! Haha. I have the 97-18N. This is getting complicated. To quote Yosemite Sam: "Ma head hurts." I am considering getting a reamer, a set of Schallers or Sperzels and be done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 22, 2015 Members Share Posted November 22, 2015 . . . Grover Sta-Tites - 0.85"/21.75mm. The posts on these are too short. String will feed through the post but no room to wind it. . . . First, have you thought about winding the strings above the holes (i.e., away from the headstock)? As long as you don't try to do more than one or two wraps, it should work. Second, maybe get a generic set of cast tuners and swap the posts from the old ones. I've done that and it often works. The parts frequently match up. Third, reaming tuner holes is not for the faint of heart. I did that to put Mini Grovers on my Fernandes Strat copy and I ended up wishing I hadn't. It turned out great but it was a lot of work. In short, you may not be able to do what you want to do; you may have to settle for something that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 23, 2015 Moderators Share Posted November 23, 2015 Great to see you back man:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted December 3, 2015 Moderators Share Posted December 3, 2015 Allthumz, could you quantify how much thickness you want to win?2mm? 4mm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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