Locking Tuners On Acoustic Guitar! Good Or Bad Idea?

[BILLYVASIL]

I have a Garrison electro-acoustic and the tuners have gone bad. Well really they have been tarnished and I was thinking of changing them. So the question is should I upgrade to locking or will it harm the guitar? Change the sound for the worst? Or is this a good idea?

I'm open to all suggestions!

[BILLYVASIL]

by the way I forgot to say that the guitar is about two years old. I e-mailes Garrison and they are willing to send me a new set of tuners.

[SpiritOfTheAge]

I have an acoustic guitar that i fitted a set of Gorver locking tuners to, just incase one breaks during a gig, i can replace it in double quick time. I don't see how it would harm the guitar in an way. I did replace a set of non locking grovers with locking grovers, so there were no discrepancies with screw holes not lineing up. They work a treat.

[BILLYVASIL]

Garrison says the hole is big enough for the locking tuners to fit without having to drill. So that is a relief but I just wanted to know if it will change the sound for the worst. Are you happy with the sound?

[Andrewrg]

I dont see the point really,locking tuners were designed for guitars with whammy`s.Dont see many of those on acoustics.

If you string the guitar right you should have no tuning problems anyway.

[walfordr]

 

Originally posted by Andrewrg I dont see the point really,locking tuners were designed for guitars with whammy`s.Dont see many of those on acoustics. If you string the guitar right you should have no tuning problems anyway.

 

 

Locking tuners have nothing to do with whammy's. They just make it easier to change strings.

 

Locking nuts are for whammy's.

[Andrewrg]

 

Originally posted by walfordr Locking tuners have nothing to do with whammy's. They just make it easier to change strings. Locking nuts are for whammy's.

 

? Anywhere you lock a string down it helps tuning stability.Many electrics have locking machines without the hassle of locking nuts.

They werent designed for ease of string changing,thats just a by-product of their design function.

[Danocoustic]

Originally posted by Andrewrg ? Anywhere you lock a string down it helps tuning stability.Many electrics have locking machines without the hassle of locking nuts. They werent designed for ease of string changing,thats just a by-product of their design function.

You're so full o' {censored}---

 

 

That's it, I'm outta here :mad:

 

 

 

 

Hiya Andy

[walfordr]

 

Originally posted by Andrewrg ? Anywhere you lock a string down it helps tuning stability.Many electrics have locking machines without the hassle of locking nuts. They werent designed for ease of string changing,thats just a by-product of their design function.

 

 

Sorry mate, but you have this wrong!

 

All a locking tuner does is hold the string tight while you wind the end of the string onto it. A properly wound string on a normal tuner and a locker tuner are exactly the same - they're held tightly.

 

When you use a whammy bar you change the tension of the strings. One of the main reasons the strings don't return to pitch afterwards is that they bind slightly at the nut so the bit of string between the tuner and the nut has a different tension to the main body of the string - the main bit of the string is then slighlty out of tune. A locking nut gets rid of this problem.

[SpiritOfTheAge]

Originally posted by BILLYVASIL Garrison says the hole is big enough for the locking tuners to fit without having to drill. So that is a relief but I just wanted to know if it will change the sound for the worst. Are you happy with the sound?

 

 

I dont think they effect the sound in any way i can notice, after all its just the machinehead, sure the string is now clamped into place instead of wound, but the net result is the same. Well not quite as the locking tuner is much easier/quicker to use, and should provide added tuning stabilty as the string is clamped into position and so does not need to be wound around the shaft of the tuning peg, so eliminatuing the potetial to slip and stretch after use.

 

I totally agree with the guys about locking tuners being all about ease and speed of use rather than being mainly for electric guitars that have a vibrato bridge to help it stay in tune, well at least the reason i bought them was because i knew how quick and simple string changes are with them (well with the grovers).

 

i will get some pics done and post them. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

[pipedwho]

 

Originally posted by Andrewrg ? Anywhere you lock a string down it helps tuning stability.Many electrics have locking machines without the hassle of locking nuts. They werent designed for ease of string changing,thats just a by-product of their design function.

 

 

-1, I had to chime in here.

 

As previously mentioned, locking tuners were designed to make it easier/quicker to change strings. This is usually more important on an electric where heavy bending increases the probability of string breakage. They do nothing more for tuning stability than a non-locking version of the same tuner would.

[pipedwho]

Answering the original post, as long as the locking tuner doesn't cause other problems (ie. significant size/height/weight changes) then the sound should be identical. I also changed a set of grover non-locking tuners to a locking set and the only issue I had was the the grover locking tuner posts are 0.2" taller than the non-locking, so I had to redo the nut to compensate for the different string entry angle. Other brands have less of a problem in this department.

[Jlliu59]

Let me clarify here a bit. I'm not sure what people's experience here is with locking tuners, "whammys", or string bending is, but from my experience, I would say that locking tuners will most likely help with your tuning stability and ease of string changes.

 

I play quite a bit of electric and have locking tuners installed on a few of those guitars..not all of which had "whammys". In addition, I played a D35 with locking tuners for about a year.

 

With less string winds around the tuning peg you do get better tuning stability and more consistent angle from the tuner to the nut. With regular tuning pegs, more string around the peg means more slipping behind the nut. Though one might think this would have a marginal affect on tuning, it has about as much effect on tuning as temperture and humidity does on a wood neck. I think you'd be surprised.

 

As for breaking strings, I do bend a lot on the electric, but tend to break strings quite a bit more on the acoustic since the strings are often in higher tension.

 

I've often wondered why locking tuners have not been used on more acoustic guitars. Maybe acoustic guys like things low tech.

[Jlliu59]

 

Originally posted by walfordr When you use a whammy bar you change the tension of the strings. One of the main reasons the strings don't return to pitch afterwards is that they bind slightly at the nut so the bit of string between the tuner and the nut has a different tension to the main body of the string - the main bit of the string is then slighlty out of tune. A locking nut gets rid of this problem.

 

 

The truth is that a locking nut is a PITA.

 

Most electric players have comprimised with locking tuners and a graphite nut to resolve the problem you described.

 

The locking tuners will prevent strings binding around the peg; the graphite nut will prevent the string binding on the nut.

[Cldplytkmn]

there's pretty much no possible way for locking tuners to change your tone... nor will they keep the guitar in tune better... any high quality tuner will work.

[pipedwho]

 

Originally posted by Jlliu59 Let me clarify here a bit. I'm not sure what people's experience here is with locking tuners, "whammys", or string bending is, but from my experience, I would say that locking tuners will most likely help with your tuning stability and ease of string changes.

 

 

As long as you have decent tuners and they are strung correctly, they should not go out of tune because of 'post slippage/stretch'. I have to adjust my locking and non-locking tuners about equally. I can usually go a few days before the guitar starts to detune. More bending accellerates this time, but the type of tuner doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

 

Originally posted by Jlliu59 I play quite a bit of electric and have locking tuners installed on a few of those guitars..not all of which had "whammys". In addition, I played a D35 with locking tuners for about a year. With less string winds around the tuning peg you do get better tuning stability and more consistent angle from the tuner to the nut. With regular tuning pegs, more string around the peg means more slipping behind the nut. Though one might think this would have a marginal affect on tuning, it has about as much effect on tuning as temperture and humidity does on a wood neck. I think you'd be surprised. As for breaking strings, I do bend a lot on the electric, but tend to break strings quite a bit more on the acoustic since the strings are often in higher tension. I've often wondered why locking tuners have not been used on more acoustic guitars. Maybe acoustic guys like things low tech.

 

 

True, some acoustic players will smack those strings hard and break them often. If it was up to me, I'd recommend locking tuners for all guitars anyway. Probably since I change strings regularly (ie. before metal fatigue starts to occur), it's been over 10 years since I've broken a string on the acoustic - twice a year on an electric, usually when I get carried away with a triple bend.