Carvin tuners

[bagman67]

Hey, all -

I'm shopping for tuners for my tele build, and I'm looking at Carvin's non-locking tuner.  I think these may well be Gotoh 16:1 mini tuners without the branding - looking for confirmation of my suspicion, and any reason not to buy them (except that they're non-locking, which is fine with me on a hard-tail guitar).

Both offer a 16:1 ratio, require a 13/32" hole, and otherwise look virtually identical.  Stewmac offers them for ~$36 in chrome, while Carvin offers them for $29; there's a $6 difference for black, favoring Carvin; and a $1 difference for gold, also favoring Carvin.  So if I operate on the baseline assumption that these are the same product (plus Carvin's generally decent customer service), why buy the Gotoh-branded keys?

Carvin tuner image: 

Gotoh image: 

Bagman

 

[erogenousjones17]

[...] why buy the Gotoh-branded keys?

For the prestige of having brand-name tuners. Obviously.

Seriously though, I have no idea if they are the same. If they are, I say go with Carvin if they're cheaper.

 

[bagman67]

[...] why buy the Gotoh-branded keys?

For the prestige of having brand-name tuners. Obviously.

Seriously though, I have no idea if they are the same. If they are, I say go with Carvin if they're cheaper.

Thanks, EJ  - certainly I'm the last guy in the world to buy something for the sole reason that it has a brand-name on it.  What I'm really interested in (and what I expressed poorly) is whether there's a substantive reason not to buy the Gotoh tuner (or the Carvin if they are indeed identical).

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The Carvin ratio 14:1, not saying that to favor one is better than the other, only that they're different on the inside.  I'd say go for it.  Carvin generally doesn't put cheap stuff on their guitars, and they also don't make a lot of their hardware.  If these aren't Gotoh, chances are they're made by them.  I know Gotoh, Hipshot, and Wilkinson supply a lot of Carvin bridges.  No skimping there, no reason to think these tuners would be anything less than quality.  Then again, for a $7 price difference, you'd know what you were getting.

 

[Cagey]

I'd buy the Carvins. I strongly suspect they're the same item. Worth checking your shipping costs from StewMac, though. Carvin has a $10 flat rate for small parts. That might eat up any difference in price and depending on where you live, you may get them faster from StewMac.

 

[JamesL]

Carvin is the  bomb, I'd go for it, I use their pickups all of the time and I hve used they're hardware and speakers in the past, and I have never been disappointed with anything from them.

 

[Jusatele]

I bought them, they are on my build, look good and work good.