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Hardware Markings

pabloman

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Does anybody out there know what the P.W. stands for that is on alot of harware? You will see it on almost all tuners. It's on the underside. There is even a fancy logo with a PW on my Fender MIM Floyd Rose. It is on aftermarket and OE stuff. It is on all different quality levels. I can't seem to figure it out. There doesn't seem to be any correlation between the parts. It's on Gibson, Fender, Schaller, Ping, etc. There is no way it could stand for Planet Waves. I will try to get a picture of the logo. Check your tuners. I bet there is a P.W. on the bottom side.
 
Tough call. I've never seen it, but as much as I can find says PW stands for...

Patheric Wanker
Pretty Woman
Prevailng Wage
Puncture Wound
Pitching Wedge
Panty Waist

None of which are very flattering, so...

If it were me, I'd not admit I had that logo on anything I owned <grin>
 
You know, "panty waist' isn't quite as bad as "panty waste". Now THAT would be pretty unflattering.
 
just checked my axe, the Schaller tuners have no logos on them, my MIM trem says nothing but Fender on each saddle.
 
The only solution is that the P.W. is actually printed on your corneas, not on the tuners.
 
knucklehead G said:
The only solution is that the P.W. is actually printed on your corneas, not on the tuners.

Homer_Doh.gif
 
I don't know what "PW" means, but I've seen it before on some auction parts.

Here's a hardtail Strat bridge plate. Scroll down to the picture of the underside: http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-USA-STRATOCASTER-HARD-TAIL-HARDTAIL-BRIDGE-PLATE-/360278882858?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item53e24b7a2a

I used to wonder what "VIA" meant, and why it was stamped into most of the parts on my bicycle. I found out later that it stands for "Vehicle Inspection Authority" and appears on all Japanese bike parts. It's an official approval stamp used to certify parts of Japanese vehicles - including bicycles. Similar to the "UL" (Underwriters Laboratories) mark, it signifies compliance with certain quality standards.

Maybe there's a "Pickup Authority" or "Parts Authority" for electric guitars. :dontknow:

I'm taking a closer look at my hardware the next time I change strings.
 
PW or P.W. stands for Ping Works - or Ping Wing, Ping Woh, Ping Wah or whatever... its Ping in China.

These are found on - Ovation, Fender, Gibson... lots.

The excellent Gibson marked tuners are also marked PW and they're pretty smooth.  Cant say how long they'll last... but they're smooth.  Same on the Schaller copies made by Ping, on my Adamas (Ovation)

Rumored - that PW is making "Grover" badged tuners - as the Gibson PW and the Grover Rotomatic (Kluson look alike) are absolutely the same, except for the PW and "Gibson Deluxe" and no-PW and "Grover Deluxe" on the bodies.

Gotoh makes their own stuff.  Schaller does. Sperzel does.  Grover... if it has a slot head, its USA made, but cross head screw (holding button on the shaft) is far east made.  All have been far east made for quite  a few years.

Hope that helps.
 
Can't believe I thought those Gibby things were Klusons. I once replaced some "Kluson" tuners on a custom shop strat for a guy. They were marked PW. Custom shop fender with ping tuners. That's great!!
 
Both sets of my "Kluson" tuners say Japan on the backside. No real surprise there, since they're Gotoh.

The Grovers that came on my Gibson SG have Phillips screw heads to attach the pegs. I had a feeling those weren't made here.
 
Just checked my beautiful gold Grovers sitting in a package waiting for a build. They have phillips screws and damn PW markings. I have some tuners I took off of a Squier Affinity and they have a PW marking. What the eff????
 
My Grovers have an "HC" marking on the back. The "H" is sort of tilted in perspective-view-like, and the "C" is smaller and directly under the H's legs.

At first I thought it meant Hong Kong, but that would be HK. ???

I wouldn't be too upset about all your hardware being made by Ping, pabloman. A friend of mine has a really nice putter made by Ping.
 
Never seen Grovers with HC !~

I've never had a problem with a Ping tuner.  Or a Schaller, or Grover-badged, or whatever, or Gotoh, or Fender-BigF tuner etc

The tuners on all my Gibby's are Ping of some sort, except on the LP Std faded, which are press in bushing Gotoh, marked "Gibson Deluxe" (same as the Ping/Grover).  They use 10mm threaded bushing tuners on most everything except where tradition says to use a press fit bushing tuner.  The Gotoh is a cast body tuner, and is very smooth.  Open gear (real Kluson or other non-cast) tuners are persnickety about being aligned with the bushings "just-so" to be smooth, but cast bushing tuners are generally very smooth and you have to try and moneyboy the installation to get 'em binding.

The Ping/Schaller tuners on the Adamas are nicer than the Schallers in every way.  They just dont say Schaller!
 
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