Hipshot- Great function, iffy finish, and the beautful Universal Mounting Plate

[gauchosilvertone]

Went to install my new black open locking Hipshots on my Soloist neck last night.  Elected to use their Universal Mounting Plate (UMP) to avoid drilling any holes for now in case I end up going with Gotoh, and it had the unexpected and underadvertised benefit of lining the tuners up perfectly- no eyeballing.  In retrospect it should have been apparent but talking with one of my buddies who has built several Warmoth bass guitars, he enlightened me that this was a bigger benefit than I would have otherwise realized.

One more note on the UMP- with Warmoth spacing on this standard headstock, one of the two UMP plates had to be filed down slightly, betweeen 1/16 and 1/8 inch, to fit without overlapping.

Function- they work.  Quite smooth, sure they'll be entirely smooth once they're used a bit.  Job well done there.

The finish, however, seems unreasonably fragile.  After tightening down the first bushing with a socket wrench (and no I was not using excessive torque, in my opinion), I removed the wrench and saw to my horror that the black finish had been significantly damaged, all across one of the edges and a bit on another.  Immediately my brand new black tuners were no longer brand new nor black.  Frustrating.

After the first one I was extremely careful and used only an adjustable wrench rather than the socket wrench, and appear to have gotten by without any further damage other than seeing very small flakes of black come off (very small- didn't leave any missing on the bushing this time).

Damage was hard to capture in pics, but you get the idea hopefully.

Anyone else had this issue?  Am I crazy to think I've never had to be this careful tightening down other bushings?  Knowing how painstaking I need to be I can avoid damage in the future, but 1) sucks to have new tuners already damaged and 2) I don't feel I should have to be this careful...makes me feel like the finish is like icing I have to avoid touching.

 

[fdesalvo]

This seems consistent with any type of plated hardware, my friend.  You can't be too careful - even with the right tool for the job.

 

[Cagey]

It's tough to avoid some marking, particularly on black parts. The hex head on those bushings is really thin, and even a good socket has a slight round-over at the entry point of the tool, so there's very little contact between the tool and the part. Makes for extra pressure on the areas the tool does contact, and makes it easier to slip off and abrade the part. It's more obvious on black parts because the underlying metal is bright, but it happens to all the finishes.

I've found that a T-handle deep-well nut driver is easier to keep square to the part, so there's less chance of slippage and the subsequent damage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHf6Lo2pTj8[/youtube]​

 

[gauchosilvertone]

Thanks for the info!  Yes, a hard lesson to learn!  Damn.

Again the function is great but I will probably replace these and will not use Hipshot on a Warmoth neck again, because

1) Huge pegs look out of proportion, unnaturally big on this headstock
2) Universal Mounting Plate (which I like) has to be filed (not a big deal but a hassle)
3) Back to the spacing and peghead issue, the pegs are so close that there is hardly any clearance between them when turning, meaning you have to be super careful to approach the pegs from basically a right angle with your fingers when turning to avoid hitting the other pegs. 

Live and learn.  My dream of building a perfect guitar the first time was a nice one!

 

[Cagey]

I've used just about every tuner out there at least once, if not dozens of times or more, and I'll tell ya - if I were a guitar manufacturer, I'd not install anything but Schaller Mini-Lockers. They work great on anything.

Signed,

Schaller's Mother

 

[bagman67]

For what it's worth, Hipshot has replacement buttons of various styles and sizes.  I think the


http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=269


I think the D05 part might be what you're after, if you were to go this route.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

Yeah black hardware can be a prickly SOB. :doh:
but Industrial strength black sharpie will hide a multitude of sins :headbang1:
Make sure you get the industrial strength with the red printing on it.