opinions, nuts or tuners?

rightintheface

Senior Member
Messages
326
i wonder what is ACTUALLY more important to tuning stability, locking tuners or the right nut. i am planning a build at the moment, and deciding whether to go with earvana nut and locking tuners (like my first build), or go with normal grover tuners and a graphtec nut.

my first build has the planet waves tuners, which i think are great. i also think they are pretty... unnecessary? i find that they (combined with the earvana) have no better tuning stability than my cheap epiphone sg. the build i am planning is kind of on a budget (the aussie dollar is crap), so i was planning on cutting costs (hence the graphtec nut and grover tuners), but i need something that is going to hold its tuning for a whole gig. my first build isnt BAD at this, but it's no better than the average guitar.

anybody got an opinion on the graphtec nut and grover tuners? i realise that a lot of tuning issues come from the strings "sticking" at the nut, do the graphtec nuts really improve as much as i'd imagine them to?
 
IMHO,  I think the nut is more important.  Having said that, I'm a huge fan of locking tuners, if only that I'm a lazy bastard and don't like doing all those turns.
 
If your nut is bad, locking tuners won't matter. If the strings are still able to bind at the nut, it doesn't matter if they are or aren't slipping at the tuning posts. So most important is a good nut. Then if you still have problems (or especially if you use a tremolo), locking tuners come in second.
 
I have both locking tuners and graphtech, and I tune pretty much never. It's pretty impressive. Like someone already said, tuners won't help much if you're got binding issues at the nut, so it might be a weakest link type situation. :)
 
perfect, thats exactly what i thought in my head, always good to get other opinions tho. i DO like the ease of locking tuners when it comes to re-stringing (i hate re-stringing), and to be honest for me the earvana doesnt make quite enough difference to get it again. and plus, it's obvious that it's creating some binding at the nut (even though i have run some graphite through the nut slots), so maybe it's time i tried the graphtec one.

any opinions on the schaller locking tuners? ilike the planet waves ones on my first build, but wouldn't mind trying something else. not to mention the fact that i over-torqued one of the pw tuners and ruined it. and i have many sets of cutters, so i dont need the tuners to do it for me  :icon_tongue: and yeah, im a tightass and the schallers are a hair cheaper  :evil4:
 
on my W strat I just got I have a graphite nut.
I'm using a Grover strat replacement bridge.
and I skyfed the tuners off a squier tele of mine.

The tuners suck. but they look nice.
I almost never use the tremolo, and when I do its usually only to divebomb one note.
I almost never retune it.

so my experience says make sure you get a good nut.
 
The schallers are good, but the plating on them comes off too easily - be careful with pliers and such on them. They work very well though. My favorite tuner company is gotoh, actually - their stuff is really well-machined, good plating, with a geat tuning mechanism. Stew Mac has a good selection of gotohs, including several locking types.
 
good nut is crucial! But I bought a set of ping tuners, the exact same one you see on Fender USA strats, but without the fender logo, for a mere 25$, combined with a good graphite nut, which set me back about 3$. so, for less than 30$, I've got an axe which stays in tune no matter what I do.

me like!!!!! :headbang1: :guitarplayer2:
 
Also consider the string path over the nut.

Is the path straight from bridge saddle to tuner post?

Does it angle to one side or the other, binding in the nut slot?

Is the drop angle from the nut slot to the point of entry on the tuning post deep enough of an angle to provide adequate tension to seat the string in the slot so that it does not vibrate out of the slot, or buzz?

 
tfarny said:
The schallers are good, but the plating on them comes off too easily - be careful with pliers and such on them. They work very well though. My favorite tuner company is gotoh, actually - their stuff is really well-machined, good plating, with a geat tuning mechanism. Stew Mac has a good selection of gotohs, including several locking types.

I agree...I have Gotoh tuners on two of my guitars, and I think they work, look, and feel great. But seriously, I think if you're going to splurge on one or the other, go with the nut. I've been burned by cheap nuts before.
 
rightintheface said:
perfect, thats exactly what i thought in my head, always good to get other opinions tho. i DO like the ease of locking tuners when it comes to re-stringing (i hate re-stringing), and to be honest for me the earvana doesnt make quite enough difference to get it again. and plus, it's obvious that it's creating some binding at the nut (even though i have run some graphite through the nut slots), so maybe it's time i tried the graphtec one.

any opinions on the schaller locking tuners? ilike the planet waves ones on my first build, but wouldn't mind trying something else. not to mention the fact that i over-torqued one of the pw tuners and ruined it. and i have many sets of cutters, so i dont need the tuners to do it for me  :icon_tongue: and yeah, im a tightass and the schallers are a hair cheaper  :evil4:

I don't think the Earvana nut is inherently bad. I'm sure it just needs some work on the slot--- break angle, angle to tuners, smooth rounded slot, etc. Get that straight and I'm sure it'd be fine.
 
rightintheface said:
anybody got an opinion on the graphtec nut and grover tuners?
My Schecter C-1 Blackjack has that combo.  It stays in tune fairly decent, but I did refile and round the slots.  My Tele has PW tuners and a graphtech nut though.  It almost never needs tuning past the initial pre-stretch.
 
to be honest for me the earvana doesnt make quite enough difference to get it again.

Really? I am so sold on my earvana, I'm not sure I'll ever build another without it, especially with warmoths new corian/earvana factory not, the best of both really.

I also have locking tuners and an earvana nut, with a trem, no problems at all, stays in tune
 
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