Schaller M6 Tuners in Nickel?

[cadred]

I decided mid-stream to build my Warmoth Tele using nickel plated parts, so I have just about everything I need, except the darn tuners.

I see on Schaller's site that they make them, but I cannot find anyplace in the US the SELLS them.

The closest I've come is All-Parts said they will special order them, but it's a 4-6 week window, and the price kind of sucks.

Does anybody have any better ideas?

 

[bagman67]

Ah, Schaller, the maker of much beautiful guitar hardware - none of which can easily be found in any market.


I don't know what price you got from Allparts, but Thomann offers them (shipped from Europe, so keep that in mind). THese are locking 6-in-line M6's:


http://www.thomann.de/gb/schaller_m6_klemmmechanik_6l.htm

 

[Cagey]

Ah, Schaller, the maker of much beautiful guitar hardware - none of which can easily be found in any market.

No kidding. They must have a terrible distribution policy. Or, maybe there are IP issues. In any event, they don't seem much interested in doing business in the US. They must do ok in Europe, though. Otherwise, I'm not sure how they could afford to design/manufacture as much nice stuff as they do.

 

[cadred]

Awesome, I will definitely check out http://www.thomann.de, hopefully shipping will only take a week or two.

 

[bbl4ck]

Awesome, I will definitely check out http://www.thomann.de, hopefully shipping will only take a week or two.

I picked up a set of Schaller M6 mini's a few weeks ago from http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/products/electric-114/ Touchstone Tonewoods.  For a tele or strat, the mini's are the best size [IMHO].
I was having challenges with the website, so I just gave them a call.  Really, really nice people and happy to ship to the states.
I got the M6 mini's, 3 extra locking knobs, air fright shipping to Arizona, and threw in a Schaller screwdriver thingy because I had problems with the website.
Total cost $82.63.  I ordered them on a Friday and they were in my mailbox the next Friday, 7 days later.
They have all my Schaller business from here on out.
:rock-on:

 

[Cagey]

That's a good story. More than once I've wanted to use them as a source, but have wondered if it would take a month to get something along with exorbitant shipping charges.

Plus, I want a screwdriver!  :icon_biggrin:

 

[cadred]

Awesome, I will definitely check out http://www.thomann.de, hopefully shipping will only take a week or two.

I picked up a set of Schaller M6 mini's a few weeks ago from http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/products/electric-114/
They have all my Schaller business from here on out.
:rock-on:

Awesome, I'll look into them as well. As soon as I decide if I want locking or non locking (I'm leaning towards non-locking for aesthetics, but my guitar instructor is probably going to give me crap for it)  :-\

 

[Cagey]

>> as I decide if I want locking or non locking (I'm leaning towards non-locking for aesthetics, but my guitar instructor is probably going to give me crap for it)  :-\

Everybody will. There's almost no reason to use non-lockers, and a million reasons why you should use lockers. The only way I'd use non-lockers is if I had an old '48 Martin or something super-valuable like that where changing the hardware would affect its resale. Other than that, locking tuners are a no-brainer. I mean, it's the first thing you do to any guitar that doesn't already have them, even before changing pickups/bridges/nuts/etc.

 

[cadred]

Everybody will. There's almost no reason to use non-lockers, and a million reasons why you should use lockers.

I'm not against them or their utility, but I'm going with a nickel finish  which I expect to patina one day and I'm yet convinced Schaller locking tuners will look good with a patina.

I wouldn't mind the look of Spertzels but I'm not going to re-ream my tuning holes for them. The less woodwork the better for me.

Anyway, I'm still debating that as well as whether to risk drilling peg holes myself, or live with exposed mounting screws.

 

[Cagey]

There's no shame in having a professional do what you can't, and it's usually well worth it. Don't shortchange yourself because you aren't able or don't have the tools to do something right. You're going to have to live with the instrument; may as well be a pleasure.

 

[cadred]

There's no shame in having a professional do what you can't, and it's usually well worth it. Don't shortchange yourself because you aren't able or don't have the tools to do something right. You're going to have to live with the instrument; may as well be a pleasure.

I'm totally down with that, but there's also an aspect of doing it for the challenge. I'm not a complete moron around tools so I think if I'm careful enough I can probably manage, however I do have a friend of a friend who is good with woodworking do the tuners if I don't feel I can pull it off.

 

[cadred]

Somewhat off-topic. How can I tell if I'm getting low-profile Schallers that can help me avoid using string trees? I know the ones from Warmoth were low, but I don't know how to tell from the million versions of the M6 Schaller puts out.

 

[Cagey]

Don't worry about it. The reason you don't see staggered or "low profile" units described that way is they made so little difference in string angle. It's not a sales point any more. Of course, you still don't need string trees. They were only ever necessary because nuts weren't cut properly. Leo's assembly line technique of guitar building didn't allow enough time for much attention to be paid to the nuts, so they were often too sloppy to hold a string reliably. The trees helped put enough pressure on the nut that the strings would stay in their slots.

These days, anybody who's making more than 10 guitars a week mills their nuts on a CNC machine or its equivalent, or they give the people who cut them time to do their job, so trees have become a vestigial part installed purely for aesthetic purposes and to make tuning a bitch.