Schaller M6 vs M6-mini locking tuner locating holes

[swarfrat]

My M6 locking tuners just came in. (Yay!) But they're the full size version and not the mini version. Warmoth calls theirs a mini, but the diagram at  Warmoth shows them to be the exact same size as the M6L 2000's I just bought, AND, more importantly they have the same offset locating hole.
http://www.warmoth.com/Schaller-Mini-Locking-Tuner-Left-Chrome-P119C726.aspx

My guitar that these are going on has non locking M6-mini's on it (see diagram)
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/Schaller_Tuners/Schaller_M-6_Mini_Guitar_Machines.html?tab=Specs#details

Stew-Mac shows the M6 locking tuner diagram as
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/Schaller_Tuners/Schaller_Locking_Guitar_Machines.html?tab=Specs#details

Which has yet a third index hole location (apparently in the body of the tuner).

Is there a locking mini that has the same straight index hole as the first stew-mac link, or should I just suck it up and drill 6 more holes? The guitar is not exactly collectible per se, but it is a very very early Zion, one of very first ones according to Ken Hoover.  Which makes it at least old, and kinda special if not something that would show up on George Gruhn's radar.

 

[swarfrat]

Of course, I should probably add - until a few weeks ago I'd played the thing for 20 years and never noticed that the locating screws were not there, though the holes were drilled. I don't think I removed them during the 20 years - in fact I don't think the tuners have ever been out.

 

[swarfrat]

Okay - I've never seen this stuff from US dealers, but apparently Schaller makes a top mount locking (which when you look at it is stupidly simple - why wasn't this the first locking tuner?)

http://guitar-machine-heads.com/hp135056/Locking-Machine-Heads-M6-Mini-Top-Mount.htm

Which appears to be what I need for a clean install.

 

[Cagey]

Schaller has a lot of interesting products we never see here in the States. Not sure why, but I'll wager it has to do with patents. Those are getting to be a severe pain in the shorts for a lot of manufacturers, usually because of patent trolls rather than any real competitive pressure.

 

[swarfrat]

I just did a test fit to see if it'd work without modifying the guitar and the answer is no I'm not even totally certain that they'll fit the spacing as the housing is a smidge larger (and the barrel is a tight fit - which is odd because the drawings below show a barrel diam of 9.8mm on the big ones and 9.91 on the minis)

Looks like they're gonna have to go back. (Or my guitar will have 6L on the headstock instead of 3+3 when I build it)

 

[swarfrat]

Schaller has a lot of interesting products we never see here in the States.

Any ideas on how to get a set of top mount M6 mini locking tuners (7508a)? I checked ebay, figuring someone (maybe outside the us) would sell them, but alas.

 

[Cagey]

Short of knowing somebody in a European country who'll order them for you and ship them over, no.

 

[ORCRiST]

Short of knowing somebody in a European country who'll order them for you and ship them over, no.

Hey, common now - I've had luck getting my stuff from Schaller directly. Granted, there were mitigating
circumstances, but, where there's a will there's a way!

:rock-on:

 

[Cagey]

Swarfrat wants to know how to do it; perhaps you could share your technique(s) with him. I'd be interested to know myself. I'd love to know how to get some of that Ruthenium plated stuff.

 

[swarfrat]

Just wanted to add on to this thread for future reference:

ESP sells a 10mm hole locking tuner that looks like it might fit the Schaller non-locking mini screw pattern. Haven't tried them, nor do I have any experience with the ESP locking mechanism.

Part number is EGM307-C