so -what's up with the new tuners? Is it HipShot?

[mayfly]

A little while ago it was announced that the Big W would stop selling PW tuners in favor of a new, mysterious, alternative.

It was 'leaked' that the new, mysterious, alternative would be announced shortly. 

Now I realize that this is not super life and death or anything, but I'm really hoping that it will be hipshot.  Not only that, I'm hoping that the announcement will happen concurrently with a similar announcement of a new Tele B-Bender route using the hipshot bender kit.

So - what's the deal?

P.S. still very willing to help with the development of previously mentioned b-bender routing option.

 

[stubhead]

I though they announced that they were dropping the PW's because the D-Addario/Planet Waves pricing dept. ate the brown acid, and the 2TEK bridge was the new whoopie? :dontknow:

 

[Hbom]

I see where Stew-Mac is closing out the PWs too.
I wonder if it has to do with the problems that some people seemed to have alot of?
:icon_scratch:

 

[Cagey]

StewMac isn't the only one. I was looking into the things a little bit ago, and there seems to be a disproportionate number of less-than-stellar reviews of the things, and some short stock here and there. I suspect that product line is circling the drain. Most of the complaints I saw had to do with them not holding on to the string. My own concern since their introduction has been that they'd eventually stop cutting the string off, and I've seen that happen first-hand on new parts. My guess is more people will see that as the things age. Even a pair of wire cutters that are designed for such duty will suffer over time because the strings are made of tensilized steel. The idea is nice, but they'd have to make the cutters out of carbide to get any life out of them. That would probably mean making the whole post out of it, which would be prohibitively expensive, so they'd never sell in quantities that would justify their existence. I'll bet we give 'em another year and you won't see 'em any more.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I would be sad if the PW tuners weren't manufactured anymore. I got them on all my guitars and really wouldn't like to go back to non auto trim tuners again. But I could stop making guitars  :icon_jokercolor:

Btw. the trouble with PW's slipping was an old issue that was addressed by the manufacture. But it has apparently lived on to become on more of those myths that guitarist are so found of

The wire cutting still works fine on the oldest of my tuners. And even if the wire cutting should fail some day they would still be working like any other locking tuners. People seems to like to invent problems  ... sigh ...

Maybe I should stock up on them now ... hmm ...  :sad1:

 

[Cagey]

Somebody was selling a batch of 10 of them in the "for sale" folder.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Yes thanks. I saw that. But he was looking for trades. And then we have the USA to EU shipping issue.

But I found that Thomann still carries the PW tuners - so it's all good for now.

 

[mayfly]

I must say that I have PW tuners installed on, er, 6? 7? guitars.  I change strings all the time and I've never had an issue with the cutters or the locking mechanism slipping.  Good tuners IMHO.

I wish I could say the same for Sperzel.  My experience with those tuners has sadly not been positive.


So.... is it Hip Shot??

 

[Wyliee]

Sorry gang.  I don't have anything to report for new tuner offerings.  We are always working on new options and there is more in the queue.

 

[mayfly]

Sorry gang.  I don't have anything to report for new tuner offerings.  We are always working on new options and there is more in the queue.

Understood and thanks for the clarification.

 

[AprioriMark]

I must say that I have PW tuners installed on, er, 6? 7? guitars.  I change strings all the time and I've never had an issue with the cutters or the locking mechanism slipping.  Good tuners IMHO.

I wish I could say the same for Sperzel.  My experience with those tuners has sadly not been positive.


So.... is it Hip Shot??

I actually think that Mayfly may be my tuner nemesis.  I've always been baffled by what issues he could have had with them, aside from being heavy.  I'm really, really hard on guitars and can't seem to make them fail.  I have Sperzels on 19 guitars, and have never had an issue with them. 

Planet Waves, I've had them on one guitar myself and swapped them out.  I've since worked on 5 guitars for people with the exact same problem:  they slip like crazy.  One guy had a high E tuner that wouldn't hold at all and would cut before it was tight... but let's be clear, the thing had been mangled by onstage antics and was bent to all hell.  Not worth mentioning, right?  PW claimed they'd replace it and never sent the part.  I contacted them 4 times.  He eventually had me replace them with Sperzels (not at my suggestion).

-Mark

 

[mayfly]

I must say that I have PW tuners installed on, er, 6? 7? guitars.  I change strings all the time and I've never had an issue with the cutters or the locking mechanism slipping.  Good tuners IMHO.

I wish I could say the same for Sperzel.  My experience with those tuners has sadly not been positive.


So.... is it Hip Shot??

I actually think that Mayfly may be my tuner nemesis.  I've always been baffled by what issues he could have had with them, aside from being heavy.  I'm really, really hard on guitars and can't seem to make them fail.  I have Sperzels on 19 guitars, and have never had an issue with them. 

Planet Waves, I've had them on one guitar myself and swapped them out.  I've since worked on 5 guitars for people with the exact same problem:  they slip like crazy.  One guy had a high E tuner that wouldn't hold at all and would cut before it was tight... but let's be clear, the thing had been mangled by onstage antics and was bent to all hell.  Not worth mentioning, right?  PW claimed they'd replace it and never sent the part.  I contacted them 4 times.  He eventually had me replace them with Sperzels (not at my suggestion).

-Mark

So.... how do you feel about Hip Shot? 

 

[AprioriMark]

At the risk of appearing on-topic, I have exactly no experience with their guitar tuning machines; just their awesome bass versions. 

I'm much more concerned with swapping brains for a day or so.  Ok, yes, I want to steal your amp building experience, but I'm really curious to know what bad experiences you've had with my aforementioned tuners of choice.  I would caution you against digging too deeply into my mind.  Beneath the angst and passion lies a deep forest of taco trucks and shiny objects.

-Mark

 

[Cagey]

I've always thought Sperzels were superb tuners, and used them for years until I got a set of Schaller Mini-Lockers. They're essentially the same thing, but the knurled nut on the back is slightly thicker so it's easier to torque 'em down or loosen them up. So, I've been using those ever since. Plus, the Schallers will come with a shiny finish, versus the satin finishes the Sperzels come in. Depending on other things, you may want one or the other. Finally, sometimes the form factor matters. For instance, I just got a neck that has holes drilled in it for beer can tuners, and the Sperzels will cover those up while the Schallers have a 45 degree offset to the anti-rotation flange, which would leave the old holes exposed.