It gets confusing. I believe that all Schallers are still made in Germany, but of course when a company sells off their name to the highest bidder, the new owners don't want you to know that they're pushing out cheap parts under a previously-high "perceived-value." And when you want to make a quick killing, you buy up a name like "Grover" and slap it on the cheapest possible junk tuners. But then when that backfired, the new owners of Grover improved their quality again (somewhat). The market for old Grovers is now turning into one of those weird little collector's corners, because if you're trying to restore a $25,000 1940's D'Angelico or Martin you do not want the new ones... so now the new Grover co. has started turning out product lines with the word "Vintage" in them, just any last shred of deceit possible to make a buck. If you do happen upon some real old Grovers, not faked, they can go for $450-$600 - maybe one of the last pawnshop finds in the music world! So of course there is now a healthy Ebay market for faked new old Grovers, and even faked old new old 60's & 70's Grovers, with the little this'n'thats that expert Grover connoisseurs can... aw, frick'm. :help:
Wilkinson is another one with a variety of levels of quality and manufacturing points, and there are little streaks of great, and awful, products that appear and disappear. And this is even rarely apparent from the "licensed by" heading. Look at the Floyd Rose universe.... and how insane do you have to be to fall for these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Vintage-1960-Gibson-Les-Paul-Standard-Burst-Guitar-Tuners-Tuning-Pegs-/140703833013?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20c29a1bb5
It doesn't help when a "1959 Les Paul" from Gibson is widely acknowledged to be just another modern product line's name and "antique" and "vintage" and "genuine" are just marketing words.
I have this weird obsession about trying to avoid doing business with companies who are paying buildings full of psychologists to try to figure out insidious & sub rosa ways to trick me and rip me off, and I think (so far, this week) Hipshot, Schaller, and Sperzal are still only running one line of quality. But this is complicated by the fact that the GOOD Gotohs and Pings are great products, too. At least music is real....
http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/SonnyLandreth2010-07-11LaFeteDeMarquetteMadisonWI.asx
