Light weight tuning machines?

[dadio917]

Got a new rainsong and given the lightness of the body it seems the neck is a it heavy. I'm wondering if I can lower the weight of the neck br installing lighter weight tune inch machines.

Any suggestions?

It's got gotoh sg 301s on it now.

[Brucebubs]

Oh boy, you have the perfect guitar for these brand new tuners.
Gotoh are making an open gear tuner with a threaded bush.
These should be a simple, easy straight swap with your sealed gear tuners.
Your Gotoh SG301's weigh 36.2 grams each.
These Gotoh weigh 28.2 grams each.
SXN510V.


Only drawback is they are a little behind production and not yet readily available and I can't give you a price.
Also, you will need to drill one small hole per tuner if you want to fit the 2nd (top) locating screw but you could also leave it if you preferred not to drill ( if the appearance bugged you, you could cut off the 2nd screw head and carefully glue it over the hole - best to do that before fitting the tuners, not on the guitar )

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by dadio917

Got a new rainsong and given the lightness of the body it seems the neck is a it heavy. I'm wondering if I can lower the weight of the neck br installing lighter weight tune inch machines.

Any suggestions?

It's got gotoh sg 301s on it now.

Gotoh makes the Stealth Tuner. They work very well.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-...stealth-tuners

[mercy]

Vintage Kluson style are the lightest closed tuners

[riverrummed]

Kluson's are what I go to when trying to shed some weight. Those new Gotohs look great. Who will be selling them? Never saw those Stealth tuners before but they cost about the same as Waverlys.

[KenL]

You could keep the tuners and switch out the buttons to ebony, maybe?

I did that with a Taylor, and it made a huge difference. Too much in fact, I found the neck end to be too light, so I put the originals back on.


Wanna buy some ebony buttons?

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by riverrummed

Those new Gotohs look great. Who will be selling them?

Allparts and Stewmac both sell Gotoh tuners.

[Bruce Sexauer]

The two lightest quality tuners that I am aware of are the Schertler open back and the Sperzel enclosed. The Schertler is slow, probably 18-1, while the Sperzel is fast 13-1 I think. I actually prefer tuning with the fast one, but the market seems to prefer the slower.

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Allparts and Stewmac both sell Gotoh tuners.

Japarts.ca does as well. I believe they may be the official importer.

[mercy]

Ive had both the sperzel and shertler. I like the sperzel better. It was the non locking type. the locking ones that are popular with electric players are heavier. I ordered them direct with white plastic buttons. Schaller M6 are my favorite as far as function but they arent the lightest.

[jonfields45]

I put open gear Hipshots on my T5z, no drilling required, and here is that thread with all the details:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=424739

[dadio917]

How much lighter are ebony knobs than metal?

Great suggestions. Mind of hard to tell the weights of them all.

[DanPanther]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Oh boy, you have the perfect guitar for these brand new tuners.
Gotoh are making an open gear tuner with a threaded bush.
These should be a simple, easy straight swap with your sealed gear tuners.
Your Gotoh SG301's weigh 36.2 grams each.
These Gotoh weigh 28.2 grams each.
SXN510V.


Only drawback is they are a little behind production and not yet readily available and I can't give you a price.
Also, you will need to drill one small hole per tuner if you want to fit the 2nd (top) locating screw but you could also leave it if you preferred not to drill ( if the appearance bugged you, you could cut off the 2nd screw head and carefully glue it over the hole - best to do that before fitting the tuners, not on the guitar )

If my sixties math still works, that figures out to about 1-1/2 ounces, which when placed at the end of a long guitar neck, should make a considerable difference. Plus an added bonus, NOTHING looks better than open gear Silver and Gold.

Dan

[dekutree64]

Originally Posted by mercy

Vintage Kluson style are the lightest closed tuners

Yep. 150g according to StewMac.

Gotoh 510 minis are not bad either at 200g with the metal buttons they come with, and 170g with wood buttons.

The $15 StewMac economy open gear tuners are some of the lightest of all at 120g. Surprisingly good quality, too. The only problem with them is that they're delicate, so if you yank on them with a string winder or smack them into things, the little bearing hooks for the worm gear get bent. Not really an issue for delicate wood guitars that you're going to be careful with regardless, but carbon fiber is tough so you should get some tougher tuners to match.

[Long Jon]

Those open Gotohs are nice looking, but only 15:1 if I'm counting right.
I thought 18:1 was about as low as most "good" brands go these days ?


EDIT: Just looked at my Waverlies which appear to only be 16:1, so whadda I know ?