Why open tuners instead of sealed?
 

I think I just noticed that a new Martin model at NAMM listed open tuners. I would think closed and sealed would be better.

Style. These days, open tuners have the cool factor.

I agree, I like them just for that reason.

;)

I love the look of the Waverlys on my Martins and the Sta-Tite 18-1s on my Brook. Very ‘cool’ indeed. But from an operational standpoint, the enclosed Gotoh 510s on my Lowden are far superior.

Open tuners can be lighter in weight that those with metal housings. In general, on steel string guitars I prefer a sealed, permanently lubricated housing. On classical guitars, the norm is open tuners.

I'd take sealed tuners every time.

Honestly doesn’t bother me either way, I have open on the Martin and sealed on the Lowden and have never encountered any issues with either.

Guitar makers do this quite deliberately, to add yet another thing for potential buyers and existing owners to agonize about, and further contribute to the folklore.

I think this is partly a wave of fashion. Yes, the open back tuners are lighter, and it's nice when a guitar might otherwise have a bit of a neck-dive tendency.

But in my younger years sealed tuners were considered a plus (at least I considered them so). The open tuners sometimes collected dust when stored casually (common in those days). That (and someone over-oiling them, which made thing worse) gummed up the mechanism, Sometimes too the axle/fixing screws came loose, even fell out.

Funny that it's even a thing. When someone asked whether my new acoustic had open or closed tuners, I thought I knew what he was talking about but Googled "open tuner" just to be sure.

I think we all did, back then. But then we got old and suddenly the vintage look became cool.

I own instruments with both styles of tuners, but my favorites are sealed gear Gotoh 510 minis. Sealed gear 510's are the most accurate tuners I've ever used, and even the best open gear tuners generally don't meet that same standard - not in my personal experience, anyway.

The only open gear tuners that have come close for me are the Schertler open gear tuners.

So while I've seen many posts on here about people wanting to swap sealed gear tuners for open gears, I've done the reverse on several occasions: replaced open gear tuners with Gotoh 510 minis.

They simply work better....


Wade Hampton Miller

But, my friend... you can't attribute the fact that they work better to the simple difference of 'open' vs 'closed'.

I've got 13 Gotoh 510 tuners on the last two guitars I've purchased.

They work brilliantly well, but I can't say that they are better than anything else I've owned - just because they are closed.

It's not the only variable...

David, I wasn't trying to imply that the sealed gear 510's are better simply because they're sealed. But I have had open gear Gotoh 510's on several instruments, and those simply don't compare in terms of overall accuracy to the sealed gear 510's. It's been open gear 510's that I've replaced with sealed gear 510 minis on at least two occasions, and got better accuracy once I did.

I've had guitars, mandolins and dulcimers with open geared tuners, with most of the current brands represented: 14-1 Grover Sta-Tites, 18-1 Grover Sta-Tites, Waverlys, open gear Gotohs both 510 and regular production, Schaller, Ping, Schertler and one set of custom ordered Rodgers tuners for one of my mandolins.

Of all of those brands, only the hideously expensive Rodgers and the somewhat expensive but excellent quality Schertler tuners are as smooth and accurate as the sealed gear 510's.

So I'm not on an anti-open gear tuner vendetta, but I am pragmatic about it, and simply prefer the tuners that I know work best for me.

Hope that makes more sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

The open tuners on my new D28 look classy and pretty.

The OEM (ping) tuners on my Taylor look nice with the ebony buttons - matches the ebony headstock veneer and ebony fretboard beautifully.

The Chinese tuners that came on my sub-$100 Jasmine S35 worked just fine.