Here's my theory on tuners:
Just like a Ford Festiva is not in the same league as a Ford Mustang, the name brand of the tuner is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the particular tuner on the guitar.
1. Pings: My lowly Martin DM had Martin-branded Pings on it. Not so good smoothness, 14:1 ratio. Although I am not familiar with the Taylor Pings, word is that they are 18:1 and are manufactured ot Taylor Specs.
2. Grovers: I replaced my Martin Pings with "Allparts" Grovers (14:1). Much improvement over the Martin Pings, still not quite as nice as the Grovers that are on the Taylor I sold or as the Schallers on my HD-28. These Grovers are a touch sticky and not 100% smooth.
3. Schallers: The "Martin" Schallers on my Martin are great and IMO are equal to the old Taylor Grovers. Not sure how they would compare to "Schaller" Schallers, but I imagine they would be close.
I guess my point is that the maker of the tuners is not as important as the specs that they are built to. I can't imagine Taylor would put Pings on all of their guitars if all Pings were as disappointing as the "Martin" Pings that were on my DM.
If nothing else, I would recommend giving the Taylor Pings a chance before you go drilling holes in a headstock to swap tuners. Extra holes usually don't add value to a guitar, no matter how expertly done.
As always, these are just my observations and opinions.
