My Taylor 712 12 Fret has Awful Tuners... How About Waverly?

[jpmist]

I love 5 year old threads . . .

Reading the experiences of guys who love their tuners and guys who hate theirs, I've fallen into the hate them camp.

It really wasn't until I put Gotoh 510s on my other guitars did I notice how I dreaded tuning my 322 because it seemed a lot of work. Turning a 1/4 turn I'd expect the string note to change and it often didn't. I went so far as to remove all of them and slightly lube the headstock hole the tuner shaft fit in with no change.

I looked into several options for replacement and am offering them here for those who clicked on a dead thread.

Waverly - it took a bit of googling to discover that Waverly is owned by Stew-Mac and are manufactured in the US. I'll be honest to admitting a large bit of bias against Stew-Mac's high pricing so while they may be excellent I passed.
https://www.stewmac.com/Waverly/Wave..._Pegheads.html

Gotoh - I really wanted to buy their slothead tuners, but I find they're 15:1, less than the Waverly 16:1 and much less than the 510's I have that are 18:1. They have a wide variety of finishes and tuner buttons, but nothing close to the 322 antique brass/copper shade. They carry 3 versions which are identical except for the screw hole spacing, the SEP-700 should drop in for the 322.
They're 1/3rd (!!!) the cost of Stew-Mac, but they have to be ordered directly from either the factory or from another supplier JAPARTs. In either case expect a big hike in shipping cost and a long wait.
http://www.japarts.ca/Gotoh/Gotoh-Pr...sp?Body=SEP700
https://g-gotoh.com/international/product/sep700.html

Grover - I tried a set of these 6 years ago on a Recording King with awful factory tuners. I inadvertently did myself a favor and dropped the guitar which broke one of the plastic buttons off. These are 18:1 and I have no recollection of how I liked them, so they must have been ok. I'd have bought these again but the blindingly chrome and gold finishes looks a tad gaudy compared to the one's on the Taylor so I wanted to keep looking.
https://www.grotro.com/Grover/VINTAG...o-97-18-Series

Schaller - A similar variety in finishes and buttons, and these are 18:1 so this is what I pulled the trigger on. The screw spacing is the same as on my Taylor 322 and they have a Vintage Copper finish which should be close to the ones on there now. Again, these have to be ordered direct and it appears to be a retail price with steep additional shipping from Germany.
https://schaller.info/en/machine-hea...ne-single?c=53

Fortunately eBay has a seller in France that offered the copper finish at a price less than ordering from the factory. It's probably a good idea to shop Amazon, eBay and Reverb before buying from the manufacturer as you might get as lucky as I did.

Still waiting on them, will report back when they're on.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by jpmist

Gotoh -
They're 1/3rd (!!!) the cost of Stew-Mac, but they have to be ordered directly from either the factory or from another supplier JAPARTs

You can buy Gotoh tuners here:

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/

Mine took about three days to deliver.

[cliff_the_stiff]

Originally Posted by FrankB2

Thanks Guys,
The G tuner is the only on that isn't stiff, but it has to be turned forever to make any difference(???). I'll pull one of the stiff ones off, and if I can't I can't get it straightened out, I'll order some Waverlys.

Oh My goodness! the G tuner on my Taylor blows. I get more mad at that thing than is rationally explainable.

[rpatkin]

So, late to this (old) game, but here goes. On my Taylor 2016 322 12 fret, the G string knob cracked and came off after about a week, called Taylor and they immediately expedited a replacement, but I was gun shy by then, and ordered ebony button Waverlys ... they were a drop in replacement, but back then the 12 fret models sported single tuners. Last month I received my Taylor V-Class 712 12 fret, which has the newer 3 on a plate, ebony button Ping tuners. So far, they are really nice, but it has taken some time to get used to an 18:1 ratio after using the Waverlys, which I think were 14:1 (maybe 16:1). No idea if the Waverly 3 on a plate configuration drops into the Taylor head or not, though.

Good luck

[Foxrunstudio]

Any update on this thread? I have a 2021 912 ce 12-fret with the ping 3 on a side tuners. Taylor sent replacements but after a while they get stiff. I have a recoding studio with a lot of guitars and other string instruments. I find it annoying that the guitar IÂ’ve spent the most on has the most problematic tuners. I just bought a used MIC Casino for $600 that has much better feeling tuning machines. My CA cargo has amazingly smooth tuners. And my Duesenberg Starplayer is a pleasure to tune. I love the sound and playability of the Taylor but shouldnÂ’t a guitar that retails new for $5700 have tuners that donÂ’t generate threads like this one?

Taylor has been quite responsive in sending me replacements but I guess I wonder why they donÂ’t just spec better parts on their flagship series. If anyoneÂ’s got a better drop in replacement suggestion in 2022, hit me up.

Neale Eckstein
Fox Run Studio

[Tnfiddler]

Gotoh 510 tuners are drop in and what I put on every Taylor I’ve owned, that didn’t come with them from the factory.

[luecack]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

Gotoh 510 tuners are drop in and what I put on every Taylor I’ve owned, that didn’t come with them from the factory.

Another vote