Iris has changed materials

[Mak2525]

Just caught this on the Iris website - they are now listing Rosewood as the standard fretboard and Bridge material in place of Katalox. Wonder what inspired or mandated the change? The use of Katalox was touted as one of the cost saving factors to keep the price point reasonable, as well as having a guitar with no CITES" listed woods.

As an Iris lover and owner, I can honestly say, if they were going to make a materials change, the tuners should have been the place to start!

From the website:

• East Indian Rosewood Fingerboard (16” Radius and Blind Fret Slots) and Bar Bridge with Slanted Holes

[Brucebubs]

Funny thing about those Golden Age tuners .. on the Iris Owners facebook page there is more than one mention about the relatively poor quality of those tuners.

Here is Adam's reply on one of those threads,

'Never heard of that problem with these tuners. Trust me, we all wish they worked better but they have the perfect vibe and price point for these guitars. The new shiny tuners just don’t look right!'

Here's the thing - for almost identical money you buy Gotoh SE700 open gear tuners.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by Mak2525

As an Iris lover and owner, I can honestly say, if they were going to make a materials change, the tuners should have been the place to start!

Couldn’t agree more. Those terrible tuners are one of the major reasons I’m no longer an Iris owner.

[jdinco]

The Waverlys were a $150. option I added to the RCM I have on order. The Golden Age tuners did get a LITLE better, less notchy, after I ran the electric tuner thing on them for a couple minutes. But yeah, it's embarassing when a guitar half the cost of the Iris has much better tuners.

[Mak2525]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

The Waverlys were a $150. option I added to the RCM I have on order. The Golden Age tuners did get a LITLE better, less notchy, after I ran the electric tuner thing on them for a couple minutes. But yeah, it's embarassing when a guitar half the cost of the Iris has much better tuners.

Great Call! As you guys may remember, I spent $250 for 3 on a plate Waverlys to retrofit my DF Smeck slothead, as my tuners were basically unuseable as received. The guitar is so good, it was worth it to me. That being said, should you really have to spend that kind of money to make a great mid-priced guitar functional? Again, not sure if I just got a bad set or the slothead version is worse than the solid headstock version. Anyway, I highly recommend if you order an Iris, do what John did and order Waves or Gotohs - you'll thank me! I just do not understand the affinity for these tuners @ Iris. Seems like the "Vibe" is more important than the actual performance of the tuners.

Adam pretty much told me the same thing as Bruce quoted above; "we'd have to charge a lot more for our guitars with high end tuners". As Bruce noted, the Gotohs are pretty much the same price and would still go with the vintage aspect of their instruments. Plus, who wouldn't pay $25-$50 more for something that works like it is supposed to? All right, I'll get off my soapbox now.

[Dudley]

I feel like they only way they're going to change is negative feedback about the tuners.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Dudley

I feel like they only way they're going to change is negative feedback about the tuners.

Waterloo uses the same—or similar—crappy tuners. I think the idea is to give the vibe of using 80-year old tuners. I bought a CH used that came with individual, open-back Waverly tuners—it must’ve been a custom order.

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Waterloo uses the same—or similar—crappy tuners. I think the idea is to give the vibe of using 80-year old tuners. I bought a CH used that came with individual, open-back Waverly tuners—it must’ve been a custom order.

Why do you assume 80 to 90 year old Waverly tuners were "crappy"? I consider them to have been the gold standard of tuners.

[A.Wilder1]

Honestly I think it’s not such a big deal. They have the right vibe and Waverlys are drop in replacements if you want the upgrade.

An Iris is high on my list crappy tuners or not.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by A.Wilder1

Honestly I think it’s not such a big deal. They have the right vibe and Waverlys are drop in replacements if you want the upgrade.

An Iris is high on my list crappy tuners or not.

What? Where did you get that idea? If that was true I might still have my DF. If you know of some drop-ins for DFs lots of folks would appreciate you providing the link.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

Why do you assume 80 to 90 year old Waverly tuners were "crappy"? I consider them to have been the gold standard of tuners.

From what I understand, the depression-era Kalamazoos and Stellas didn’t have Waverly tuners on them.

[srgprod]

Originally Posted by Mak2525

Just caught this on the Iris website - they are now listing Rosewood as the standard fretboard and Bridge material in place of Katalox. Wonder what inspired or mandated the change? The use of Katalox was touted as one of the cost saving factors to keep the price point reasonable, as well as having a guitar with no CITES" listed woods.

As an Iris lover and owner, I can honestly say, if they were going to make a materials change, the tuners should have been the place to start!

From the website:

• East Indian Rosewood Fingerboard (16” Radius and Blind Fret Slots) and Bar Bridge with Slanted Holes

I have one of the original DF’s that Dale built and it has a Rosewood fret board and bridge

[srgprod]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Funny thing about those Golden Age tuners .. on the Iris Owners facebook page there is more than one mention about the relatively poor quality of those tuners.

Here is Adam's reply on one of those threads,

'Never heard of that problem with these tuners. Trust me, we all wish they worked better but they have the perfect vibe and price point for these guitars. The new shiny tuners just don’t look right!'

Here's the thing - for almost identical money you buy Gotoh SE700 open gear tuners.

Yes. But we don’t have to order 3-400 sets of tuners at a bulk rate to make sure we have enough of a supply of tuners for the next 1-2 years. We are only concerned with at most one set.

[John Arnold]

IMHO, Indian RW has never been a good choice for fingerboards (too soft and too porous). Katalox is much harder.

[A.Wilder1]

Originally Posted by Rev Roy

What? Where did you get that idea? If that was true I might still have my DF. If you know of some drop-ins for DFs lots of folks would appreciate you providing the link.

You know you might be right, I just checked StewMac and the Waverly posts are the same as the GAs but the screw holes are slightly different.