New tuner button suggestions

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Athens

Ebony looks nice with Gold tuners.

[salsarev]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Pings are fairly good tuners, and better than they used to be, but they're simply not as accurate as Gotohs. Since wooden or high quality plastic tuner buttons both cut weight and dress up the appearance of the guitars they're on, I always replace stock metal buttons. There's a vast array of aftermarket buttons available for Gotohs, so I have my choice of materials and button styles to fit them.

Whenever I've been confronted with Ping tuners on any instrument I've owned, my solution has been to pull off the Pings and replace them with Gotohs.

But if you want to stay with the factory stock Taylor logo Ping tuners, Salsarev, Charis is about your only viable option. Larrivée had less expensive aftermarket buttons available for them for sale on their website for a few years, but those haven't been on their website for a long time now.

Thank you, sir! After doing some research, I have about decided to go the Gotoh route. I appreciate everyone's input!

[btaylor]

www.guitarpartsfactory.com or www.guitarresource.com has them for regular and mini sized ping tuners, but I can’t say anything about the quality of them. They are a lot cheaper than the others listed here. The company has 5 star reviews on Reverb, for what it’s worth

[JayBee1404]

A big +1 to what Wade said about Gotohs. I have 381s on my Lowden O-25 - they are excellent - and 510s on the F-23. The 510s are absolutely the best tuners I’ve ever had on any guitar I’ve owned, and they knock seven bells out of the Waverlys that are on both my Martins - smooth, accurate, and no backlash whatsoever.

Not sure if the Gotohs would be a drop-in replacement for Pings - the footprint/screw-hole/post diameter may differ.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

The 510s on the F-23...

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[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

PS: One more thing - I didn't do any followup with Larrivée asking whether they have those aftermarket buttons in stock, so they might or might not have them at the moment. But the fact that they have them back on their website is encouraging.

Larrivee has switched to Faradyne tuners on their higher end instruments. I think they still use Pings on the -03 series.

The website does not say which tuners they are for.

[tippy5]

I vote for Wade's mini Ebony $48 upgrade suggestion. They would be awesome.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

Larrivee has switched to Faradyne tuners on their higher end instruments. I think they still use Pings on the -03 series.

The website does not say which tuners they are for.

Huh - I've never heard of Faradyne tuners before. I'll have to look into those.


whm

[Wade Hampton]

AZ, the only reference or link to Faradyne tuners that I could find, other than threads on this forum, was this listing on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/6542680-fara...ronze-set-of-6

And that says that that listing is no longer available.

If I'm missing something and there's a website for them that I just flat out missed, I'd like to find it.


whm

[vindibona1]

If we think of this in a design sense, I think it's wise to be aware of what you want the "shining star" or main center of interest to be, and avoid what is called "competing centers of interest". Clearly this is a beautiful guitar and IMO the wood is the shining star. So like others have suggested, just go with the black buttons, shape of your choice. IMO stay away from fancy buttons as you don't want to draw attention from the beautiful burst and simple, elegant, striped headstock.

[salsarev]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

If we think of this in a design sense, I think it's wise to be aware of what you want the "shining star" or main center of interest to be, and avoid what is called "competing centers of interest". Clearly this is a beautiful guitar and IMO the wood is the shining star. So like others have suggested, just go with the black buttons, shape of your choice. IMO stay away from fancy buttons as you don't want to draw attention from the beautiful burst and simple, elegant, striped headstock.

I like that perspective. Thanks for posting.

[Marshall]

[salsarev]

I just ordered a set of Gotoh 510 in gold and ebony buttons to replace the gold ones. I'll post a picture when the job is completed. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

[Wade Hampton]

That's an elegant choice and the guitar will be easier to tune as a result.

Just remember that the screw that holds the tuner button onto the tuner also serves as a clutch screw, and that vibrations from both playing and travel will gradually loosen it. So to maintain optimum accuracy those clutch screws on all six tuners will need to be checked and firmed up every so often.

I find that it needs to be done once or twice a year, depending on how much that particular instrument is getting played.

Have fun!


Wade Hampton Miller

[salsarev]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

That's an elegant choice and the guitar will be easier to tune as a result.

Just remember that the screw that holds the tuner button onto the tuner also serves as a clutch screw, and that vibrations from both playing and travel will gradually loosen it. So to maintain optimum accuracy those clutch screws on all six tuners will need to be checked and firmed up every so often.

I find that it needs to be done once or twice a year, depending on how much that particular instrument is getting played.

Have fun!


Wade Hampton Miller

Thanks for that valuable tidbit of information!

David

[Wade Hampton]

Yeah, it's kind of like checking the oil in your car every so often - you can drive the nicest car on the planet, but if you don't keep the oil topped off and get an oil change when it needs it, you won't get the optimum performance that you paid for.

We get folks on here regularly complaining that the tuners on their guitars have become inaccurate, and what should they replace them with? I always recommend that they first take the appropriate size and style screwdriver and go around and firm up all their tuners.

It seems like that solves the problem more often than not.

It's not their fault - it's not as though anyone at the music store or website where they bought the guitar has told them that the tuners need to be adjusted every once and awhile....


whm