Blueridge BR-160 tuner upgrade?

[ClaptonWannabe2]

Will Grover open style butter bean tuners fit the BR-160?

I am building a 000 style and will be buying tuners. My first build will not be the guitar that my Blueridge is, so can I upgrade its tuners with the ones I buy and place the old ones on my new build?

If I need to redrill holes or add or fill then this is a non issue. Just wondered if they were interchangeable.

[phavriluk]

Tuners - - - bring the popcorn. Three folks reply, six answers. Tuners can be a serious and unneeded expense. I suggest OP buy inexpensive tuners for his project. Just to start near the bottom. Work good enough? No reason to spend more. Like the guitar? Splurge, but the tuners won't have any influence on tone or playability. My last project, I used a set of mini Grover Rotomatic tuners. Can't tell the difference between the Grovers and the Korean minis on the project before that one except the Grovers cost three times as much.

Of course, any tuner that aggravates is a candidate for the landfill.

[Brucebubs]

The BR-160 specification sheet reads,

'Tuning Machines Gotoh Vintage-style / Open-back / Butterbean Buttons'

The 18:1 Grover Sta-Tite open back tuners are great value for the money but I would consider those Gotoh tuners on the guitar as superior - leave them on the Blueridge and use the Grovers on your build.

[ClaptonWannabe2]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

The BR-160 specification sheet reads,

'Tuning Machines Gotoh Vintage-style / Open-back / Butterbean Buttons'

The 18:1 Grover Sta-Tite open back tuners are great value for the money but I would consider those Gotoh tuners on the guitar as superior - leave them on the Blueridge and use the Grovers on your build.

Really?

Where would Gotoh markings be? Because you are absolutely right?

Mine is a 2006 also. If that changes anything.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by ClaptonWannabe2

Really?

Where would Gotoh markings be? Because you are absolutely right?

Mine is a 2006 also. If that changes anything.

They may have no markings on them at all - my new Gibson SJ-200 has Gotoh keystone tuners - I just looked, there's no markings on them anywhere.

If you order Grover Sta-Tites for your build make sure they are the 18:1's - there are some cheaper old 14:1's still out there and I believe they are way inferior.

[ClaptonWannabe2]

Thanks for the info. I am just going to go with it being Gotoh tuners as FACT.

LOL. The tuners on mine are stiff, but rock solid in keeping tune.

[phavriluk]

Those 'Gotoh' tuners - - - the comment was 'Gotoh vintage-style'. Maybe tuners in the style of Gotoh vintage tuners? Ambiguous description for me to process. Anything unbranded may be made by folks who sell under their own name, too, but the specifications are what the OEM guitarmaker chooses and pays for and there is no automatic transference of construction quality from the manufacturer's branded products to the accessories made for another brand (like the guitar itself), which were made to a price.

[zephystar]

I just replaced the tuners on my BR-160A.

I used the Grover 18:1 Sta-Tite (97-18 Series) 3+3 Tuners, Nickel.

The stock Blueridge bushings won't work with the Grovers, they are too narrow.

The bushings that came with the Grovers wouldn't work either, the outside diameter was too narrow and they would spin in the peg holes. I might have been able to build up the hole with CA but went a different way.

I used the 3/8" Conversion Tuner Bushing, Hex, nickel from Stew Mac. I had to ream out the peg holes to fit them but once I did they fit nicely.

The screw screw holes for the tuners more or less matched up with a little convincing to the stock holes so I did not have to drill anything.

The one thing that was really a PITA is the super thick poly finish on the headstock cracked in a few places when removing the old bushings. And it pulled up some wood around the peg holes. I was super careful, I cut around them first trying to break the bond with the poly and I used Stew Macs bushing tool which come with a plate which is supposed to help prevent that. But it still happened.

I was able to rebuild up the holes with the wood chips I could find and CA and then sanded it all down nice. I added a few coats of satin wipe on poly to make sure the headstock repair held together.

While I was at it, I also decided to make the neck stain and get rid of the awful poly neck feel. I hit it with 0000 steel wool for a while to knice back the poly and then burnished the wood by rubbing it with a microfiber towel.

It was a lot of work but it is much nicer to play and tune now!