New locking tuners for my SG Junior

Dave Sloven

Dave Sloven

Ambassador of DOOM!
Country flag
I have a set of the auto-locking Grovers on my SG Junior at the moment. I've never liked them. Too bulky, heavy, and just plain ugly compared to the original white button tuners. Even after changing the heavy metal buttons for acrylic ones.

So I have ordered these by Gotoh from an ebay seller, the model is SG301-05P1 MGT

gotoh_SG301_MGT_05P1_C_00.jpg


Hopefully a big improvement. The posts are low, like the Gotoh MGTs on my Schecter.

Here's a comparison of the look of the Grovers and the Gotohs on my Schecter:

7pEMFNC.jpg


QfyxGKC.jpg


The lower post holes should also increase down pressure at the nut.

When they've arrived and I've had a chance to fit them I will post more photos.
 
Yeah they are really not good for thinner strings, and then on the low strings they can't cope with anything thicker than a 52!

It's going to take a few weeks for these to arrive as they are being sent on that eBay Global Shipping nonsense again, where FedEx bring them almost all the way to my house and then give it to Australia Post, who send it over 1000km away to a sorting centre near Sydney before sending it back to my area again. Last time I bought Gotoh tuners from this guy it took three weeks for my order to arrive. Two of those weeks were in Australia.
 
Last edited:
The dampener on a bass is usually to take the place of a palm mute on a guitar. It changes the sound of the strings. Putting the dampener before the bridge or after the nut is just to stop strings ringing out with harmonics in a part of the string you don't want to be ringing out at all, a bit like packing foam in the strings of your tremolo to prevent that reverb noise.

I'm assuming you mean something that works like this:


You can get the same effect with a block of foam, it's just that the bass mute can be engaged or disengaged on the fly.
 
I decided to try fitting one tonight with the old strings, will fit the rest tomorrow. In the photos you can see the differences, the Gotoh tuners are much less obtrusive

Also the angle between the nut and the tuning post is greater, putting more down pressure on the nut. The location screw on the back had to be redrilled, but it seemed to be in the same place as on the original Gibson tuners (holes for which had been doweled).

umlQAVv.jpg


B6cNRPg.jpg


qbmu2LI.jpg
 
That Gotoh tuner does look good... :yesway:

I do have a set of those Grover Rotomatics on one of my SGs. No problems with mine. Even though they add some weight to the headstock, they also add some mass up there, too. Sometimes that can have a positive effect on sustain and tone. Also, since my prefered string gauge of choice are 10 - 46, I don't experience the problems using bigger gauged 6th strings. As far as the shallower string angle at the nut is concern: That too doesn't bother me on this certain guitar. In fact, the string angle at the nut is almost exactly the same as it is at the bridge. The guitar has a very slinky feel to the bending of the strings, yet the sustain and tone is really good.

Ha... I have 4 different SG'S with 4 different sets of tuners... they're all good... :fingersx:
 
If you look at the three plain string posts you'll notice signs of slippage when stringing up ... have you had this experience? Apparently it is endemic with auto-locking tuners
 
Remember, if necessary, you can switch tuner buttons on Grover and other brand tuners.

I didn't say that right. It's been a long work day.
 
Dave Sloven said:
If you look at the three plain string posts you'll notice signs of slippage when stringing up ... have you had this experience? Apparently it is endemic with auto-locking tuners
Click to expand...
I've had slippage on the first string, once, while I was first getting used to these type of tuners. I learned right away to bend the excess string sharply in the opposite direction of the tuner post's rotation when tuning up new strings.
 
Chubbles said:
Remember, if necessary, you can switch tuner buttons on Grover and other brand tuners.

I didn't say that right. It's been a long work day.
Click to expand...


That's what I had on mine, but they were still bulky. These are better ... AND ... unlike the professional who installed the Grovers, I put these on straight! I just used a 3mm hex wrench across the tops of two tuners in a row to line them up and then tightened them with my ring spanner.

The original lower holes on the headstock lined up with the tuners, but they had been filled when the Grovers were installed. So I filled the holes for the Grovers and drilled new holes with my Tamiya Handy Drill.

All in all I think it is a big improvement and it gives back some of that minimalist mojo that I felt I lost when I installed the Grovers.

xIUYreR.jpg


NEjAjyE.jpg


jwPJTu5.jpg


7Mg6a2Z.jpg
 
Far better tuners all round, imho - they look good, and as you say the shorter tuning post is an improvement.

Grovers are fine, but Gotoh, Schaller, etc are a big improvement. Locking tuners just make sense for quick string change and tuning stability.
 
I put locking tuners on my Epiphone Jr. I did a lot of stuff to it and I still can't make it interesting.
The last completely stupid thing I did was $38.00 dollar Chinese Bigsby copy. The company is call
Mickey Mouse Guitar Parts. They won't say where they are because so many customers want to send them flowers for the poopy parts and crap in the bucket service.
It works and it went on easy but it is still a boring guitar. It's totally black and that doesn't even help.
 
kevinpaul said:
I put locking tuners on my Epiphone Jr. I did a lot of stuff to it and I still can't make it interesting.
The last completely stupid thing I did was $38.00 dollar Chinese Bigsby copy. The company is call
Mickey Mouse Guitar Parts. They won't say where they are because so many customers want to send them flowers for the poopy parts and crap in the bucket service.
It works and it went on easy but it is still a boring guitar. It's totally black and that doesn't even help.
Click to expand...

Are you sure don't mean Mighty Mite? They are Chinese

I had some pickups and some strap locks that they made, they should be called Shitey Shite

If they are actually called 'Mickey Mouse Guitar Parts' they wouldn't find many customers here in Australia, or in any English-speaking country. It is slang for poor quality
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top