I bought this guitar like 3 years ago, HImor brand, made in China, for like $225. I like it quite a bit. One downside though is that the tuners suck, too much play in them. What can you recommend as a replacement?
GOTOH make great tuning pegs and while you’re at it you can get locking tuners that make string changes a breeze. Plus they have a lot of options for color combos.
Big fan of gotoh and schaller locking tuners. I have them on everything.
Ditto.
I have a guitar with a L3/R3 style headstock that has no back tilt and I was able to order them in different post heights depending on which string (E’s are longest shaft, A and B are medium height, and D and G are the shortest) and it creates the perfect back pressure on the nut for each string without the need for string trees. Gotoh is HIGHLY recommended.
On my hacked-up, fake, RG-p90 build that I never finished, I have the 6 in line and I think they are 2 short, 2 medium, and 2 long, it kind of doesn’t matter since it has a locking nut but if you didn’t want a string tree on a strat it would be nice for sure.
Your E, A and D strings are winded in the opposite direction from what they should be and also it looks like there are some weird overlapping on the pegs: restring your guitar correctly and see if there is still an issue with your tuning stability before changing anything.
Others have mentioned this: Your E, A, and D strings are wound through the machine heads in the wrong direction. They should wind counterclockwise while the G, B, and high E should be wound clockwise.
“Gotoh SGV510Z EN07 MG-T GS” is the absolute best you can buy. The codes all mean something
- SGV510Z fits the holes you already have and has a 1:21 tuning ratio (once you use these, you’ll never go back)
- MG-T is traditional Locking (absolutely no cons to switching to locking tuners)
- GS: gold satin finish (or GG for glossy gold)
- EN07: wooden button matching your orginals
No better tooling in the world than Japanese. Even German tooling pales in comparison, IMO.
I installed waverlys on my old martin and have been really happy with them. In my mind tuners are worth investing in, they make your experience just much more pleasant
I’ve used both Gotoh and Grover aftermarket tuners and they’re both going strong 10+ years on. No problems to report with either brand.
Different brands of guitars use different hole sizes for the tuning peg, so make sure you measure the diameter of the peg hole in your headstock before you order to make sure you’re getting ones that will fit your guitar.
The only locking tuners I’ve had experience with aren’t branded and even those are better than any non locking tuners I’ve used, it’s just convenient and faster even if you’re experienced with non locking tuners.
I’ve been very satisfied with Hipshot locking tuners. I swapped out the tuners on my tele a couple years ago and they have performed admirably since. Very responsive and hold a tune for ages.
Locking tuners from Gotoh or Grover, and wind them the proper way around, how do you even manage to tune
Grover machine heads
