Tuners on my Gibson LP Studio

B

bbundy96

New member
I have a fairly new Gibson Les Paul Studio Edition w/ a double cutaway. It's a great guitar, but the tuners absolutely suck. My guitar will not stay in tune any longer than one song, regardless if the strings are new or old.

What can be done to rectify this? Are there any adjustments that can be made to the tuners themselves? Or would replacing them with higher quality tuners be the best route? If so, what would be a good replacement?

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim
Hazlet, NJ
 
Sperzel's

give it up...they suck...period...all LP tuners tend to suck. I have the same guitar (wine red) - and I hated them.

Get Sperzel Locking tuners...not only will they stay in tune, but if you break a string, all you have to do is run the string in, twist the vise on the knob, and turn into tune...no wrapping around the post 2 or 3 times...they change a lot quicker during gigs..
 
Ruebarb is right on, Gibson ought to be ashamed for putting those cheap plastic tuners on a guitar in that price range. The Mini Schallers will work well if the Spertz are to much money.

Peace,
Deenis
 
Les Paul's aren't known for their robustness. I've got a '93 Left Handed Les Paul Standard which has one of the original machine heads left, the other five replaced by Schallers (the original machine head is much longer and sticks out like a sore thumb). Another popular replacement are Grovers, nice chunky and made of metal, grrrr. :)
 
The Klusons on the Gibson are a kind of vintage thing. Never were great, but they are authentic. When I changed the tuners on my LG2 acoustic to Grovers in the mid- '70s, I saved the Klusons, just in case. Still in a box on the bench. The Grovers have been trouble free ever since they went in.

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Grovers would look cooler on an LP than Schallers! But Schallers would probably be a bit smoother. Hard to go wrong with either one. . .
 
ah jeez...

not sure anyone is qualified to give you an opinion on that. I suspect one good tuner is as good as the next...if it's not bad, it's just doing it's job like a bridge or whammy bar.

But I don't know...are the Grovers and Schallers locking tuners?
 
Sperzels are locking tuners.
Grovers are sealed worm gear tuners with a 12:1 ratio.
Schallers are sealed worm gear tuners with a 14:1 ratio. A mini version is available for in line heads.
Make sure you pick sets of 3(L) and 3(R) for the Les Paul head, or you will be frustrated when one side fits upside down. All use high quality castings and materials. In price, they run (low to high) Grover, Schaller, Sperzel. Unless you find a defective tuner, any of these will do an extremely good job.

Note - before you can install any of these, you will probably need to ream or drill out (enlarge) the holes for the tuner shaft to fit. Don't do this with a hand drill and don't try it at all if you have no experience working with hardwoods. You can easily split the headstock or generate a huge chip right where you really do not want one. Get someone with experience to do the drilling on a proper drill press. The tuners should fit snugly, but not "tight." They are held in place with a retaining nut on the face of the bushing and with small screws in the rear. Make sure whoever does the work drills pilot holes for the screws!
 
I got lucky...did it myself but somehow avoided screwing eveyrthing up except for a tiny chip in the finish...but be really careful...those LP necks are fragile.

the posts were just barely too small...a quick sorta routing/scraping out with a drill bit, and bammo.

RB
 
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