Cheap tuners

[Jamie Unden]

I'm building a couple guitars for grand-sons and I'm trying to keep costs down. For one I bought some cheap Chinese tuners and when they showed up three weeks later they had shorted me one nut! It's the kind where the nut is inside-out and screws into the tuner. So, that means these are useless until I get around to making an electric mandolin!

So, two questions:

1) Where might I get just one nut?
2) Where can I get inexpensive tuners that won't take a month to arrive?

Capture.JPG (12.4 KiB) Viewed 12047 times

[Bob Gramann]

What's the matter with the StewMac economy tuners? Both StewMac and LMI also have Gotoh tuners for less than $40/set.

[Jamie Unden]

What's the matter with the StewMac economy tuners? Both StewMac and LMI also have Gotoh tuners for less than $40/set.

The problem is that I already made 10mm holes and the StewMac ones need smaller holes. I'm really trying to keep the cost at a minimum. The tuners I bought were only about $8, but I guess you get what you pay for.

[Bob Gramann]

The Gotoh tuners work in 10mm holes. They are nice tuners.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Another option is GuitarFetish.com

Check them out.

[Jamie Unden]

For closure - I went to a store that repairs guitars and the guy had one in his junk drawer for $1.

[John L Young]

I go to my local dump shop and pick up old and damaged guitars for 5-10 dollars. Get machine heads, fret wire etc for cheap.

John

[Mark Swanson]

Another vote for Guitar Fetish. The Wilkinson tuners they sell are actually really nice.

[John Kingma]

I get a lot of Wilkinson tuners from ebay seller Bezdez. They are probably the same ones that Mark mentioned from Guitar Fetish... but since Bezdez is in Canada I can get them a bit quicker and cheaper. I find Guitar Fetish a bit slow at times.

[Jamie Unden]

On my next build I'll definitely go for the Guitar Fetish tuners. I like the 'butter bean' type of knobs and they have a lot of them.

[Eric Baack]

I like my GFS wilkinson tuners.. The sperzel style tuners from them aren't too shabby either. excellent stability on the guitar that they are installed in.

[Gordon Bellerose]

I've used 7 sets of the locking tuners, both 3x3 and 6 inline, and they are excellent.
Every bit as good as the Sperzels I've got on one of my Strats. And, at a very good price from GFS.

It is good to hear that the Wilkinson tuners are also good. They will probably go on my acoustic build.

Also, for Bass builders, they sell bass tuners one by one, left and right. Great for 5, 6, or more string, basses.

[Jason Rodgers]

It would be nice if they sold guitar singles. Or have 7 and 8 string sets.

[Eric Baack]

I drilled out a set of their wilkinsons for my baritone build. Just the top one though.

[Eric Baack]

I had a problem with one of the sperzel style tuners that GFS sent me. I called them up and they sent a replacement, no questions asked. I bet if you needed a single tuner that you could give them a call.

[Jason Rodgers]

I drilled out a set of their wilkinsons for my baritone build. Just the top one though.

Are you speaking of the string hole in the tuner post? What gauge is that string?

I'll compare prices with Carvin when I buy the tuners for my 7-string.

[Gordon Bellerose]

I had a problem with one of the sperzel style tuners that GFS sent me. I called them up and they sent a replacement, no questions asked. I bet if you needed a single tuner that you could give them a call.

I was installing a set of the locking tuners, and broke one of the nuts. (just like the nut that started this thread)
I do not mean the writer!

To continue; GFS sent me a single tuner replacement, no questions asked.

[Eric Baack]

yeah, the peg holes in the wilkinsons (each tuner has 2 holes). I have .062's in it now and they holes were about .055.

[Art Davila]

I go to my local dump shop and pick up old and damaged guitars for 5-10 dollars. Get machine heads, fret wire etc for cheap. John

I buy used tuners and bridges all the time from ebay and have a parts bin of a lot of spare parts but I only but items clearly marked as a brand I know, and from sellers that have a high satisfied customer rating. I also get stuff from China when it what a customer really wants,

but the expression on a slow boat from China really does still apply, and there just does not seem to be a fast way to get thru customs.

That being said they usually will respond to an email if you have a complaint so drop them a message maybe they'll refund a buck or two, can't hurt to try.