Premium tuners

[Fernando Esteves]

Hello!
I've never used those premium guitar tuners, like Rubner or VS Tuners and would like to know how well they hold tunning on a acoustic guitar...
For electric, with lots of bending, I always use locking tuners because normal tuners doesn't hold that well... Probably lots of bending too on that archtop, if anything works well...
They sure look good, but doesn't know if they hold together in front of a locking tuner...
What is your opinion?

[Barry Daniels]

There is a lot of misinformation out there about some tuners not holding their tuning. But tuners do not normally slip. What can slip is the string through the tuner. But that would be the fault of the person stringing it up. What also can slip is the windings around the tuning post. They slip and tighten a bit during string bending and the string may not return to pitch if there is any binding in the nut slot. Widen the slot a bit and put some graphite there to prevent binding.

The trick I figured out to minimize string slippage through the tuner is to make sure the tail end of the string is bent at the back of the hole in a 90 degree bend in the direction opposite of the other side of the post. This creates a zig zag shape that greatly resists slipping. I also wrap the high e string and the wound B string so that the first wrap gets overlapped once by the second wrap.

[Bob Gramann]

I agree with Barry. Tuning issues are often caused by strings binding in the nut. I have used Rubner tuners on some of my classical guitars, I like them a lot. I have never used Rubner for steel strings, but if I were building a slothead, I would investigate them.