What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

Rex_Rocker

Rex_Rocker

Well-known member
I have a PRS SE singlecut Nick Catanese. You guys know how it is with these Korean PRS's. They're good solid instruments with crappy hardware and pickups. Fortunately, this came equipped with EMG's and a TonePros bridge from the factory (the later, I'm not a big fan of, but that's another story).

The tuners are utter crap, though. They won't hold tune nearly as well as my LTD with Grovers does. I did have a set of locking Grovers sitting around, but decided to drop them in my LTD because I play that guitar more. I gave the non-locking Grovers the LTD came stock with away to a friend who needed them not thinking I might actually have a use for them with my PRS SE, so I don't have them anymore. I still want to upgrade my PRS SE, though.

Before you say it's the nut that may be causing the issue, I did replace the nut with a Graphtech Black TusQ and had it properly setup by a tech, so it's definitely not that. It's just the tuners that are crap. I've had that issue with other SE's I've had.

I'd like to spend as little as possible. I see non-locking Gotohs are cheaper than Grovers over at Stewmac and Allparts. Wonder if I should place my bet on Gotohs, play it safe with non-locking Grovers, or maybe look into something else like Wilkinsons or something. Like I said, I don't want to spend a lot. I don't really mind if the tuners are non-locking, I just want them to be better quality to function better.

What do you guys think?
 
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Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

Wish I could help more, but I got a deal on Grover Rotos that I used on my SE One and I would go with them again, even if it was a few bucks more.
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

The KD brand at Aliexpress is the same as the Alparts tuners, but they are only $25.

I looked at the Godin site
Their locking tuners are priced individually
At $8 ea
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

The Gotohs I posted are the best quality for the lowest price you will find. The Wilkinsons are essentially the same price, but not a match to Gotoh in quality.

If you're willing to spend $15-$20 more, which is a bargain for improved tuning stability and better quality parts, I would strongly recommend a set of either Gotoh or Hipshot locking tuners. You can pick up locking Gotohs for ~$45 and Hipshots for ~$50
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

These godin tuners would look right on a PRS
Click to expand...

Godin doesn't make those. I believe Ping does.

And I am willing to bet the tuning problem is NOT the tuning machines. Very seldom can the tuners be blamed. It's usually something else - like the nut, the setup, the bridge.... or in rare instances, the player.
 
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Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

I've always been partial to Deep Purple's Machine Head. Shouldn't be too expensive to pick up. :P
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

I have a locking set I got off Guitar Fetish I have never had a problem with them. I think they were around $35
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

Securb said:
I have a locking set I got off Guitar Fetish I have never had a problem with them. I think they were around $35
Click to expand...

I had a set of those and only four of the six actually locked. The other two would slip and require more than a complete wrap around the post.

When it comes to tuners I really like Sperzels, but they're expensive and kind of heavy. I use Gotoh on everything where Sperzel doesn't make sense regardless of the reason.
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

Yeah, I had a set of the GFS locking tuners once, and the lock didn't really lock, LOL.

I guess I was just wondering, are those Gotohs really as good as, say, Grovers? If they are, I'm definitely ordering a set. I mean, they do use those tuners for MIJ ESP's and Ibanez Prestige.
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

ICTGoober said:
Godin doesn't make those. I believe Ping does.

And I am willing to bet the tuning problem is NOT the tuning machines. Very seldom can the tuners be blamed. It's usually something else - like the nut, the setup, the bridge.... or in rare instances, the player.
Click to expand...

well Godin is the one that sells the ones with Godin stamped on them

ping wont sell you anything with Godin on it

thats why I keep referring to them as "the Godin Tuners"
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

The cheap sealed Gotohs are probably the best bang for the buck. They're ugly, but good for the money.

If you will be keeping the guitar long term, I would just go ahead and get better tuners right from the start. I'd probably get Hipshots, myself. I do like Sperzels, though, as long as they have the small butterbean button.

Locking or not is mainly a matter of how fast you want the string changing process to be. If you can afford the extra bucks to be able to change strings very fast, go for it. If you can't, then don't. You wouldn't miss the lockers much.
 
Re: What are the best bang-for-the-buck machine heads?

Rex_Rocker said:
I guess I was just wondering, are those Gotohs really as good as, say, Grovers? If they are, I'm definitely ordering a set. I mean, they do use those tuners for MIJ ESP's and Ibanez Prestige.
Click to expand...

Gotohs are as good as Grovers were 20-some years ago before they were off-shored and the quality became inconsistent. I've had both good and bad sets of Grovers over the years, but never a bad set of Gotohs.
 
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