Sperzel locking tuner replacement

[JJ Rodriguez]

Anyone know of another brand of tuners that are a direct replacement for Sperzel? I believe they have an odd ball size for the post and have that little locating pin.

I fucking hate Sperzel, would have much preferred Schaller mini locking ones but they were the only option at KxK at the time.

[Mike]

Easiest is use Hipshots with the UMP system. No screws required.

[JJ Rodriguez]

Hmmm, not sure they make those for a 7 and while I know I may be a little nit picky they look ugly as fuck from my Googling

My issue is that I'm pretty sure I have a burr on at least 2 of my Sperzels since twice now my high E snapped at the tuner while I was playing, although not playing the high E string. My nut is unlocked right now, so must have vibrated enough for whatever sharp edge to cut the high E, also happened once with my D string.

While I can file burrs, I've never liked Sperzels, but from my Googling it looks like I may have to put up with the original alignment pin hole being visible if I want to swap it out. Sure, looks aren't everything and on a production guitar I wouldn't give 2 shits, but on my customs I would like it to be perfect

Looking at their webpage I see they have a "Trim-lok" model now, so not sure if I should double down for aesthetics sake and just replace them with the new model and hope that there's no issues.

Although, I'm not sure how I feel about giving money to a company who's marketing department literally thought using the following picture to show off their 8 string sets was anywhere near a good idea.

[JJ Rodriguez]

Nevermind, "Trim-lok" apparently doesn't mean anything, it's just their standard locking tuner. Seriously, their marketing department is on fucking meth. In what world does "Trim-lok" not imply that it's like Planetwaves auto trim or whatever tuner?

[Chris]

I liked Sperzels until I owned Schallers, so I'm right with you. My Carvin is the only guitar left w/Sperzels on it and one of these days I'm just going to say fuck it and put Schallers on it, holes be damned.

I will say that their (Sperzel) customer service is awesome. I think they're a lot more mom and pop than the other brands. I had to buy a replacement for my Carvin shortly after I got it because it also had a burr, and I think it was like the owner's mom that was emailing back and forth with me.

[JJ Rodriguez]

I know that I could file it, it's just that my guitars don't see enough use for this to be usual wear and tear It's just a piss off when I finally have 5 minutes to sit down and play a little bit and *ping* there goes my high E when I wasn't even attempting a half ass solo on it.

[Darren]

Sperzel is indeed a mom & pop shop, though Bob Sperzel passed away a few years ago.

[Mike]

I have 3 7 strings with umps and Hipshots. Who sees the back of the fucking headstock anyway?

[JJ Rodriguez]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, I see the plates for 3+3 and 6 inline, but nothing for 7s. Did you get another one and Dremel off part of it or something?

[JJ Rodriguez]

Also, to your second point about who sees it, I will

The thing is, we're looking at this from 2 perspectives. You're a guy who's actually a working musician, that plays in a band and writes music and records albums and shit

I'm just a dude who's lucky if he gets to play an hour in a weeks time that guitar is simply a hobby. I spend more time tinkering with shit than actually playing, because tinkering is quiet and won't wake my daughter up

[Mike]

Yeah, I did have to snip one of the plates down. I think Dave did it on his LP7 just by stacking them, though - they're very thin and designed to go over top of each other.

I get the aesthetic thing. I wonder if the Fender Scahller pin located ones would fit?

[Markus]

Graphtech Ratio tuners with the right invisomount plate might work. At least this thread appears to indicate it would

http://www.kieselguitarsbbs.com/viewtopic.php?t=47120

edit: seems the guy still ended up drilling a hole for the mounting screw.

[JJ Rodriguez]

Hmmm, those look like they might fit the bill. I'll have to check them out, thanks!

[JJ Rodriguez]

Also I'm not opposed to drilling new holes as long as the existing alignment pin hole is covered.

[Cameron]

Here is an overlay of Gotoh and Schaller tuners the Sperzel is purple.

As you can see the pin hole will peek out a little in each case. I personally wouldnt be bothered by that but I can understand why it might bother folks.