Newbie here with a question for the SUB1 owners...or anyone for that matter!

[Four Eyes]

Greetings all!

Just picked up a SUB1 last week and I love it. I can't put it down. So much so that I barely made it through my gig last night because of the hand fatigue I gave myself.

The guitar I picked up is a hardtail and came with the standard tuners. Being a long-time fan of locking tuners, I am wondering if anyone can help me figure out which brand would be a direct retrofit for my new baby.

Thanks gang.

 

[meenahga]

That would be the Schaller locking mini tuners. Check with EBMM Customer Service.

Also, I think you can get 'em individually from Warmoth. See:

Schaller Mini Locking Tuners

Check the site, but I'm pretty sure it's 4 left and 2 right.

 

[Four Eyes]

Warmoth, eh??? Those guys have everything!

 

[Kaloyan]

The guitar holds tune well without them either way but I have Schaller in one of my customs and I cant really tell the difference .... Weird eh?

 

[Four Eyes]

Ya, I think the reason I like 'em so much is because it makes re-stringing alot quicker.

 

[Crimson Sunrise]

I might have to change mine eventually. The original owner had just about stripped the flat-head locking tuners. I actually did a full set-up on my SUB1 yesterday night. It plays and sounds fantastic!

 

[azazael]

If you restring a guitar properly and stretch the strings in locking tuners are in no way needed. I have cheap guitars that maintain perfect tuning with this method.

 

[Crimson Sunrise]

If you restring a guitar properly and stretch the strings in locking tuners are in no way needed. I have cheap guitars that maintain perfect tuning with this method.

They are for me. I want a FAST string change. I have no time for wrappin' string around the post, while leaving a chance of string slippage. And of course, string stretching is always necessary.

 

[Four Eyes]

If you restring a guitar properly and stretch the strings in locking tuners are in no way needed....

True, the stock tuners on my Sub work fine and hold tune fairly well. But for the sake of argument, my stock strap buttons worked equally as well, but I still elected to use straplocks.

It's a matter of personal preferance I guess...I change strings farily frequently when I'm on the road, never putting more than two shows on a set before they're swapped out. Having locking tuners for me is purely a matter of convenience. It's alot easier to change strings in a moving vehicle or a dressing room couch when all you have to do is thread 'em through, lock 'em down, stretch 'em out and tune 'em up.

 

[azazael]

I never get slippage... ever.
Its all in the method.

I also think having good windings helps resonance.

 

[B2D]

If you restring a guitar properly and stretch the strings in locking tuners are in no way needed. I have cheap guitars that maintain perfect tuning with this method.

I will agree with this. Locking tuners aren't essential for me but they are appreciated. I find quality tuners help sustain, as well. My MIM strat gained a lot of sustain when i changed from the stock tuners to Sperzels. I've never noticed a difference on winds vs. no winds with locking tuners, though. I usually put one full wind on just in case the lock fails.

Also, having a well-done nut helps. Cheap ones that aren't well-cut can sometimes bind up the strings at the slots. Having a well-cut/filed nut with a little lube in it helps.

 

[Kaloyan]

True, the stock tuners on my Sub work fine and hold tune fairly well. But for the sake of argument, my stock strap buttons worked equally as well, but I still elected to use straplocks.

It's a matter of personal preferance I guess...I change strings farily frequently when I'm on the road, never putting more than two shows on a set before they're swapped out. Having locking tuners for me is purely a matter of convenience. It's alot easier to change strings in a moving vehicle or a dressing room couch when all you have to do is thread 'em through, lock 'em down, stretch 'em out and tune 'em up.

I think you just WANT to install locking tuners ... you really dont NEED to ... something like idea-fix ... Go for it man ... you wont damage anything

 

[John C]

Actually I'm not sure the Schallers are direct replacements on the SUB1 guitars; I belive those guitars used EBMM-branded Gotoh tuners (while all the other EBMM guitars do use Schaller tuners).

The one I had briefly (I tend to not keep bolt-neck humbucker guitars around for very long ) had the old-style Gotoh Magnum tuners where you had to use a coin to unscrew/rescrew the locking top part of the post.

Again, I'm not sure you wouldn't have to do a little drilling to use Schallers.

 

[Housefull]

Hmmmmm,

My Sub stays in tune better that the Sterling, neither of which has lockers

ETA- duh, I'm thinking basses

 

[MusicManJP6]

I'd love to have a Sub1 w/ fixed bridge for drop tunings!! I've even got a spare set of original JP pickups I could install. Can you say, "Working Man's JP"?!

 

[jamminjim]

Hey John C - I looked at the Gotoh magnums and the stock Sub 1 lockers don't seem to be exactly like them. The Sub 1's lockers posts are taller and the mounting nut seems different. Maybe an older, or a previous style Gotoh magnum was like that, I don't know. They may have been made by Gotoh, but I tend to think they were sourced from a different company; could be wrong though.

Anyway, the Sub 1 locking tuner has the twin posts underneath, like the Fe$der schaller, that keep the tuner aligned on the headstock and the posts are hidden when the tuner is mounted. A EBMM schaller will cover up the holes, but you have to drill an additional one to mount, as mentioned.

I am curious to know if a Fe$der schaller locking tuner would fit? But I may never know, as I don't have any Fe$der guitars. I'm sure some knucks do though, and could do the research. Hint Hint...

Anyway, I want lockers on my subs to make it easier/quicker to work on the guitar, to take the strings off temporarily to get to the innards easily, then put the strings back on. Locking tuners make this process one heck of alot simpler. I think that's the one thing that hasn't been mentioned. Now some would say that isn't a necessity, however for what I do with my subs, it almost would be considered so. Tuning stability isn't the issue in this case.

 

[John C]

Hey John C - I looked at the Gotoh magnums and the stock Sub 1 lockers don't seem to be exactly like them. The Sub 1's lockers posts are taller and the mounting nut seems different. Maybe an older, or a previous style Gotoh magnum was like that, I don't know. They may have been made by Gotoh, but I tend to think they were sourced from a different company; could be wrong though.

Anyway, the Sub 1 locking tuner has the twin posts underneath, like the Fe$der schaller, that keep the tuner aligned on the headstock and the posts are hidden when the tuner is mounted. A EBMM schaller will cover up the holes, but you have to drill an additional one to mount, as mentioned.

I am curious to know if a Fe$der schaller locking tuner would fit? But I may never know, as I don't have any Fe$der guitars. I'm sure some knucks do though, and could do the research. Hint Hint...

Anyway, I want lockers on my subs to make it easier/quicker to work on the guitar, to take the strings off temporarily to get to the innards easily, then put the strings back on. Locking tuners make this process one heck of alot simpler. I think that's the one thing that hasn't been mentioned. Now some would say that isn't a necessity, however for what I do with my subs, it almost would be considered so. Tuning stability isn't the issue in this case.

Jim - these were an earlier version of the Gotohs - instead of being "self-locking" like the current ones the top half screws on and off (kind of like the thumbscrew on the top of a current PRS tuner). I had seen these tuners on the Ibanez Starfield guitars back in the early 1990s. Since this was an earlier style you could be right that they were sourced somewhere other than Gotoh (maybe the Korean company that made the pickups for the SUB 1).

I'm not sure about the Fender/Schallers; seems like they have a different "footprint" than the SUB tuners but if the posts are in the same spot they could work.

 

[wgmontgomery]

Do you have to use 4x2 tuners or can you make 6 inline work?