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Post by spellcaster on Mar 28, 2022 4:28:15 GMT
A few years ago, I did a restoration of a Conrad 1802, which was a Matsushita-built Japanese guitar from the late 60's - early 70's. The same guitar was produced under a number of different names including Univox, Aria, Toledo, Lyle, Conrad, and Epiphone. They were actually a pretty nice playing instrument, but one of the weak links was the original tuners.....They were a trapezoid design that tended to get sloppy and resistant to rebuilding to solve the issue. That guitar is long gone from my collection, but I had enough interest to follow what's become an epic thread on the Offset Guitars forum. A recent post caught my attention, as it addressed the tuner issue.....
"Just came across this potential no-drilling tuner option for the 1802t linkAnyone tried these? Yes, they are ugly, but I wouldn't need to modify the guitar and I could actually enjoy playing it"
I've seen these Hipshot tuners mentioned before in connection with updating classic instruments because they're reputed to bypass drilling new tuner mounting holes and destroying originality. They use a universal mounting plate that utilizes the original mounting holes, but allows an upgrade tuner to be used without modifying the guitar. This strikes me as an interesting thinking-outside-the-box solution to an issue that lots of people will encounter when trying to bring an old guitar back to life.
I know how you guys like pictures, lol. This was my Conrad after restoration....
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Post by Die Bullen on Mar 28, 2022 11:57:09 GMT
It is a neat idea but no margin of error whatsoever- I don't think I will be rushing out to buy a set...
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Post by infant on Mar 28, 2022 15:16:11 GMT
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Post by spellcaster on Mar 28, 2022 22:17:42 GMT
Those Klusons look good. I had the old Fender trapezoids on a neck I bought but they were terrible with all kinds of backlash. The Kluson's are the first thing I've seen that look like they'd fasten to the existing screw locations. The Matsushita trapezoids were canted in the opposite direction, so nothing would cover the holes they left.
The point about measuring is a valid one for sure....Whem I was upgrading my Affinity Duosonic, I decided to try a set of Gotoh vintage-style tuners, but when I was ready to install them, I laid them out on the back of the headstock and discovered that the through-holes were too far apart for the tuners to butt together to utilize a single screw. I ended up using Sperzels on that neck and just filling the old screw-holes. I used that set of Gotoh vintage tuners, SD-91's, on my Esquire partscaster which had a genuine 59 Tele neck....The Gotoh's fit perfectly to replace the original tuners, but I was seriously disappointed with the quality. I doubt I'll ever buy Gotoh's again.
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Post by infant on Mar 28, 2022 22:49:57 GMT
Those Klusons look good. I had the old Fender trapezoids on a neck I bought but they were terrible with all kinds of backlash. The Kluson's are the first thing I've seen that look like they'd fasten to the existing screw locations. The Matsushita trapezoids were canted in the opposite direction, so nothing would cover the holes they left. The point about measuring is a valid one for sure....Whem I was upgrading my Affinity Duosonic, I decided to try a set of Gotoh vintage-style tuners, but when I was ready to install them, I laid them out on the back of the headstock and discovered that the through-holes were too far apart for the tuners to butt together to utilize a single screw. I ended up using Sperzels on that neck and just filling the old screw-holes. I used that set of Gotoh vintage tuners, SD-91's, on my Esquire partscaster which had a genuine 59 Tele neck....The Gotoh's fit perfectly to replace the original tuners, but I was seriously disappointed with the quality. I doubt I'll ever buy Gotoh's again. The Klusons were designed as drop in replacements to the CBS style trapezoid tuners using the same screw holes but they require slight enlarging of the post holes in the headstock. The only thing is the screws supplied with them are smaller diameter than the originals so I just used the original screws. I put a set of Gotohs on my Strat partscaster that my son now owns and they were pretty decent. I have Grover’s on my Gibsons, Martin and Ovation and Klusons on both of my Fenders and I’m extremely happy with both. I’ve also used Schaller sealed units in the past with no problems. (Note that some of the old Fender trapezoids were made by Schaller but they were not sealed units) |
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