Locking Tuners for H-535

[DrDreamwalker]

I brought my Heritage H-535 into the studio last weekend while recording my band's second album. The sound was spectacular but we had tuning problems. The sound was so good we wound up doing some of the songs in short sections. I'm thinking of putting locking tuners on it. Anyone have experience with this? If so what are your recommendations. Thank you.

Dr D

[brentrocks]

If it has Grovers on it I would put locking Grovers on it. I put them on all my guitars and I absolutely love them

[fxdx99]

You've perhaps already done this, but after setup (new strings, relief, intonation, nut slot height, string height), check nut slots (width, smooth slots, lube).  Then bridge slots and tailpiece break angle.  Ensure tuners are tight.  

Apologies if stating the obvious, but it's lower odds that quality tuners such as grovers are causing tuning issues.

 

[DrDreamwalker]

I appreciate both comments and I think one should always state the obvious, although these tasks were done. Thank you 

[rockabilly69]

48 minutes ago, DrDreamwalker said:

I appreciate both comments and I think one should always state the obvious, although these tasks were done. Thank you 

Yes, but were they done right? There is no reason why Grovers should go out of tune with a proper setup, and if the something was missed in the setup, and it wasn't done properly, the guitar will still go out of tune with lockers. Yesterday, I watched three so called professional setups on youtube and all these guys made glaring mistakes!

[LK155]

It's a longshot, but if the strings had just been changed prior to the studio session, had they been moderately stretched?

[TalismanRich]

One other thing to check is the intonation.   I've had times when it seemed the guitar was always out of tune.   It turned out that a couple of strings would be off on their intonation, and it played havoc with certain chords.

Some guitars do move a bit with weather, especially humidity.    My H525 seems to move a lot more than my solid bodies.   It doesn't change over the short term, but over 2 days, it definitely drifts.

[DetroitBlues]

On 2/23/2021 at 12:00 PM, fxdx99 said:

You've perhaps already done this, but after setup (new strings, relief, intonation, nut slot height, string height), check nut slots (width, smooth slots, lube).  Then bridge slots and tailpiece break angle.  Ensure tuners are tight.  

Apologies if stating the obvious, but it's lower odds that quality tuners such as grovers are causing tuning issues.

 

Always my first thought before justifying locking tuners.  Don't forget to break in the strings before playing, learned that lesson too.

I do like pin-lock tuners Reverend uses because it make string changes super quick, not so much about stability.

[goSteelers]

I agree that regular grovers should stay in tune pretty well - I have them on a lot of guitars.  But if you are going to switch tuners, I would highly recommend the graphtech ratio tuners -- they are wonderful!  There is a different gear ratio for each string, and it makes tuning a lot easier on some of the strings (like low E).  Expensive, but worth it.  They come with little metal templates that make them fit most guitars with drilling more holes.  They are available in locking and non-locking versions.