Official Luthiers Forum!

Has anyone used steelstring tuners for a nylon-stringed guitar? What about locking tuners? Would they cut the nylon strings?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I assume you mean steel-string tuners for a slotted headstock? There wouldn't be near enough room for the string on standard SS tuners. The biggest issue I see assuming you modify your classical headstock so everything fits nice, is the gear ratio of the tuners. As a player it would drive me nuts trying to tune a nylon string with the SS tuners. Nylon strings need very fine adjustments as their tension is so much lower. One crank of a SS tuner and you would already be 5 steps above the note you want. The classical tuners are made to allow a more sensitive adjustment.

My other concern would be the metal/brass posts (I'm not sure what they're made of). They have a much tighter radius than Classical tuners, so I'm not sure how that would affect string life.

Good luck!

John

Ken,
I sell Sperzel tuners and they have a set that mounts like steel string tuners but are made for nylon strings. I have a sample in the shop, I can post a pic later tonight if you like.

Shane

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Canada

The one on the right is the the non-standard classical tuner. If this seems like something you would want let me know and I will get you a price and approximate delivery date.




Thanks

Shane

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Canada