Official Luthiers Forum!

I built this guitar for my son from an LMI none serviced kit, basically and assemblage of the necessary materials. My workmanship is improving but I am dissapointed with the gotoh tuners, is this normal for these? I realize they are lower end gotoh's, are the 510's better?

What I dont like is the flash left on the buttons, seems like that would be a feature reserved for much a much lower end product. I was thinking of making a set of ebony buttons from a warped finger board I have, anyone have any advice to give on that undertaking?

I believe LMI sells ebony buttons for these in sets, if you decide not to make your own. They're quite expensive, though- about the same as a set of basic tuners.
I made a set of lute tuning pegs years ago- a similar type of project. Quite time-consuming to do, and you need to build some small jigs to do the sanding, etc. Any differences between pegs are quite noticeable.
I'd drill the holes first and index the buttons from there.
Let us know your progress!
If you figure out a quick way to make them, you could probably sell a bunch, since LMI is charging $40+ for a set of 6.
Cheers

John

Grover has a nicer finish and are in the same price range. The buttons are cast and then never polished out.
A sign of lower end product. Waverlies and Irving Sloans are the high end stuff .
MAy be a good subject for a topic. Take a survey on who likes what.
john

The Gotoh 510's especially the Deltas 21:1 ratio are some of the finest
tuners available. Even though I love Waverlys, mechanistically speaking I
find the 510 deltas superior.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Gotoh's buttons are about the only thing that isn't great about the cheaper end (30 buck range) tuning machines; otherwise they work fantastically well. My standard tuner, because I don't like the look of open backs on the headstocks I make, and I still have too many sets to bother with 510's yet.

Well I dont know, but what do you want for about 35 bucks ???? The internals are better than any of the other brands for the price range. Take a look at a 20 buck set of Pings and see if you really think the Gotohs arent worth the extra 15 ??? Take a look at how loose the posts are in Schallers that cost about 45-50 - that usually translates into tuner slop - there is no slop in the Gotoh posts at all.

And yes, the 510s are amazing, even if you dont get the Deltas. I dont use anything else in a closed tuner.TonyKarol39113.6936458333

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I agree with Tony. I had one of my dealers call me the other day and wonder about the "cheap" tuners I was using. After explaining that the insides are some of the best tuners available, he saw the point. I really don't see where casting seams are a sign of cheapness. Compare the workability to anything else and you'll see that they are not cheap tuners at all.

I use the Gotoh 510's but wondering what the difference is with the Delta's other than the ratio and price. Do they interchange as far as footprint, headstock hole size, screw location etc?
Where can a guy buy Gotoh wholesale? I'm ready for a little price break after buying several hundred at retail.
Thanks
Nelson

Chris,

LMI has a feature called the KIT WIZARD now. You can pick and choose all of the components of the kit. It updates the price accordingly. Pretty cool! I'm putting my second kit together right now, and am enjoying figuring out all the choices.

Ken

[QUOTE=npalen] I use the Gotoh 510's but wondering what the difference is with the Delta's other than the ratio and price. Do they interchange as far as footprint, headstock hole size, screw location etc?
Where can a guy buy Gotoh wholesale? I'm ready for a little price break after buying several hundred at retail.
Thanks
Nelson
[/QUOTE]
Anyone know if they interchange?
Thanks
Nelson

Kevin Ryan uses 510 Deltas on his guitars and cheap is not the first thing that comes to mind on a Ryan guitar!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com