Back in 1987 I bought a guitar made by Gordon Smith, who are probably the largest British guitar company. I just checked and they are in Northamptonshire now. I am sure they used to be further north. This was my main electric guitar for many years until I got my custom Benford Telecaster. It has featured in my Hive profile for years. One reason I have not played it so much is that one of the tuners (aka machine heads) was coming apart. It is the low E, at the bottom here. There was some danger the back would fall off and then it would just come to pieces.
I actually took it apart at the weekend. It could possibly be fixed, but then I was never that keen on the look of these tuners anyway. During some idle browsing I noticed a set on Gear4music, which is one of the big online music gear retailers in the UK. I had considered getting some locking tuners, but they tend to be fairly expensive. The set I saw were about half the price of others and so I decided to go for it. They are from the company's own brand. I went for black as I thought they would look good and I am not really into bling. They match the colour of the knobs and pickups, but the bridge is chrome.
Changing them over was fairly simple. All I needed was a spanner, screwdriver and drill, plus wire cutters to trim the strings. The dial on the back is used to move the clamp that holds the strings in place. This means they do not need lots of winds around the posts and so changing strings is quicker. You may notice one screw is different. One of the black ones was defective and so I used an old one. Nobody is going to see that side and so I am not even filling in the old screw holes.
I have lined them up by eye and I think they look okay. The old ones were actually a little wonky. From the front I think they look good. I like that they do not stick out as much. With the old case I had they only just fit in and could get knocked out of tune.
The brass nut is original. I have actually changed something else on this guitar as I fitted strap locks years ago. That was even simpler as you just unscrew them.
I do not change the strings very often, but it will be quicker now. My Tele also has locking tuners. I can also worry less about taking the guitar out to play it, when that is possible again.
Rock on!
