Need advice on locking tuners for stratocaster

[xMichaelx]

I'm upgrading my 2002 hwy1 strat and I need advice on which parts would be best. So far I've upgraded my strat with the babicz fch tremolo and seymour duncan pickups. Now I'm looking for staggered locking tuners, are the fender brand locking tuners any good? or should I use gotoh or sperzel locking tuners?

[David Schwab]

Fender doesn't make tuners, so they are probably Ghotoh or some toehr Asian brand. Some Fender labeled tuners are OK, and some are crap.

Sperzels are very good. I've installed a few sets of Planet Wave tuners, and they seem nice too, and cut the string when you wind it.

[xMichaelx]

locking tuners

Sorry about that, I meant to say Fender Schaller locking tuners, like the in these pictures. thanks

[Intergalactic Tourister]

You may not need them.

When I put new strings on... I tune them up. Then I pull hard on the strings and then re-tune them. I do this over and over til it stays in tune after pulling hard on the strings again. My guitar stays in tune all year with the exception of extreme weather changes in winter. But nothing you can do there because the wood expands and contracts causing the strings to go out of tune.

Just my $.02

[jrfrond]

Nothing wrong with locking tuners. Go straight for the top and buy Sperzel. The Fender/Schaller locking tuners are OK. It's worth mentioning that Sperzel tuners have graduated posts, meaning that they are different heights. The low E and A are longest, the E and B are shortest. When you install them, you can ditch the string trees and the additional friction they cause, sometimes a source for tuning issues.

[Ronsonic]

I was an early adopter of the Sperzels, been using them since they came out and am very happy with them. I've got the staggered Sperzels on both a strat and a Tele and both sets work great. I've also had the Schaller lockers, but not staggered. The Schallers are very nicely made and absolutely beautiful. I only need to retune when I move the guitars to different temps and humidity. Rock solid.

Either works brilliantly. The Schaller gets bonus points for pretty.

[David Schwab]

It's also important to use a nut made from slippery material if these are for keeping in tune with a trem. If the nut slots are well cut the guitar will stay in tune as well was with a locking nut without the hassles associated with those things.

[jrfrond]

When all is said and done though, my favorite tuner design is STILL the Fender Safeti-Post slotted design that is not only cool, classic and good-looking, but very practical as well, and they are also very lightweight. Strung properly, with 3 or 4 winds per string, these just do NOT go out of tune, and it pains me to see that Fender does NOT use these, but rather die-cast tuners, on a lot of their low AND high-end guitars.

Like Dave said, the nut, with properly-cut and lubed slots, is also uber-important. I'm not bragging here, but I can get almost ANY stock trem Strat to stay in tune, just by properly winding the strings on the posts, polishing and lubing nut slots, and lubing EVERY single string contact and mechanical friction point in the platform, which includes the knife-blade trem edges, spring anchor points, string trees and saddle tops.

[kg]

i love a good slick, lubed nut slot.

[xMichaelx]

i love a good slick, lubed nut slot.

Hahaaaa!