Locking tuner option for McCartys?
- Thread starter kselbee
- Start date
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Phase III are a drop in.
lefthandagenda
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2014
- Messages
- 61
Really? I would have lost that bet. I thought for sure the diameter would be different.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Nope, they’re the same. At least on the 594. An older McCarty may have a smaller diameter. I took the vintage style off my 594 and dropped a set of Phase III in.
Just for clarity, I'm looking at a McCarty 594 singlecut so I have to believe they're the same as the double cut 594. I'm also surprised that they're the same size as the Phase IIIs but glad to hear it. IMO those plastic tuners are a step backwards.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Yep, they are the same. I verified with PRS Customer Service before I ordered the IIIs
andy474x
Knows the Drill
I was recently in the same boat, wanting a “new” 594 with the CAB finish and TCI pickups, but not so keen on losing the locking tuners. There was a window of time from sometime in 2019 into early 2020 when the 594’s made for the existing orders that dealers had placed were automatically changed over to CAB finish and TCI pickups, but the tuners were left as Phase III’s unless the dealer specifically asked to have the vintage style put on. Somewhere around here there’s a thread where our resident insider Shawn (who works at PRS) gave us that info. So when I was searching for my DC last month, there were quite a few of those hanging around - and, in fact, that’s what I ended up getting. You’re in luck, I think there were actually even more singlecuts than doublecuts available.
Not all the 2019’s with that spec say so on the dealer sites, so if you see a ‘19 you like but it isn’t listed as CAB/TCI, ask the dealer, there’s a good chance it’ll have those things. Willcutt has a ton of them (no affiliation, just noticed in my browsing).
Going Modal
I should be practicing right now.
You're right, they sure are. About a month or two ago, I bought from the PRS accessory store what I thought were just going to be plain ol' vintage-style tuners--in plain nickel or chrome, with the vintage buttons--to replace the gaudy gold ones on my guitar. Lo and behold, when they arrived, it turns out that they're vintage-styled knobs & back/mechanism but with the modern locking screw on top.
I think in the case of what the OP is asking about here, I would simply be careful about going from bushing-type vintage tuners to the non-bushing type modern Phase III ones. It can be done, but one just needs to be careful removing the old bushings without damaging the headstock. Again in the case of the OP, I would contact the PRS accessory store to see about getting some of the new vintage-style locking tuners; if they use the same bushings as the non-locking ones on your McCarty, then the upgrade should be easy & seamless.
