Zach Myers Locking tuner replacement - cuation

Markone

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Aug 14, 2018
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I recently bought my fist PRS guitar, a Zach Myers in Trampas green and am loving it. However all my other guitars have had locking tuners and I’ve just got used to the ease of changing stings with these. So I set about finding some good quality replacements which turned out to be much harder than I thought…. So I post this so that it may help others who are looking to replace the standard tuners. There were a number of post from a few years back saying that the Gotoh SD90 was a direct drop in replacement so I went out and got me a set. However these now have a 1/4” post and the Standard Zach Myers tuners are shipping with a 6mm diameter post. Now Gotoh, as with most tuner manufactures, provide replacement bushes but, The outside diameter (across the splines) is 8.8mm for a good fit in a 8.5mm hole where as the bushes in the Zach Myers measure 9mm (across the spline) This maybe just down to manufacturing tolerances but they were not a good fit and if you go down this route you would need to fix this (I’ve heard that wrapping a piece of aluminium foil around the bush works well) So I returned the Gotoh’s and got the Kluson Revolutions KEDPNCL3-N. You have the same problem with the bushes as the are meant for a peg hole of 11/32 in. (8.73mm) but the Klusons have a shaft diameter of 6mm and they fitted the standard Zach Myers bushes perfectly, actually they were a better fit than the bushes supplied with the tuners! So a proper ‘drop in replacement. However a word of caution. when they put the guitars together they sometimes get it wrong and I found that several of the screws had been overtightened and they had buggered the holes, so they just used longer screws in these ones. Problem is that the Klusons have a die-cast body which is slightly thinner that the standard pressed steel one and if I hadn’t noticed that the screws were longer they would have gone straight through and ruined the guitar so be careful. The Klusons are expensive but very nicely made and tuning stability is excellent and with 19:1 ratio they are easy to use.
 
I noticed my ZM vintage Gibson tulip style tuners were not the same as most PRS which are more groverish. Didn't occur to me that the holes might be problematic. Thanks for the info. I was planning on upgrading mine but then I bought a SE CU24 Floyd and postponed the tuners. Love my ZM between the two guitars I can cover a lot of ground :)
 
I haven't put my ZM down, its so easy to play, helped by the fact that it rarely needs tuning now. If you do ever get around to changing the tuners I would recommend you first pop one of the bushes out and take some measurements, then get whoever you buy the tuners from to check and make sure its all good. Stuff like this can change over time with different batches, changes of suppliers, etc.
 
I noticed my ZM vintage Gibson tulip style tuners were not the same as most PRS which are more groverish. Didn't occur to me that the holes might be problematic. Thanks for the info. I was planning on upgrading mine but then I bought a SE CU24 Floyd and postponed the tuners. Love my ZM between the two guitars I can cover a lot of ground :)
Out of curiosity, why change tuners on a Floyd? They're not used 99% of the time with the nut locked, and when you change strings it's already so complex the tuners are the least of it.
 
Out of curiosity, why change tuners on a Floyd? They're not used 99% of the time with the nut locked, and when you change strings it's already so complex the tuners are the least of it.

Oh, that was for my Zach Myers I called ZM, not the Floyd. Kind of a long story but I have a zach myers and was going to buy tuners. Asked a seller if I could get a custom set of hipshots with the green tombstones already swapped in. While waiting for a response I was browsing guitars at Dave's guitar shop when my wife looked over my shoulder and really liked the guitar that I was looking at. Told me I should buy it, I was NOT going to argue lol. So I apologized to the tuner guy and bought the Floyd.

My Zach Myers is a fantastic guitar, I love that for an import, it has a wider nut/neck very similar to what you typically find on a traditional USA made guitar. I really like it. Only niggle was when I changed the nut and it was overzealously glued down. It pulled some of the wood directly underneath off. So was a bit more involved than I had originally planned.
 
Firstly, the Enter key is your friend.

But yeah, Kluson style tuners generally use a smaller tuner shaft and smaller bore hole diameter. If you replace with tuners that have the same measurements, you can most likely leave the old bushings alone. Measuring is always a good idea. Overseas guitars tend to feature metric designs, while USA guitars tend to use Imperial (despite that the tuners are pretty much all made overseas).

I think the offerings from John Mann are a no-brainer: https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/Ma...tm?searching=Y&sort=3&cat=7142&show=12&page=2
 
Firstly, the Enter key is your friend.

But yeah, Kluson style tuners generally use a smaller tuner shaft and smaller bore hole diameter. If you replace with tuners that have the same measurements, you can most likely leave the old bushings alone. Measuring is always a good idea. Overseas guitars tend to feature metric designs, while USA guitars tend to use Imperial (despite that the tuners are pretty much all made overseas).

I think the offerings from John Mann are a no-brainer: https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/Ma...tm?searching=Y&sort=3&cat=7142&show=12&page=2
I've got a set of the John Mann drop in upgraded locking tuners for my ZM on the way. Here's the link for the exact tuners:

https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/MannMade_USA_SE_Vintage_Style_Locking_Tuner_Set_p/7025.htm
 
Those are reasonably priced. Every time I go to the Mann web page I look at bridges and they are out of my price range. These are managable if a stretch, will have to keep these on my radar. Thanks!
 
Just an update on my original post since the tuners have been on a while now and I play pretty much every day. I am pleased to say that tuning stability is excellent. I've had one change of strings, so easy. The finish on the tuners is still bright with no tarnishing so all things considered, a good upgrade.
 
Just an update on my original post since the tuners have been on a while now and I play pretty much every day. I am pleased to say that tuning stability is excellent. I've had one change of strings, so easy. The finish on the tuners is still bright with no tarnishing so all things considered, a good upgrade.

Ok, so I’m looking to upgrade my PRS SE Zach Myers to locking tuners. Could you be more specific on whether you had to modify anything to fit the Kluson tuners on the guitar?
 
Ok, so I’m looking to upgrade my PRS SE Zach Myers to locking tuners. Could you be more specific on whether you had to modify anything to fit the Kluson tuners on the guitar?

I literally upgraded my ZM tuners last week. Here's what I bought, and I didn't even swap bushings. Just removed two screws, cleaned off the dust that was inside those tuners, placed the new ones on and used the new screws. They are Kluson Revolution 19:1 gear ratio tuners, No Collar Locking Pearloid button Nickel KEDPNCL-3N. Purchased them on reverb for $88.20. I have no affiliation with these people at all, they were just the tuners I found that would work after spending way too much time trying to figure it out. Simple swap, and they're awesome. I'm so glad I made the switch.

Here's the link: https://reverb.com/item/14059394-kl...lar-locking-pearloid-button-nickel-kedpncl3-n
 
I literally upgraded my ZM tuners last week. Here's what I bought, and I didn't even swap bushings. Just removed two screws, cleaned off the dust that was inside those tuners, placed the new ones on and used the new screws. They are Kluson Revolution 19:1 gear ratio tuners, No Collar Locking Pearloid button Nickel KEDPNCL-3N. Purchased them on reverb for $88.20. I have no affiliation with these people at all, they were just the tuners I found that would work after spending way too much time trying to figure it out. Simple swap, and they're awesome. I'm so glad I made the switch.

Here's the link: https://reverb.com/item/14059394-kl...lar-locking-pearloid-button-nickel-kedpncl3-n

Ok thank you so much. Probably ordering mine from StewMac.
 
Firstly, the Enter key is your friend.

But yeah, Kluson style tuners generally use a smaller tuner shaft and smaller bore hole diameter. If you replace with tuners that have the same measurements, you can most likely leave the old bushings alone. Measuring is always a good idea. Overseas guitars tend to feature metric designs, while USA guitars tend to use Imperial (despite that the tuners are pretty much all made overseas).

I think the offerings from John Mann are a no-brainer: https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/Ma...tm?searching=Y&sort=3&cat=7142&show=12&page=2
This link no workee...
 
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