Tuner Upgrade

[dwc]

I have an early Eastman prototype. The playbility is excellent and the tone is developing quite nicely. However, the tuners really annoy me. The mando has the basic, generic plastic button tuners. What I was wondering is, is this a FRU (field replacable unit) or should I go to a guitar repair shop, or should I track down a first rate luthier to perform the upgrade?
Also, for buying purposes, are things like post circumfrence (and there by drill hole circumfrence) and post spacing standard? The tuners are standard A models and I was thinking about swapping them for some Grovers. Would I face any compatability issues?

[steve in tampa]

If the post holes are the same diameter, it is as easy as changing a light bulb. I have put Grovers on a couple of instruments. Sometimes the screw holes can be a little off.

[John Flynn]

The #G304C tuners near the bottom of the linked page should be a one-to-one replacement for those cheapo tuners and they are amazingly good tuners for the price.
http://www.internationalluthiers.com/machineheadsp3.php

Some of the more expesive Grovers or Schallers may work also. However, you can still run into problems if the original tuners were not installed perfectly. Here's what I would do: Buy the tuners you want. If they line up, it's an easy job you can do yourself. If it doesn't work, get some bids from luthiers to make it work and decide if it's worth it.

[flairbzzt]

I had Grover 308FG's installed on an Eastman 815 I had. The original holes were larger than needed and I ended up tracking down some guitar ferrules (bushings) from stew-mac to do the job. I have some in gold if that's what you need. I can steer you to them at stew-mac if you get them. I am told schallers will fit without the special ferrules.

[mandoJeremy]

Hey Johnny, why do the #G308FVN tuners on that page look much different than the standard Grovers? The shafts aren't black and they have smaller tuner buttons on them. Anyone know?

[flairbzzt]

I just learned this. As to the 308 fvn's, The "v" in fvn is for vintage (f=style, n=nickel). They are made with longer shafts for vintage Gibsons with a more flared peghead and have the traditional look. The 308fn's are not made to match these specs. Same for the gold series. This comes from Grover.

[Jasper]

Last year sometime, I decided to upgrade the tuners on my Korean made Olympia. It wasn't as easy as I would have thought, considering that the Grover tuners I bought should have been nearly a one for one replacement. Even though the posts lined up fine, the screw holes didn't and I had to drill new mounting screw holes. I filled in the old holes with wood glue and a snapped off toothpick. All is fine, but the Grovers turn the opposite of standard tuners because the gear is above tuning handle(not sure about the technical term), and this causes my tuners to turn opposite the normal direction. If I put them on the opposite sides so they turn in the proper direction, the bottom tuner is nearly inaccessible because of the F style head stock. This is my fooling around mando for such things, so I don't mind it turning the wrong way. But be sure to plan better than I did.

[evanreilly]

I have swapped out three sets of low-end tuners, using Shallers as upgrades. No problems, except filling a few screw holes that didn't match up.

[dwc]

Thanks alot. Just one other quick question, is thr price quoted (say ~$50.00) for 1 set (of 4) or for 2 sets of four (total 8).

[mandoJeremy]

I would say that is for one (1) set which equals eight (8) tuners.