Can anyone tell me if the Schaller F style tuners are a direct replacement of the New Grover tuners on the newest Gibson mandolins?
Question number two is for Big Joe. If I change these tuners does it void the warranty on my F5-G?
I played a fern today that had the Schaller tuners and the difference in the way they turned was night and day to the Grovers on my mandolin. The Schallers were smooth, the Grovers really are not.
It's not that they are bad, they just don't seem to be as good.
Funny.
I had Schallers on my 2002 Fern when I first got it. When I had it varnished in 2005 the Schallers were replaced with Gibson gold-plated Grovers. I MUCH prefer the Gibson Grovers, so much so that I replaced the Schallers on my Stanley with nickel Gibson Grovers before I sold it.
IMHO Schallers are giant step backwards compared with Gibson Grovers. I would strongly suggest having a luthier look at and adjust your Grovers before going to Schallers. It may be a simple matter of fine-tuning.
Of course you may still prefer Schallers just as some folks prefer an MGB to a Jaguar.
Well, as far as adjustment goes I'd say they are adjusted, lubricated, etc. The Schallers on the Fern are night and day different from these. Even the finish on the new Grovers didn't look to be what they were on the Schallers.
The Gibson Grovers are a satin finish by design. They are a far superior tuner to the Schaller tuners we used to use and that is why we use them. If they are fit properly and adjusted they will work much better. They have a higer ratio so they hold better than the others and there is much less problem with slippage. You may have a nut that is not cut properly and the strings are binding (the usual cause for tuner irritation) and that is much easier to fix than replacing tuners...especially with tuners that will not function as well.
Changing the tuners will not void the warranty, but could increase your frustration over the next couple years. Get your nut adjusted properly for the strings you use and I think your problem will go away.
Have a Great Day!
Joe Vest
I'll have the nut checked out. It still has the original strings on it that it shipped with from the factory.
I know I'm coming into this post late, but I just noticed it and have a minority opinion about Schallers Vs. Gibson Grovers. I've used both, and I prefer the Schallers. My 2004 F9 has the satin Gibson Grovers, my 98 A5G has Schallers. I once owned a Bozeman era F5G with Schallers. To me the Schallers turn more smoothly, have more comfortable buttons than the teeny Grover buttons, have noticeably less play, get in tune easier and stay in tune better. Some posters on this board have given me various advice on this subject to tell me how to make the Grovers work better: I've had the nut checked to make sure the strings weren't binding, lubed the tuners, locked my strings on the posts properly, but the Grovers still keep working the same way -- not as good as Schallers. I'm not saying Grovers are bad, but the Schallers I've had are much better. Maybe I just am lucky to have really exceptional Schallers? Maybe tuners can vary on a case by case basis?
Like I said, this is a minority opinion as most others on this board who have commented on this topic at various times are thrilled about Gibson Grovers. I'd trade my Grovers for anyone's Schallers straight across, but then we'd both have to drill some new screw holes and I don't think that would be worth it.
My opinion is if you've got Schallers already and are thinking about "upgrading" to Grovers, don't.
I had Schallers on my Weber Fern and the Gibson Grovers on the Gibson Fern. Both were nice looking and had very nice MOP buttons. Both allowed me to tune accurately - I did prefer the Schallers since the buttons on the Grovers were smaller. I will say that the Schallers stayed in tune always; I had to tune the Grovers once a week. I did prefer the satin finish on the Grovers. They are both good tuners to me. I agree with truebob, there is not much advantage to "upgrade" to Grovers or to Schallers.
I think Bob said that there was no advantage upgrading Schallers to Grovers. He didn't say anything about going the other way unless I missed that.
By the way, even after tweaking and playing with these Grovers I think the Schallers are still smoother.
[quote=Jerry Byers,July 26 2006, 15:51] "I had to tune the Grovers once a week."
Once a week? #You may want to schedule an appointment with an audiologist!
On my mandolin,tuning has far more to do with what the humidity is than what kind of machines it has.
Sometimes when we find tuners a bit stiff we use TriFlo on the gear and put a string winder on an electric drill and run the tuner forward and backward for a minute or two...without strings on the instrument! That can help the gear settle in on the worm a bit better.
He didn't say it - I did. I was agreeing that there wasn't any advantage between the two.Originally Posted by (DiegoMoon @ July 26 2006, 19:15)
I must have missed the joke.Once a week? You may want to schedule an appointment with an audiologist!
Bob said "I'd trade my Grovers for anyone's Schallers straight across"
I think he thinks there's a difference.
And he also said, "My opinion is if you've got Schallers already and are thinking about "upgrading" to Grovers, don't." And I'm saying, there is no advantage either way. Geez, you guys have way too much time on your hands.
Wow.
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