Anyone seen "stealth" tuners on a guitar?

[Steve Christens]

I just saw these "stealth" tuners on a ukulele, and wondered if anyone has ever seen them used on a guitar? Sure is an interesting concept. For one thing you wouldn't need the headstock to be angled back anymore. Though I would wonder about drag through the tunnels.

http://www.littleriverukuleles.com/

[Gmountain]

N need to space them so far apart, either. You could have the tuners in one row, with some kind of way to use one key to turn them all, independently.

[Tico]

Cool.
Great break angle, for more energy transfer.
That's what I've read here on AGF as a benefit of slotted heads.

[rogthefrog]

Tony Yamamoto has used those on his Reverie models. They work fine and seem to weigh less, which helps prevent neck diving.

Correction: I now see these are different from what Tony uses, which are normal tuners with the post through the headstock but a slim housing.

[Shuksan]

That's a pretty cool idea. First time I've seen it. It definitely frees up real estate for fancy headstock inlays. I wonder what the guides through the headstock are made of. It would take some precise drilling to get the positions of the guide holes on the back of the headstock to be accurately and evenly located because of the angle.

According to this Gotoh web page http://g-gotoh.com/international/product/st31.html, with the tuners that are configured with the post on the same side of the headstock as the gear housing like in the photo above, the maximum tension is only 22 lb. So that would rule out most steel string sets. (See the second note under "Function" referring to Fig. 3 on the web page.)

[TBman]

Why am I thinking headstock cracks later on down the road at the slightest bump? It does look cool though.

[The Bard Rocks]

It looks to me as if the string holes are lines with some sort of plastic, probably to protect the wood from being sawed by the strings and to decrease friction. That so?

[s2y]

Whoah. Trippy.

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by Shuksan

That's a pretty cool idea. First time I've seen it. It definitely frees up real estate for fancy headstock inlays. I wonder what the guides through the headstock are made of. It would take some precise drilling to get the positions of the guide holes on the back of the headstock to be accurately and evenly located because of the angle.

According to this Gotoh web page http://g-gotoh.com/international/product/st31.html, with the tuners that are configured with the post on the same side of the headstock as the gear housing like in the photo above, the maximum tension is only 22 lb. So that would rule out most steel string sets. (See the second note under "Function" referring to Fig. 3 on the web page.)

I just checked the website link and although there seems to be a particular installation approach that limits the max. tension to 22 lbs., most applications allow 44 lbs. Regardless, I've had them on my all-carbon fiber Emerald Chimaera 6/12 doubleneck. Given that guitar needs 18 tuning machines, headstock weight/balance is an issue and these tuners worked great in that regard. To my knowledge, Emerald has never used them on their more conventional guitars. I don't know if it was the excessive tension of the Chimaera, but Emerald stopped using them because of some failures and have been using Gotoh 510s even though headstock weight is somewhat of an issue (apparently no complaints about that from new Chimaera owners). Although I haven't experienced a failure and tuning holds well, they do feel a little "spongy", kinda like they're at the upper threshold of their functional ability. Unless for the purpose of reducing headstock weight, although I'm sure they work well, I'd rather have more robust tuners like the 510s.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

It looks to me as if the string holes are lines with some sort of plastic, probably to protect the wood from being sawed by the strings and to decrease friction. That so?

Doubt you really have to worry about sawing with unwound nylon strings on a ukulele. I get the lining, but nylon strings are pretty slippery all by themselves.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

It looks to me as if the string holes are lines with some sort of plastic, probably to protect the wood from being sawed by the strings and to decrease friction. That so?

Sure, and it was easily done. It's simply some sort of thin nylon (or other plastic) tubing. Drill a hole to the same dimension as the outside diameter of the tubing, glue it in place, then trim off the ends at the same angles as the front and back of the headstock. Easy as pie.

To answer your question, Steve, yes, I have seen those tuners on some high end custom guitars, but not in that particular configuration. The approach used on this uke is so ingenious I wanted to ogle the headstock photos again, so here we go:

˙˙˙

My guess is that the builder used this headstock and tuner configuration because it it's less likely to snag on your clothing when you're using it for concealed carry. You know, everyone's sitting around the dinner table, foolishly believing that they're in a safe, hygienic, ukulele-free environment when suddenly - WHAMMO!! - you pull out your concealed carry uke and start serenading them with off-key Hawaiian music....

Hey, man, it's a dangerous world out there. You need to be able to inflict folk music on other people before they get a chance to inflict any on you!

Hope this helps...


Wade Hampton "Wholly Haole" Miller

[Goat Mick]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Sure, and it was easily done. It's simply some sort of thin nylon (or other plastic) tubing. Drill a hole to the same dimension as the outside diameter of the tubing, glue it in place, then trim off the ends at the same angles as the front and back of the headstock. Easy as pie.

To answer your question, Steve, yes, I have seen those tuners on some high end custom guitars, but not in that particular configuration. The approach used on this uke is so ingenious I wanted to ogle the headstock photos again, so here we go:

˙˙˙

My guess is that the builder used this headstock and tuner configuration because it it's less likely to snag on your clothing when you're using it for concealed carry. You know, everyone's sitting around the dinner table, foolishly believing that they're in a safe, hygienic, ukulele-free environment when suddenly - WHAMMO!! - you pull out your concealed carry uke and start serenading them with off-key Hawaiian music....

Hey, man, it's a dangerous world out there. You need to be able to inflict folk music on other people before they get a chance to inflict any on you!

Hope this helps...


Wade Hampton "Wholly Haole" Miller

I hope they never put those on a banjo!! The horror!!!

[devellis]

Originally Posted by Mick's Goat Whiskey Picks

I hope they never put those on a banjo!! The horror!!!

I think the idea actually originated with banjo, which you may have known already. The Stealth Banjo Company used this approach to avoid a 5th sring tuner. The string was tuned at the headstock but ran down through the neck where it emerged at the 5th fret, with a little wheel serving as the 5th fret nut.

[tgaume]

I'm thinking on the right headstock those tuners would look good mounted on the front.

[prohaszkagtrs]

Yes, can be used successfully and it opens great possibilities in headstock design. Not as sturdy though as standard tuners... but here is my attempt:
https://flic.kr/p/PcSLpF