I need new tuners, stat.

Reason being I'm a dumbass and busted the tuner for my Strat's D string at my show on Saturday and had to, uhhm, kinda gig with the Tele last night because of it and hope I didn't break a string or someshit.

So, locking. I like locking tuners. I've used both Schallers (which fit Fenders unmodifieded, so that's my immediate choice) and Sperzels before.

Is there a reason I should pick one over the other?

Chris will point out to get the staggered ones, and I like my planet waves with the built in string cutter on my reverend. But anything that you can put on without modifying is good. My deluxe Strat has the Fender locking tuners which are Schallers. They have done well for me.

Accurate summation.

I had the Schallers on the Strat before, but I am vain- they were matte chrome vs. shinyshiny- so I took them off and sold them to my metalhead friend.

Notetwoself: you are not Trent Reznor. Do not throw your guitar.

I had to make the same note to meself. I will one up you though, my drunkeness managed to snap the neck on my rg550 at the time. It's the lefty one I still play, the repair was fucking awesome.

Where did you bust the neck? Headstock or somewhere else?

right where all the RG's do, right at the locking nut. that fucking W or M shaped crack, and not a little one....... wind whistling fucking crack....

I love the shit out of Sperzels. I could understand not wanting to have to do any work to make something too big fit(drilling necks is SKETCHY) but i would probably just put those on everything if i could afford to.

If you do need to widen the holes to fit something in, seriously consider having it done by a luthier/dood who knows his shit. If you have a reamer you can generally do it that way without too much worry. But if it comes down to needing to buy one to do it, i would say you might just want to pay to have it done nicely.

If you do choose to to go with something that needs widening, and to do it yourself, DO NOT use a normal drill bit. Use step drill(looks like a christmas tree) or use a reamer.

Does using Sperzels make that much a difference Chris? I've not used them, but you 're making me get a boner for them with this talk.....

I have a couple friends who are way way better with the Working On Stuff thing than I- one repaired the truss rod on one of his Explorers, replaced the fingerboard and fretted the thing himself- that's way beyond my skill!- so I'd have them do it. Or take the thing to my usual tech of choice for an expensive-but-perfect once-over.

Is there a practical advantage to the Sperzels besides the staggered thing?

I just like the way they lock, and feel that the tuning ratio and action is exactly perfect. Totally a personal preference thing.

And honestly, if you are already using string trees, the staggered thing is totally not an issue. In truth, even with staggered tuners, you occasionally need to run a tree on the high E. Depends on how the nut is cut, and how the action and relief is set.

Well then. Having no personal beef with the trees, I'll probably go for the Schallers simply 'cause they're a drop-in replacement.

Go green, stick with trees

Schallers. Shinychrome. Less than fiddy bucks, $4 next-day shipping through Amazon Prime. Same shit that's on the Fender Deluxes these days, IIRC. Extra hours at my realwork + more freelance design stuff means I can patch up the results of my dumbassery and not care too much.

I've owned both at the same time, and the Schallers make the Sperzels seem like cheap junk. Good choice!!

I like the thicker knob on the Schallers.

They seem beefier to me, having used 'em both- though not on the same guitar or at the same time.

Weird, i had the opposite experience. Well, actually, i wouldn't say 'junk' about either, but i definitely preferred the way the Sperzels felt.

I like Schallers.

The Sperzels do feel really smooth. The Schallers feel like my normal Fender tuners, from what I remember. Not that I much care either way about that; really it came down to whether I needed to drill the neck to install them and if there was a particular practical advantage that would lead me in that direction.

That's a sound reason to purchase the schallers. Chris now has me want to try the Sperzels. I have to do this for my Tele. Oh I need to take new pics of her as she's been flowered and pupgraded.