Hey I was wondering are Schaller locking tuners better than most locking nuts for tremelo guitars?

My friend said they are hard to re-string and a lot more work to use but stay in tune a lot better. Is this true cause I'm looking at getting some custom guitars and I was wondering if I should just get the regular locking nuts or the Schaller locking tuners.

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Just out of curiosity where are you getting the custom from?

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never had locking tuners but i can say my lockin nut works just fine as hell. ive had it locked and taken the bridge right off (it locks at bridge too) and swaped my pick ups around cuz i wanted to see what the EMG 81 would sound like in the neck spot, anyways, i put the bridge back on and didnt even have to tune it!!! it stayed perfectly in tune. i was amazed

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I've HEARD of these, never used them..but it does seem to have merit... I don't really like my locking nut, its an inconvenience when i tune my other guitars when they go out of tune. You could always get a better bridge, that stays in tune really well, with a good locking nut, thats what i have now.

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I have locking tuners on my Ran, not sure if they're Schaller or not, but they're all the same principle. Locking tuners are better than a locking nut imo, and make re-stringing so much easier and quicker

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Well they are not locking nuts. But a device that goes on the tunning pegs and locks them. Similar to Sperzel tunners.

I use Kahler trems and Edge Pros. My guitars stay in tune eccept for 1 which is probably cause it has shoddy locking nuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOc7Acxxo1w

This guy has them on his custom. Note how there are no locking bolts behind the graphite nut as they go on the tunners.

As far as my custom goes. I'll probably go for Monson guitars or perhaps Monster Customs. They have some really weird shapes which I like. And Monson usues Schaller tunners on their tremelo equiped guitars. I'm still deciding if I should design my own weird shape or an already exsisting shape (most likley a B.C. Rich Bich shape) but with custom decals.

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In my opinion locking tuners is a myth. They do not keep guitar in tune better than regular ones. I used to play with Schaller locking tuners guitar and they worked neither better nor worse than regular tuners but were much more heavier so that guitar headstock tended to fall down making the guitar uncomfortable.

So are the schallers harder to maintain. Like changing strings and stuff?

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Sorry, but that's just plain wrong.

They do keep the strings in tune better, because once the string has been locked down stretched, there is no way that the string can slip through the tuner. If you're playing with a tremolo, it's going to be the tremolo that is putting the strings out of tune. They are slightly heavier than normal tuners, but not to the extent that it's going to make the headstock dive down- unless you've got a guitar shape/strap pin location that makes the guitar teetering on the edge of balance.

Another big positive for locking tuners over a locking nut, is that you can't adjust the nut in any way, if you want to raise the strings, you have to put a shim under, but you can't adjust each string like with a regular nut.

When locked, locking tuners are not stopped from being turned, it is the string that is locked in the hole of the tuner so it can not slip out. It makes changing strings much quicker because you just thread the string through until you've got about 1 turn of string to pull in, then lock it down and cut the excess, and tune/stretch until the string is in tune- saves you having to thread the string though and then loop it back on itself and make sure you've got enough turns so it holds on etc.

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Locking tuners are wonderful for guitars with fixed bridges or non locking vintage trems, but for Floyd rose style guitars they're not necessary since the nut already locks down the strings and prevents them from slipping. You only need tuners on floyd guitars to get the guitar vaguely into tune, because when you lock it you rely entirely on the fine tuners and even if the string slips on the big tuners your guitar will stay in tune.

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Oh I know locking nuts are fine. I just found mine going out of tune a tad. I deffinatly will be looking into Sperzel or Schallers on my custom since they will be easier to re string and stuff. And as far as raising the strings I can do that on my kahler at the bridge so that's no problem.

One more question tho. Since I can turn the tunners even after they are locked does that make it possible to drop the 6th string down a step for dropped tunnings and still use the tremelo?

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If your nut is going out of tune then it's probably worn down, get a new nut, they're easy to replace and help keep the guitar in tune longer.

And there are certain string height adjustments that you have to do at the nut, some string buzzing cannot be fixed no matter how high you set your bridge if the height near the first few frets(because of the nut) is too low. This is generally on guitars with worn frets but you never know.

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