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Murphy Lab Loose Tuners

marshall2553

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
27
ALL of the reissue Kluson tuners have been loose on all of the reissues. Has nothing to do with Murphy Lab process. Some are worse than others. The issue is build quality. A number of years ago WD Music bought the rights to Kluson and moved production from Japan to their “Ping” tuner facility in Taiwan. Ping tuners are cheap replacements. The reissue Klusons now have Ping stamped into the underside of them. The older “Gibson Deluxe” double line tuners and original reissue Klusons were being made by Gotoh.
Mark, can you recommend a good replacement for the Klusons? I have a few reissues with tuners that are loose enough to be really annoying. I was about to buy a set or two of Gotoh SD90s in aged nickel. They're about the only ones I've found that appear to be a step up in quality and are available in an aged finish.
 
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Dave P

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
976
Gotoh SD510-SL are probably the best Kluson style tuner, but they don't look vintage correct since the have a big 510 stamped on the back.

IMO, people should start complaining to Wendy and Larry Davis at WD for making poor quality Klusons. Larry had no problem ripping into me during a phone call when people were criticizing his products here years ago when I was running the LPF. They made the decision to have their tuners made cheaply. The running joke among luthiers is that WD stands for "wrong dimensions". LOL
 

bursty

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
544
I heard that Murphy Lab translates to 'pay much more get way less' :ROFLMAO:
 

Arnold M.

Active member
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
296
a tuner that comes "new" from the factory with a quarter inch of slop (play) is a disgrace on a 10K plus instrument,
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
The tuners that came on my 2021 Murphy Lab R-9 were awful!. I had to buy a set of the Gotoh SD90's. Much better!! I got them from Allparts!
 

poor man's burst

Active member
Joined
Oct 3, 2010
Messages
421
What could possibly be plastic on the inside? There's a worm gear, spur gear, and a screw, all mounted on a metal plate with a metal cover. Do you have photos of a disassembled turner to prove your statement or is this an "I heard that ..." claim?
There are two nylon washers, one on each side of the worm. There is no need to disassemble the tuner. You can see them if you look at the U shaped holes in the covers. where the worm shaft goes through.
 
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