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Who put Grovers on their Historic?

spenceroo

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Jul 21, 2001
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141
Has anyone here put Grovers on their Historic models? I'm curious as to whether or not this really hurts the value any. I know that a completely original guitar is always worth more, but these Historics won't be treasured by vintage collectors for a long while. Most of my older guitars all had Grovers which was considered an upgrade in past years. I'm talking specifically about the "kidney bean" style tuners that require drilling out the headstock. I'm not looking to sell my historics any time soon. Just curious.
 

Phil M

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Jul 16, 2001
Messages
2,722
I haven't done it to my historic, but I did it to my '93 Standard and it was one of the best things I ever did for the guitar. I'm certain it will decrease the value, at least a little, because of the extra holes. That Standard isn't going anywhere anyway and it stays in tune better, so that's fine by me.

Because of the cash value, I wouldn't do it to the Historic ... not yet anyway. The tuners still work fine so I have no complaints about it. The '93 Standard's tuners were in rough shape so it was necessary to make the guitar more useful. If the Historic gets like that at a later date, I would probably go to Grovers, or maybe new replacements that are identical to the originals.

Even if you put the old ones back on, I think the holes from the Grovers would show. If someone is certain about this please post.
 

professor

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Jul 22, 2001
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I find this really amusing because, "back in the day," we regularly pulled the Kluson's off our late 50s/early 60s Gibsons as a matter of course... Grovers were *the* tuners to put on, and for good reason... they're much better than the Klusons...

Of course, we never bought guitars as "investments" back then, either... if we *had*, we would have kept the damned things instead of selling them for, say, $350 (!), whenever a car insurance or rent payment came due...!
 

Phil M

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Jul 16, 2001
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That's kind of my point: if it makes your guitar better and more usable for you, by all means, do it! I just haven't done it to my Historic because it's still new and the tuners haven't been giving me any trouble. Time will tell. I haven't had a set of the kluson style tuners last a long time for me yet...
 

MelMann

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Jul 16, 2001
Messages
202
Grovers

I have a Murphy aged Les Paul and the one thing that looked like crap to me were the ugly Kluson-alike tuners. Also I have always preferred Grovers. So I bought a nice old set that already were aged and put them on and have been very happy. I don't know if it devalues my guitar but they look right and work much smoother than the ones that were on there. I also like the tone better with Grovers.
 
M

Mojojojo

Guest
Yes, but...

The original Klusons were vastly inferior to the modern tuners; they were a 12:1 ratio and the new ones are 15:1. Note that Grover Rotomatics (the kidney bean ones) are 14:1 ratio tuners.

Most tuning problems on newer guitars are not caused by the tuners slipping (easy to tell by pulling on the string and looking for shaft rotation), but by nut slots which are not dressed right.

That said, I did replace the stock tuners on a Historic with Rotomatics and while I thought the action of the tuners were a bit smoother, the ratio made it a bit more sensitive to tuning and the additional weight (like twice as much as stock) may actually dampen sympathetic vibrations (resonance).

In summary, I wouldn't do it again. There are other replacements that are the same physical form factor and are high quality.
 

Freddy

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Jul 15, 2001
Messages
396
This is the reason I like the new Custom Authentics!
I tend to leave my historics tuners alone and havent had any problems with them.That said,I like the Grovers better than the stockers.......they feel better and more precise to me.
The weight of the tuners do seem to be a bebate but Page/Green/Walsh/Perry/Betts/Bloomfield/Moore...etc..etc..seemed to sound fine with them installed and of course the "Black Beauty" sounds fine to me.
Anyway...here is a nice new 58 custom authentic ............http://www.gbase.com/guitar_picture.asp?guitar=308901&home=dealer:dude
 

lpnv59

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Pardon my ignorance, whats a Custom Authentic?
 

lespaul506

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Jul 16, 2001
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1,298
They are models that have a 'worn' finish, which is due to skipping the final buffing stage, and they have Grover tuners on them. They are supposed to replicate an old les paul that has been a player's guitar, i.e. switching to grovers, dulled finish etc. anyway, man that is one sweet looking R8...:X
 

Freddy

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Jul 15, 2001
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Im wondering if they will someday make the R9 in the custom authentic?????:)spin
 

Zhangliqun

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Jul 16, 2001
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5,204
They've also brought back the Classic Premium Plus with a new finish called the "Light Burst", a lighter c-burst it appears, which, at least going by the picture, seems intended to be a poor man's faded c-burst/tea-burst. You can get to it from the same link above.
 

hank

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Jul 16, 2001
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My historic ..........

came with Grovers on it stock. It's a '57 LP Custom Black Beauty.

I also prefer the Grover's performance.
 

lespaul506

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Jul 16, 2001
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I doubt they'll do it (custom authentic) to an R9 just because they think if you want that look on an R9, they'll make you whip out more for the Murphy which people have proven to them they'll do that. It's companies for ya, but they also have an aged '56 GT and they also have on in custom authentic, but I dunno could be wrong
 
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