Orig. Tuners for 44301

The guy I bought my 64 D40 put replacement Grovers on it and used the same holes. He sent me the original too.
Do you think I should put them, the the same ex. condition as 44301!

Since your D-40 is something of a time capsule, I would say yes!

Dan

I'll disagree. He probably replaced the tuners because the old ones weren't working well. I mean, it's nice to have the period thing going on, but if you're playing the guitar a lot you'll prefer the newer hardware.

chazmo said:

I'll disagree. He probably replaced the tuners because the old ones weren't working well. I mean, it's nice to have the period thing going on, but if you're playing the guitar a lot you'll prefer the newer hardware.

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...and save the originals! They add value to the instrument if you ever go to sell it.

Bill

I'm with Chazmo and Bill. Keep the originals and use what's on there. If you want to go to the trouble to change them out and string up and THEN find that they don't work as well as the Grovers, fine..... but I'm sure he changed them for a reason.

OK thanks and I will never sell this great guitar!

Don't Grovers require a larger hole than some other tuners? I know putting different tuners on guitars that came equipped with Grovers requires the holes to be plugged and drilled out again or a sleeve fitted in the hole. Might want to check that first before pulling the Grovers off.

concrete, he said a prev. owner had replaced the original Grovers with a new pair (of Grovers).

Def. true that most tuners don't interplay without changes.

The retro tuners the owner of the guitar stated and I checked specs fit the same holes

Rick Schmidlin said:

The retro tuners the owner of the guitar stated and I checked specs fit the same holes

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Good point. Even though I'm all for changing parts to improve playability as long as original parts are retained, I would NOT re-drill a headstock.
At least, not on that time capsule piece. I wouldn't even want to mess with the screw-holes.
Were it some relatively "mojo'd up" street player, it'd be far less of a worry.
Even if you don't plan to sell it, a guitar like that has value as literally a reference point for originality, that's the reason to save the original tuners even if not in perfect working order.

"Don't Grovers require a larger hole than some other tuners?"
Often, yes. But... I replaced the original tuners on my bought-new '79 D-40C with Grover Imperials, they fit prefectly, still on that guitar.
When elder son took said '79 to college [sturdy/good-sounding instr, blah blah] I got a beat-but-sweet '78 s/b D-40 C to replace it.
Younger son ended up takin' that'n to college but didnt' like the tuners so much. I swapped out for a set of Rotomatics I had in the archives, again perfect fit/happy son.
I now have the '79 back, both sons have some old Martins from dad now. Younger one insists on keepin' his Guild tho'...
Somewhere in the archives the orig tuners for both are sequestered but I feel no need to "restore" either guitar. They're all stayin' in the family...