JF30-12 tuning machines

[Boneman]

Instead of just playing it and being happy, I feel I may want to mod this thing. I will likely leave it stock but just gathering the info to price things out and determine if it will be worth it to my cluttered mind.

I’ve already been griping about the tort guard, and while I can’t yet check Guild’s parts site for a fast replacement in black, I can make my own with pickguard material. So now I’m entertaining the idea of taking the gold tuners off my JF30-12, and looking like the Grover mini rotomatics would be a drop in fit.

Does anyone know if they have them in a higher ratio without the locking feature? I’m not opposed to locking tuners per se, though curious because I see at Stew Mac the regular ones are 14:1 and their 18:1 are only the locking rotomatics:

Grover Mini Locking Rotomatics (406 Series) 3+3 Tuners - StewMac

Rotomatic tuners that automatically lock the string as you tune. For 3-left/3-right pegheads.

www.stewmac.com

Though I’ve gotta admit the idea of locking tuners on a 12 for faster string changes is intriguing

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[chazmo]

I'm not sure if those locking minis will be drop in, Boneman, as you need six on each side. Probably OK, but you have to make sure you get 6 for the left side and six for the right.

As for whether or not the non-locking minis are available in 18:1... no idea.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

+1 for the locking tuners. You won’t look back. I installed them on a JF65-12 I rebuilt for a customer. We selected the Grover 505G12 Gold-plated, Locking, Mini-Rotomatics. The only upgrade I made to the stock tuners was to swap out the gold metal buttons for Grovers' black Ebony buttons. It is a good look.



One of the most clever options is the Ratio Tuner from GraphTech (the folks that brought us Tusq). Forget 12:1, 18:1, 21:1… These tuners are really brilliant, in that they offer an optimized ratio based on string diameter. You end up turning the knob the same number of turns, regardless of which string you are adjusting. Super smooth to use. GraphTach helped me customize my mix-n-match gold-and-black look:




If any of the closed back tuners have a drawback, it is weight. They are monstrously heavy, especially on a 12 string. I moved to the Sperzel open back locking tuners for this reason. They are a FRACTION of the weight, and they work marvelously. You can mix and match colors and button styles. Drawback? Old mounting holes may show. These are my personal favorites:

 

[Boneman]

Awesome, thanks for that, those do look cool, and thinking now the mix and match would be fun to try different combinations lol. Didn’t expect a rabbit hole, although the weight wasn’t a consideration prior, so now lots to mull over. Much appreciate your insights there Christopher, and now it’s on to researching ratio tuning machines

 

[Christopher Cozad]

GraphTech Tuners

Contact them directly regarding questions about customizing a set for a 12 string.

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