New machine heads for 63 Starfire

[Leo Brazil]

Hi folks,

I have a lovely 1963 Starfire V - a previous owner has for some reason put on some really crappy machine heads (from a Burns Bison I believe) I am wanting to get them replaced. Any advice on the best tuners to get?

My 73 S100 has Grovers and it stays in tune amazingly well, i'm thinking a set of these will do the trick!

The intonation is also a bit off up the neck so I need to get that sorted out, can anyone advise of anyone in England who is good for doing vintage stuff?

This is my main live guitar so I need it to be playable first and foremost!

Will post some pics of my Guilds later on when i'm not on a work computer

 

[Leo Brazil]

Hi folks,

I have a lovely 1963 Starfire V - a previous owner has for some reason put on some really crappy machine heads (from a Burns Bison I believe) I am wanting to get them replaced. Any advice on the best tuners to get?

My 73 S100 has Grovers and it stays in tune amazingly well, i'm thinking a set of these will do the trick!

The intonation is also a bit off up the neck so I need to get that sorted out, can anyone advise of anyone in England who is good for doing vintage stuff?

This is my main live guitar so I need it to be playable first and foremost!

Will post some pics of my Guilds later on when i'm not on a work computer

 

[wright1]

Hi Leo, Grovers will probably do fine. Where in England are you roughly? There is no shortage of good people who can sort your guitar but there are quite a few who can balls-up a simple intonation job and tuner replacement. If you give us an idea of area maybe we can point you in the right direction.
All the best, Steve.

 

[Leo Brazil]

Hi Steve, thanks for your reply, I am in the North West of England!

 

[wright1]

Hi Leo, There is Phil Hartley in Bolton and KGB in Birkenhead but have a look at Ged Green in Manchester. He has had a Starfire apart and his work looks to be good. I can't vouch firsthand for these guys. Find their details on Google and give one a call if they are close to you and go and see them. You will soon get a feel for them doing a good job. A good luthier will be more than happy to show you any work in progress and will tell you exactly what they will do to fix your guitar. Stay away from anyone who refuses to tell you what they intend to do to fix your guitar. It usually means they don't know! This usually applies to shops rather than luthiers who usually want to show off their talents in the hope of getting more work. Reputation is everything for these guys.
Best of luck and let us all know how it goes. Steve.