Hipshot Grip-Lock Vintage 6 Inline Staggered Closed 8.5mm Tuners with Universal Mounting Plate, Chrome

The vintage style tuning machines replaced the broken tuners on a 1967 Kingston/Teisco. Simple, perfect, press in fit at 8.5mm. The staggered tuners are too short if the included washers are used, so they were installed without them. They are precise, and the locking hardware, and gearing, are fantastic. The locking mechanism felt very solid on the strings, and didn't feel like it would cut them in two, as has happened with others in the past. I would recommend these to anyone upgrading a classic guitar that doesn't want to deal with old screw holes, or having to drill new ones. The plates are practically invisible in behind the headstock, and the tuning machines themselves add a look of quality to the guitar.

I have a 15 year old Chinese made Squier Bullet Strat that had the typical problem staying in tune with the cheap tuning machines and floating tremolo. I have recently gotten back into electric guitars and was happy enough with the Squier, except for the inability to stay in tune for more than a few minutes. I have heard a lot of great things about the Hipshot locking tuners and decided to give these a shot, it's not like they could be any worse than what's already on there. I pulled one of my tuners and measured it to be about 8mm, so I ordered these staggered 8.5 vintage machines. I also ordered a cheap reaming tool to easily open up the holes. Installation was a breeze, took a few minutes to slowly enlarge the mounting holes and they have a nice snug fit. I was worried that the mounting plate wasn't going to work and thought I would have to widen the outside holes a little with a file, but it turned out to fit perfectly. Comparing the old tuners to the Hipshots was a night and day experience. The Squier's rattled around and had a ton of play and just felt like garbage. These, on the other hand, were solid and have very little play. After restringing the guitar, I found I love locking tuners. I think I will upgrade my other Fender with genuine non-locking Fender tuning machines to Hipshot tuners. I use a Boss plug in tuner pedal and the Squier stays in tune all day. If it needs any adjustment, it's just a little and I'm pretty sure that is more to the cheap floating tremolo bridge. I am certain that if I was to block it, tuning would be perfect. But even as is, it is so much better and recommend these to anyone looking to upgrade, be it a cheap or even a mid-range guitar, these are worth it! Just a couple notes, being these are staggered, I've played around with using different string trees and have found no need to use them. Also, the plates didn't do that great of a job covering up the old set screw holes used by the original tuners, but that's just a very minor thing to consider. If I really cared, I could easily fill them with wood glue since I will never go back to the original garbage tuners.

Hipshot is second to none, in my book. great value, excellent quality, and look wonderful. They tune well, last forever. Any guitar that I plan to keep usually gets these installed. I love being able to install strings quicker with these types of tuners. Don't buy the knockoffs, but Hipshot. These are made for 8mm peghead holes, and are meant to replace vintage styled tuners. No drilling, just tighten up the nut on top and you are good to go.

Picked these out to replace the original garbage tuning machines on a Chinese import guitar that I won at a charity auction and turned into a mod platform guitar. They outperform the original tuners by 100 times. Installation was a challenge only because the gauge of the original tuning machines was 7.5 mm and these are 8.5 mm, but with a reamer and a 8.5 mm drill bit, the project was about an hour, as I didn’t rush. The universal mounting plate (UMP) is included, as well as screws if you don’t use it. However, my hole spacing was off so I had to modify the UMP by widening the oval holes with a diamond bit on my multitool/mini drill. That took a while too but it got done. Compared to another set of locking tuners I have on another guitar, these are much easier to use as they have a spin wheel on the back as opposed to my other locking tuners that feature a slotted turning mechanism on the face of the headstock. The pegs turn buttery smooth, and I have no issues with remaining in tune, even after heavy bends. I only wish Amazon had available the vintage-style open tuners, but these closed ones are fine, and I think these are even cheaper on Amazon than on the official website. Super upgrade for the guitar!

Title says it all, well mostly. The drilled holes in the 50’s Classic Vibe Tele were very tight fits. It wasn’t a major problem just something to be aware of. It’s a simple fix with rolled up sandpaper to create just a tiny bit more room. It was really close. Half of them I was able to coax in without that. The others needed just a very little bit taken off and your guitar might not need this at all. It’s bound to vary and better that they do fit snug. I just mention this so you won’t panic like I did initially thinking I had the wrong size. These are perfect and the upgrade is like night and day. These are really good tuners. Nice and smooth, locking feature is great, improved tuning stability. I love them. The tuners my CV Tele came with stock were terrible. I’m so glad I got these for it. Well worth the cost as otherwise it’s a great guitar for such a low cost. I am getting another set to replace the vintage tuners in my Squire Classic Vibe 70’s Strat now also. In both cases the staggered set is the way to go so you can remove the string tree rather than replace it with something better. There’s a good video on the Hipshot web site that explains the benefits of these tuners very well. Highly recommended!

Beautiful tuners. Looks great on my telecaster headstock. Easy installation and precise fit. I'm very happy with the item.