How to Buy the Right Machine Heads

Posted by Solo music gear on January 22nd, 2019

Guitar machine heads are the knobs or tuners that are present at the top of the guitars. These are used to tighten the strings of the Bass Machine Heads Canada to get the tone or note from your Bass Strings.

Guitar machine heads can be of various shapes and the way they function. If the existing tuners on your guitar have worn out and you need a replacement, you will find various options available. When looking for the machine heads for your guitar, you need to ensure that you are buying the right one.

Here are things to keep in mind for choosing the right machine head:

Choose a similar design

Whenever possible, you must choose a similar set of guitar machine heads that are there in your existing guitar. The first reason is that the new set might not be able to cover the marks left by the old machine heads.

Secondly, you might have to drill bigger holes in the guitar to make the new tuners fit in them. Vintage guitars usually face this problem as the newer tuners might not fit in them. Moreover, the guitar might lose its intrinsic value if you change the original vibe of the guitar.

Configuration

This is the first thing that you will have to see when looking for the ideal guitar machine heads Canada. Some guitars have the 3-a-side configuration while there are others that have 6-in-line configurations.

Other guitars like the Sterling Stringray have four machine heads on one side and two on the other. The point is that the machine heads made for the left handed and right handed guitars are different. You need to choose the appropriate configuration of the machine heads.

Fixings

The way the tuners are mounted on the head of the guitar must also be paid attention to. The way the machine heads are fixed or mounted on the guitar might be different for different guitars.

Different mounting screw positions will make it difficult to screw the machine head to the headstock.

Bore hole

The bore hole is the hole in the guitar’s headstock that allows the tuners to be passed through. Depending on the bushings used for the machine head, the size of the bore hole would differ.

Bushings

The bushing of the machine head secures the tuner on the headstock. The bushings can be the bolt threaded ones or the push-in style. The threaded bolt bushings require a larger hole as compared to the push-in style bushing.

Finish

The modern day tuners are brighter and more functional as compared to those found on the vintage Guitar. The finish of these tuners could be chrome, nickel, gold and black or satin chrome.

The vintage tuners will be slightly duller than the new tuners. So, keep this in mind when looking for the ideal tuner for your Guitar Mods.

Besides the mentioned factors, there are certain other things that you need to consider for finding the ideal machine heads. These things include the gearing ratios, locking or non-locking tuners, tuning posts, staggered tuners, buttons and finally the price.