I know this is 8 months later, you likely have found the 14:1 and 18:1 are key turn ratio. The original tuners ARE crap. My special II is waiting for tuners to show up. The metal grommets have to go and the holes seem to need drilling on every RU-vid video I’ve seen. Taping over the holes should prevent some chipping. I’m thinking for this time around just tuners and nut replacement. Maybe later new pick ups. We shall see. Love how you just dived right in there 😆👍. I’ll check for your next vid to see how it turns out.
I assume you removed and returned the set of tuners from your other upgrade video with the same guitar?? For anyone else wanting to do a tuner upgrade....please pull a tuner off and measure it before ordering your new set, if you don't want to drill your guitar. There are also ''no drill'' options such as a few Wilkenson items. For anyone wondering...the ratio such as 14 to 1 means...14 turns equal 1 rotation of the tuner post. Keep learning Matt and enjoy your new found abilities.
Buy a tapered hand reamer if you want to upgrade tuners and the existing holes are too small. You can go at your own pace to get exactly the right fit. Never use a drill...ever! With the Les Paul 2 you will be re-drilling holes plugging holes and the old set of holes will show. Just tighten the clutch on the original tuners and leave them alone. The are not that bad to risk screwing up the looks of a new guitar cheap or not.
You’re just like my son who’s about your age. He graduated from UC Davis as a music major. “Guitar mayor”😂 He’s smart enough, but he can’t screw in a light bulb. I don’t think he can even change a flat tire on his car if his life depended on it. Your generation doesn’t seem to know how to do anything beyond gazing into computer screens. Sorry, but it’s painfully true…..You are a victim of the crappy school system in our country. You’re a smart guy I’m sure, but you don’t know much about what’s required to work on stuff, probably any stuff, like guitars…..So…when I was in JH and then HS in Northern Cal in the late seventies….cue the violin music….we had classes called “shop”. In shop we learned how to understand, design, build and fix mechanical stuff, like our cars, dirt bikes, bicycles etc. I even learned how to build furniture so working on guitars is a breeze now. Consequently, I have saved thousands and thousands of dollars not paying other people to work on my stuff. That has allowed me to buy and own lots of expensive toys like sweet Harley’s and countless dirt bikes, hot hod cars, real Fender’s and even many personal aircraft that I maintain as a licensed aircraft mechanic. I also own the big toy box, the hangar at the airport which is full of tools to work on all the aforementioned stuff. Tools like “wood reams” as opposed to drill bits. I see guys on RU-vid drilling headstocks when they should be reamed….these guys must not have taken a shop class either😂 By the time I graduated HS I was a licensed pilot, which I turned into a great career. I have also have built my own homes. I’ve built about 10 along the way saving and making lots of money over the years. I’m not boasting. I don’t have too, I took shop classes😂 it’s all true. I’m mean really who cares about my stuff anyway. None of this is really your fault. My generation, the original woke generation fd it up. As an example, in California we took away any choice for elective classes and replaced classes like shop, with a mandatory three years of Spanish language. My three kids couldn’t take three years shop if the wanted too, those classes were gone completely. They had to take Spanish which they resented. None of the three can speak a word of it today. Ok, thats it. I have to go replace a dented fret on my Telecaster😅
The first rule of guitar mods should be don't. Time & time again I hear someone say they bought a $150 guitar and say "yeah man I'm going to get me some Grover's throw in a Het Set get a Gototh bridge change all the pots change all the caps get a Graphtech Tusq.... And that's when you realize you're talking to an idiot. You mean to tell me you're going to put like $600 worth of parts in $150 guitar why don't you just buy a $750 guitar and save us all the headache of how you can't do it right. I have those tuners. They're great. You want to waste a bunch of money replacing them then go right ahead. One of them wiggles? Spanner wrench $6. If you want a guitar you should own one of those anyway you tighten down the nut tighten down those kidney shaped heads with a screwdriver and you're done. Now did you test those pickups with a voltmeter to see how good or how bad they are I bet you you didn't. And that's the rule number two if you're going to change something don't change 15 things at the same time. If it sounds different when you're done you're never going to figure out which part that you replaced is the one that's responsible for it. Any loosier will tell you that pretty much any guitar only needs a professional setup it doesn't need a $1,000 worth of garbage thrown at it. I live in the hood and this type of nonsense reminds me of that guy driving by with a loud ass stereo in his car that probably cost about $1,000 and he has rims on it that cost about $5,000 and he's driving a 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix that's probably worth about $250. It's actually quite embarrassing.
Hey Robert! Thanks for watching the video! I think the first rule should be have fun. It's just a project for me to mess around. I am by no means a professional and never claim to be. I just like trying new things out. This is not my main guitar so I just use it for trying new stuff, who cares if i screw up the whole thing in the process. Also, I personally love when I see someone in a goofy car bumping music so loud they shake the neighborhood. That person is enjoying their car and that music no matter what anyone else says the first rule of car stereos should be!
