Steinberger Gearless Tuners Info, Review, and Tutorial 

To answer your question of why they aren't right and left; they were designed to be used on an inline orientation Steinberger S-series guitar which featured the only Steinberger with a headstock. They were later discovered by banjo player as a superior alternative to traditional banjo tuners, but were never designed to be used for a right and left configuration.

Its kind of funny that I found this with you using these for a banjo, I was interested in these for an eight-string to free up the headstock to make a custom shape that traditional tuners won't fit on. Thanks for the tips on tightening the strings before locking the tuners, very useful

Interesting, John! I wasn't familiar with these at all, and I think I'd like to try them sometime. Thanks!

If you do the inside, you've just significantly changed playability. Only the inner edge leading to the tuners. Hope that helps anyone wanting to mount these Steinberger Gearless Tuners. I'm glad you have a video up!

Thank you for this! I’ve got these on a Tranjo and am trying to replace my top string.

@BanjoBen1 Yeah, I love them! Easier to restring, more acccurate and stable tuning, they all turn the same way, and cosmetically nicer. Stewart Mcdonald is the only place I've found them. If you're not familiar with Stewmac already, they're a great place for luthiers and players alike. Give them a try, it's well worth it.

Glad I could help!

@aznjt You could trim them close prior to tuning, so that when it gets sucked down, the extra bit is sucked down too and hidden. Personally I prefer to leave excess enough so that I have something to grab if you need in the future. If you're concerned about stabbing yourself, don't be. You do all the tuning from the backside and pretty much never put your hand on the other side of the headstock unless you're changing strings, making it difficult to stab oneself.

I suppose it's slightly more angled. However, tuning posts are very small in diameter. A string mounted tangential to the tuning peg in traditional tuners, will only move over half the diameter of a traditional tuner using the Steinbergers. I got my protractor out, measured my current string angle, then estimated where it would be on a traditional tuner and it was less than a 2 degree difference.

@hunchedproductions I have no idea what that means, but hey, thanks for watching!

@aznjt No problem! I watched one of your videos, keep on rocking man! Sounds good! I'm probably the only banjo player who loves metal... Dream Theater is my favorite.

It should raise the pitch until there are no turns left. But, I have found that sometimes on my thinnest string, this happens. I found that I didn't have the string lock tight enough. If you've got it as tight as it can get and it's still slipping, perhaps switch to a thinner string that requires less tension (and less slipping).

I believe the drop on guitars is quite a bit more, but you don't need to worry about that angle coming off of the nut. Get a string cutter or maybe build a cutter using a woman's metal fingernail file & use a "mans" bastard file to lightly roughen the edge of the fingernail file. Slip the fingernail file into the nut on its side and profile the nut to accommodate the significant drop in angle. It'll prevent string binding & breaking prematurely. Only profile the breakover point, not the insides!

@hufschmidguitars1 Yeah you're right... I've been using them for quite a while now, and they certainly aren't a 40:1 ratio, just a bit lower than a normal guitar tuner. Maybe half. If it's 40 turns = 1inch sucked in, this info isn't useful since it can't be compared to anything else as a reference. I don't think anyone understands how much the pitch is raised by sucking the string in 1/40th of an inch per turn. I think they should be labeled "Micro-adjustable." Better description.

@instantpestering lol, i meant to say dean ftw, but I put dan... lolol sorry about that (ftw means for the win)

"Put it in the thing" bwah! Pluck on bro, pluck and strum right on.

In my experience with these tuners, you have to make damn sure the unwound strings are grease-free before you install them, or else they slip right out of the clamp. Then your inclination is to tighten them more and more, which might cause you to bust these t-i-n-y little metal rods that keep the internal mechanism from rotating. Very annoying.

@davec629 Yeah, I figured out what the words are, but don't know what it means. There's no competition, so there is no win or lose. Perhaps it's just a statement that means, "Your video is good." I don't know. I can't keep on top of internet colloquialisms.

I'm weighing the pros and cons of these for guitars I build (pro being I could align them for a straight string pull), but I'm afraid players who regularly switch tunings would find them a pain with such an extremely high tuning ratio. You switch tunings much? Is it a problem? I'll have to install a pair in something and see what I think.

@instantpestering For The Win

Could you use it on nylon string?

Anyone know where to find these tuners?

Unwrapped. ??

Will you be able to quickly tune down to open G on a regular guitar with these?

how to remove it?

dan ftw :D

Nice idea but not practical for a professional player who my need to fit a broken string fast IE during a set I would like to have a string fitted before the end of a tune or the start of the next one

1:40 pun

0:30

yikes channel lock

screw get it. down side.. you go look like 10 turn to end measure you string .. do math

You dont have to explain.

worst demo ever done