Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:14 pm

Debaser wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:07 pm
Wait, maybe I missed it but where did 10mm bushings come in?
Not sure. I screwed up?

They're already shipped so my bad. Yes, I am a stupid person even though I'm 42 years old.

I take it the 10mm bushings weren't required......Well that's $9 I'll never see again and if anyone comes across this and could use them, I'll snail mail them to you.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:26 pm

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:46 pm
SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:26 am
Ok well I went ahead and ordered GOTOH SD91 MG-T Thumbwheel Locking Tuning Machine along with 10mm bushings.

Hopefully it works out well.

Then a little more set-up, and then I guess I'll put those LaBella flatwounds on. That'll probably be a couple weeks from now. Thanks for all the help.

And sorry for not posting this in the tech/repair forum which is probably where I should have put this (first post here, sorry!)
You're all good dude, welcome to the forum!

I have a set of those (with the white plastic buttons) on my Mustang, and they're easily my favorites out of what I have (modern Gotohs on my Ibby Prestige, Sperzels on my ESP, and Hipshots on my Ormsby, plus some headless stuff). You'll have a great time with them, just give the flats a tiny bit more slack so they're not under a ton of pressure at a tiny point -- about a half-turn around the tuner should be good, which is a bit more than you'd normally want with a locker -- or you might be hurting their longevity a bit.
I doubt I get these tuners for a couple weeks, and yet I want to come back to this because in all my life, I've never used locking tuners and can admit I don't really know exactly how they work. But YouTube exists, I'll get there.

Thanks so much for your help btw.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:26 pm

SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:26 pm
I doubt I get these tuners for a couple weeks, and yet I want to come back to this because in all my life, I've never used locking tuners and can admit I don't really know exactly how they work. But YouTube exists, I'll get there.

Thanks so much for your help btw.
No problem!

Locking tuners are easy -- you back out the locking post with the thumbwheel, you put the string through the hole, pull it tight, lock, and tune up. Normally you want something like half a turn tops (the big benefit being that there's basically no way the strings are loosening up and settling back slightly out of tune), but flats are a little more sensitive than rounds to pressure points, so you want to give them half to a full turn so all the pressure isn't being put on the corner of the post hole because that might kill them faster than you'd want considering the price.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by Debaser » Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:47 am

SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:14 pm
Debaser wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:07 pm
Wait, maybe I missed it but where did 10mm bushings come in?
Not sure. I screwed up?

They're already shipped so my bad. Yes, I am a stupid person even though I'm 42 years old.

I take it the 10mm bushings weren't required......Well that's $9 I'll never see again and if anyone comes across this and could use them, I'll snail mail them to you.
Nah, I was seriously wondering because I have a little post-covid brain fog. That's my excuse anyways. :whistle:
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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by ohm-men » Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:54 pm

It's too bad that when they changed from VM to CV they went with el cheapo tuners on the CV.
The VM stock tuners are of better quality then the current CV tuners.
For instance, the tuning keys on the VM are metal, on the CV, they are plastic.

If you are using heavier strings on a VI and you wanna keep the Vintage style tuners, then get a set of Gotoh Kluson style tuners.
These are the best vintage style tuners out there imho . Also the Ping tuners (as found on MIJ/CIJ guitars are not bad)
From there on, the vintage style tuner copies just go downhill in quality.

If you want to drill 10 mm holes in the headstock, then you got plenty of choiche to go with.

On my DIY VI, I got a used pair of Gotoh kluson style tuners and never looked back...

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:08 pm

ohm-men wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:54 pm
It's too bad that when they changed from VM to CV they went with el cheapo tuners on the CV.
The VM stock tuners are of better quality then the current CV tuners.
For instance, the tuning keys on the VM are metal, on the CV, they are plastic.

If you are using heavier strings on a VI and you wanna keep the Vintage style tuners, then get a set of Gotoh Kluson style tuners.
These are the best vintage style tuners out there imho . Also the Ping tuners (as found on MIJ/CIJ guitars are not bad)
From there on, the vintage style tuner copies just go downhill in quality.

If you want to drill 10 mm holes in the headstock, then you got plenty of choiche to go with.

On my DIY VI, I got a used pair of Gotoh kluson style tuners and never looked back...
I ordered my tuning machines from here:

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... g-machine/

I live in Canada so I have to consider the shipping costs. I added a set of 10mm bushings to my order because I have no idea about that stuff. I don't know what bushings my Bass VI has, and just threw the 10mm ones in there just in case.

Anyway it was under $8 shipping and anytime I see cheap shipping from the states to Canada, well you got my business.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:00 pm

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:26 pm
SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:26 pm
I doubt I get these tuners for a couple weeks, and yet I want to come back to this because in all my life, I've never used locking tuners and can admit I don't really know exactly how they work. But YouTube exists, I'll get there.

Thanks so much for your help btw.
No problem!

Locking tuners are easy -- you back out the locking post with the thumbwheel, you put the string through the hole, pull it tight, lock, and tune up. Normally you want something like half a turn tops (the big benefit being that there's basically no way the strings are loosening up and settling back slightly out of tune), but flats are a little more sensitive than rounds to pressure points, so you want to give them half to a full turn so all the pressure isn't being put on the corner of the post hole because that might kill them faster than you'd want considering the price.
I haven't got the tuners yet, but out of curiosity is it ok to have more winds if you want more break angle over the nut in certain cases?

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:13 pm

Debaser wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:47 am
SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:14 pm
Debaser wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:07 pm
Wait, maybe I missed it but where did 10mm bushings come in?
Not sure. I screwed up?

They're already shipped so my bad. Yes, I am a stupid person even though I'm 42 years old.

I take it the 10mm bushings weren't required......Well that's $9 I'll never see again and if anyone comes across this and could use them, I'll snail mail them to you.
Nah, I was seriously wondering because I have a little post-covid brain fog. That's my excuse anyways. :whistle:
No you posed a really informative question. Why do I need to also order 10mm bushings?

There are probably so many people out there looking for factual information and maybe they can get it from this forum.

I have no idea what bushings the Squire takes, nor the shaft, nor the hole, etc etc. and yes I could laugh a bit.

My Bass VI is an unexpected project and I will update what's going on there.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:11 pm

SmoggyTwinkles wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:00 pm
I haven't got the tuners yet, but out of curiosity is it ok to have more winds if you want more break angle over the nut in certain cases?
It's not going to cause you problems, but it'll kind of kill the big advantage of locking tuners (less winds = less string to stretch = more stable tuning faster). These are staggered, so you really shouldn't have to, though on my Mustang at least I still kept the string tree because the high strings don't get quite enough of a break angle without it.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:16 pm

Well, I got the new tuners. They're really nice.....

But I've ran into a problem.

The low E has too much tension for the tuner to handle.

I'm trying to tune it to pitch (E obviously) but the gear keeps slipping, and now my brand new Gotoh low E tuner is getting wiggly so I have to stop.

How am I going to set the neck/action etc if I can't get the low E tuned?

I'm pulling my hair out here trying to figure this out. Maybe locking tuners were a bad idea on a Bass VI.

I think I'm at the point I'll get some cheap VI strings and take it in for a set-up (I get a free one within a year of purchase) and let them figure it out.

Ugh....I want to love this instrument but it is very flawed mechanically.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:19 pm

Oh right, just for anyone that might read this after searching for information, I did not need the 10mm bushings. The Gotoh's came with two sets of bushings and one of those sets dropped right in on the Squier.

edit: if anyone needs 10mm bushings let me know, I'll mail them to you.

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:34 pm

so it's not going well.

the low e string tuner is bust because of the tension.

I'm now thinking about ordering a single mini-bass tuner and figuring how to fit that on the headstock, will require me to drill a bigger hole.

this is turning into a project for sure.

where i live is in "stay at home" lockdown so this is going to happen very slowly but I'll get there.

Yeah man, I think the locking tuner idea was not a good one for the low e string. pretty sure the gear got stripped trying to get up to tune and it just keeps slipping.

I have no idea how the original cheap tuners got that low e up to tune (but now understand why that low e tuner went bad so quick)

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:04 pm

Good news is I'm on a seven day paid "staycation" and I'm getting a digital caliper in the mail at some point tomorrow.

I can measure everything!!!!! My old MIJ jag, "hmmm i wonder if this will fit" caliper should solve all those questions :)

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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by Debaser » Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:07 am

Sucks to hear about the tuning machine issues. I’d still try the Gotoh *normal* vintage splits before modding anything, which are probably less delicate than a locking tuner. It might always work out that the low-e will be looser than the other, but honestly, that seems to be the norm even for a standard guitar with the same tuners.
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Re: Squier Bass VI CV tuner upgrade options?

Post by SmoggyTwinkles » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:01 pm

Debaser wrote:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:07 am
Sucks to hear about the tuning machine issues. I’d still try the Gotoh *normal* vintage splits before modding anything, which are probably less delicate than a locking tuner. It might always work out that the low-e will be looser than the other, but honestly, that seems to be the norm even for a standard guitar with the same tuners.
Well it's kind of crazy! The Gotoh tuners are fantastic quality, yet the tension from the low e destroyed that one.

I would say it's user error, yet it isn't because I simply installed it correctly and could not get up to tune and probably should have stopped the very first time it slipped. That's my fault.

My old '93 Jag could use some new tuners though, so I think I will order the non locking Gotoh's for that and a single mini bass tuner by Gotoh, yup I'm gonna frankenstein a bass tuner on there for the low e.

I just want this to play, and play as well as possible I'm not concerned about how it looks, so hopefully I can get the low e situation worked out. Gonna have to drill the existing hole though, don't worry I'll make sure to plan it out.

I'll update when I do it just so it's out there whether this is a good or bad idea I have planned :)

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