Upgrading your tuning keys can help you get in tune more easily and stay there. Learn how to choose the correct keys for your guitar.
Machine heads, tuners, tuning keys, gears, or pegs: Whatever you call them, these devices determine how easily your guitar gets in tune and stays there. It’s worth investing in high-quality tuners, but do some homework before you upgrade.
A good set of tuning keys can make an enormous difference in how well your guitar performs. Many guitars come from the factory with inexpensive tuning keys, so it’s usually a good idea to upgrade them. But before you open your wallet, be sure you choose the correct keys for your guitar. Trying to install keys that don’t fit properly can devalue your instrument and cause mechanical problems. Fortunately, you’ll be able to avoid these issues with a little knowledge.
Some background. Guitarists and luthiers use various names for tuning keys, including machine heads, tuning gears, tuning pegs, and of course, tuners. In the early days of the guitar’s evolution, there was little choice when it came to replacing your keys. Only a few companies made “geared keys.” Before that, most lutes and guitars used friction pegs, like those found on a violin. These pegs were generally made from hardwoods and were very difficult to use.
Boasting art-deco knobs and cast housings, these sealed Grover Imperial tuners
are often found on archtop jazz guitars.
One of the first known manufacturers of a geared tuning key was John Frederick Hintz, who developed his device in 1766. It was revolutionary at the time, but became obsolete by the 1800s when John Preston developed a superior design. Most antique keys had a very low turning ratio and were poorly geared. The result was tuners that would slip out of tune, making life difficult for performers.
Fast forward to the present, where we have dozens of choices. Gotoh, Sperzel, Waverly, Grover, Planet Waves, Kluson, and Schaller are among the manufacturers of high-quality tuners, and these companies offer models that retrofit most guitars and provide superior gearing.
Decoding a tuner’s ratio. When describing their tuners, manufacturers include a ratio in the specs. This two-digit number tells you how many times you have to turn the tuning key’s button for the string post to make one full revolution. The lower the gear ratio, the fewer times you have to turn the button for the post to make a revolution. Conversely, the higher the ratio, the more times you have to turn the button for the post to revolve completely.
A relatively recent arrival to today’s tuner scene, Waverly keys have rekindled interest in the old-school, open-gear design. They may look like ancient, inexpensive keys—the kind once used on budget or student guitars—but they’re precision machines.
Using a flathead screwdriver to remove vintage-style mounting screws.
Because a higher gear ratio lets the post rotate in smaller increments, you have more control over the tuning process. In other words, an 18:1 ratio offers a finer degree of control than an 11:1 ratio. Lower ratio keys make it harder to reach a precise string tension, and this can cause you to jump past the desired note as you tune up.
Modern replacement keys have a much higher gear ratio than vintage keys. For example, modern Grovers have ratios from 14:1 to 18:1. New Klusons are as high as 19:1. Gotohs range from 14:1 to 28:1, and Graph Tech’s new Ratio sets have variable ratios, from 39:1 on the low E to 12:1 on the high E.
Look beyond the ratio. If you’re planning to upgrade your tuners, there’s more to consider than just the gear ratio.
For starters, if you have a vintage guitar (or an expensive modern instrument) and the keys are deteriorating or not working properly, I recommend installing direct replacement keys that do not require any modifications. Whenever you drill new holes or enlarge the existing holes in the headstock—or anywhere, for that matter—it devalues the instrument.
For a vintage axe, always store the original keys in a safe place to preserve them. Gotoh, Kluson, and Grover make excellent direct replacement keys that typically offer higher ratios than vintage tuners, but are otherwise a drop-in retrofit for Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, and other popular models. If you do the research and find the right tuner, you can make a clean installation with simple hand tools. We’ll cover this in a moment.
If you have a modern instrument and decide to install tuners that aren’t direct replacements, be aware that this usually affects the guitar’s tone. When you change mass on the headstock—by adding heavier or lighter hardware—it changes how the neck responds to string vibration. It’s hard to predict exactly how the tone will change—and guitarists debate this endlessly—but if you like how your guitar currently sounds, think twice before you install non-direct replacement tuners.
Locking keys. If your guitar has a vibrato arm or tremolo bridge, locking tuners can really help you keep in tune. Locking tuners clamp the string in place either by using a rod inside the post or a collar that wraps around the post. Both methods are effective and eliminate the need to wind the string around the post more than once. When you eliminate multiple windings, the string doesn’t have to reseat itself on the post when it returns to pitch after being slackened. Companies that make direct locking replacements for existing keys include Planet Waves, Schaller, Sperzel, and Gotoh.
Staggered-height posts. If you have a flat headstock with six tuners in a single row—like those on a Fender—think about upgrading to tuners that have staggered-height posts. On most guitars, staggered-height tuners eliminate the need for string trees, and this too can improve tuning stability—especially on guitars with whammy bars. Staggered tuners typically have posts in three sizes: strings 1 and 2 take the shortest posts, strings 3 and 4 take the medium ones, and strings 5 and 6 use the tallest.
If the staggered height tuners aren’t direct replacements for your existing tuners, remember that changing the mass on your headstock has sonic consequences. You might actually like this, but you can’t really predict the outcome in advance.
Changing your keys. If you select direct replacements for your existing keys, installing the new ones is a simple process. Typically, you need a small screwdriver (flathead or Phillips) and sometimes a 10 mm nut driver or a deep-well socket.
Most modern keys use Phillips-head screws.
Removing a key’s threaded collar using a 10 mm nut driver.
With the strings removed, unscrew the mounting screws on the back of the headstock, then (if applicable) remove the threaded collar that surrounds the post with a 10 mm nut-driver. If your guitar has press-in bushings, I recommend leaving them in. Removing the bushings can damage the finish or wood surrounding the post hole.
When installing the new keys, insert the key into the hole, install the screw on the back of the headstock, and then finally tighten the threaded collar. Do not use an open wrench or adjustable wrench on the collar. The wrench can slip and butcher the nut or put a big ding in your headstock. A nut driver or deep-well socket lets you apply gentle downward pressure as you tighten the threads and this keeps the tool in place.
Don’t attempt to tighten a threaded collar or bushing with an adjustable crescent wrench—it can slip and mar the collar or headstock.
Caution! Be careful when tightening the screws and the collar. If you over-tighten the screws, you’ll strip the headstock wood. This damage can be repaired, but it requires gluing dowels into the headstock. If you over-tighten the collar, it will strip the threads and ruin the collar. Damage to the collar is irreversible, and you’ll have to buy another tuner.
Screwless keys. One more thing: Some tuning keys don’t attach to the headstock with screws. Instead, they have one or two alignment pins on the underside of the shell that insert into the back of the headstock. Check this carefully when you replace your keys and make sure you buy the correct style to fit your guitar.
Some tuners have one or two alignment pins instead of screws. Carefully check your guitar before buying replacement tuners to assure a correct match.
PG contributor Tom Butwin profiles three versatile - and affordable - acoustic guitars from Cort, Epiphone, and Gold Tone. These classic designs and appointments offer pro-level sound for an accessible price.
Cort Essence Series ES-GA4 Grand Auditorium Cutaway Acoustic Electric Guitar, Natural Semi Gloss (GA4NSG)
Epiphone Slash J-45 Acoustic Guitar - November Burst
The classic J-45 has been the choice of legendary musicians ever since it was first introduced in 1942. Known as The Workhorse, it is Gibson's most famous and most popular acoustic guitar model. Now Epiphone has released a new Inspired by Gibson"' J-45"' with all of the features players want, including all solid wood construction, a comfortable rounded C neck profile, 20 medium jumbo frets, the 60s style Kalamazoo headstock shape and a gorgeous Aged Vintage Sunburst finish. The Fishman® Sonicore under-saddle pickup and Sonitone preamp make this Workhorse stage-ready too. Optional hardshell or Epilite"' case available separately. A battery is not included. To power your pickup, you will need a 9-volt battery.
Gold Tone The Bell Acoustic-electric Guitar - Natural
Gold Tone’s Festival Series: The Bell stands out by blending classic craftsmanship with stage-ready versatility. Its all-solid wood construction—featuring a Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides—produces a rich, balanced tone that shines in any setting. The slope-shoulder design offers both comfort and clarity, perfect for fingerstyle or strumming. With a slim "D" neck, Fishman electronics, Grover tuners, and D’Addario strings, The Bell is crafted for players who demand tone, playability, and reliable performance—on stage or in the studio.
A beautifully realized mashup of two iconic guitars.
Reader: Ward Powell
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Guitar: ES-339 Junior
I’ve always liked unusual guitars. I think it started when I got my first guitar way back in 1976. I bought a '73 Telecaster Deluxe for $200 with money I saved from delivering newspapers.
I really got serious about playing in 1978, the same year the first Van Halen album was released. Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, including how he built and modded guitars. Inspired by Eddie, I basically butchered that Tele. But keep in mind, there was once a time when every vintage guitar was just a used guitar—I still have that Tele, by the way.
I never lost that spirit of wanting guitars that were unique, and have built and modded a few dozen guitars since. When I started G.A.S.-ing simultaneously for a Les Paul Junior and a Casino, I came up with this concept. I found an Epiphone ES-339 locally at a great price. It already had upgraded CTS pots, Kluson tuners, and the frets had been PLEK’d. It even came with a hardshell case. It was cheap because it was a right-handed guitar that had been converted to left handed and all the controls had been moved to the opposite side, so it had five additional holes in the top.
Fortunately, I found a Duesenberg wraparound bridge that used the same post spacing as a Tune-o-matic. I used plug cutters to cut plugs out of baltic birch plywood to fill the 12 holes in the laminated top. I also reshaped the old-style Epiphone headstock. Then, I sanded off the original finish, taped the fretboard, and sprayed the finish using cans of nitro lacquer from Oxford Guitar Supply. Lots of wet sanding and buffing later, the finish was done.
I installed threaded insert bushings for the bridge, so it will never pull out. The pickup is a Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90 and I fabricated a shim from a DIY mold and tinted epoxy to raise the P-90 up closer to the strings. The shim also covers the original humbucker opening. I cut a pickguard out of a blank and heated it slightly to bend it to follow the curvature of the top.
All in all, I'm pretty happy how it turned out! It plays great and sounds even better. And I have something that is unique: an ES-339 Junior.
The Gibson EH-185, introduced in 1939, was one of the company’s first electric guitars.
Before the Les Pauls and SGs, this aluminum-reinforced instrument was one of the famous brand’s first electric guitars.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of electric guitar in shaping American popular music over the last half-century. Its introduction was a revolution, changing the course of modern musical styles. Today, when we think of the guitars that started the revolution, we think of the Stratocaster and the Les Paul, guitars held against the body and fretted with the fingertips. But the real spark of this musical mutiny was the lap-steel guitar.
In the early 20th century, guitar music was moving out of the parlors of homes and into public spaces where folks could gather together and dance. Guitarists needed to project their sound far beyond where their wimpy little acoustic instruments could reach. Instrument manufacturers began experimenting with larger body sizes, metal construction, and resonators to increase volume.
Around this time, George Beauchamp began experimenting with electric guitar amplification. He settled on a design using two U-shaped magnets and a single coil of wire. Beauchamp was in business with Adolph Rickenbacker, and they decided to stick this new invention into a lap steel.
If we put on our 1930s glasses, this decision makes perfect sense. The most popular music at the time was a blend of Hawaiian and jazz styles made famous by virtuosos like Solomon “Sol” Hoʻopiʻi. Photos of Hoʻopiʻi with a metal-body resonator abound—one can imagine his relief at being handed an instrument that projected sound toward the audience via an amplifier, rather than back at his own head via resonator cones. Beauchamp and Rickenbacker were simply following the market.
As it turned out, the popularity of Hawaiian music gave way to swing, and electric lap steels didn’t exactly take the world by storm. But Beauchamp and Rickenbacker had proven the viability of this new technology, and other manufacturers followed suit. In 1937, Gibson created a pickup with magnets under the strings, rather than above like Beauchamp’s.
“When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y.”
The first page of Gibson’s “Electrical Instruments” section in the 1939 catalog features a glowing, full-page write-up of their top-of-the-line lap steel: the EH-185. “Everything about this new electric Hawaiian Guitar smacks of good showmanship,” effuses the copy. “It has smoothness, great sustaining power, and an easy flow of tone that builds up strongly and does not die out.”
Picking up the 1940 EH-185 at Fanny’s House of Music is about as close as one can get to traveling back in time to try a new one. It is just so clean, with barely any dings or even finish checking. Overall, this is a 9/10 piece, and it’s a joy to behold. Speaking of picking it up, the first thing you notice when you lift the EH-185 out of the case is its weight. This is a much heavier instrument than other similar-sized lap steels, owing to a length of thick metal between the body and the fretboard. The catalog calls it “Hyblum metal,” which may be a flowery trade name for an early aluminum alloy.
This 1940 EH-185 is heavier than other lap steels in its class, thanks to a length of metal between its fretboard and body.
Photo by Madison Thorn
There are numerous other fancy appointments on the EH-185 that Gibson didn’t offer on their lesser models. It’s made of highly figured maple, with diamond-shaped decorations on the back of the body and neck. The double binding is nearly a centimeter thick and gives the instrument a luxurious, expensive look.
Behind all these high-end attributes is a great-sounding guitar, thanks to that old pickup. It’s got three blades protruding through the bobbin for the unwound strings and one longer blade for the wound strings. When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y. It was just crying out for a little crunch and a bluesy touch. It’s kind of cool how such a pristine, high-end vintage instrument can be so well-suited for a sound that’s rough around the edges.
As far as electric guitars go, it doesn’t get much more vintage than this 1940 Gibson EH-185 Lap Steel. It reminds us of where the story of the electric guitar truly began. This EH-185 isn’t just a relic—it’s a testament to when the future of music was unfolding in real time. Plug it in, and you become part of the revolution.
Sources: Smithsonian, Vintage Guitar, Mozart Project, Gibson Pre-War, WIRED, Steel Guitar Forum, Vintaxe
J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume.
J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume. Just check out a photo of his rig to see an intimidating wall of amps pointed directly at the Dinosaur Jr. leader’s head. And though his loudness permeates all that he does and has helped cement his reputation, there’s a lot more to his playing.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re looking at each phase of the trio’s long career. How many pedals does J use to get his sound? What’s his best documented use of a flanger? How does his version of “Maggot Brain” (recorded with bassist Mike Watt) compare to Eddie Hazel’s? And were you as surprised as we were when Fender released a J Mascis signature Tele?