Locking tuners for $28, can they be any good?

[elkoki]

What are your guys' thoughts on tuners like these? I think they're made in China. They're called "Guyker" they got 6 inline and 3+3, at the moment they are $28 through a black Friday deal on Amazon, normally they are $34. Not a huge price difference but they're cheap enough to get my attention, I need some new tuners for an Ibanez RG and these look like they'd be a direct fit.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SH414T8/?tag=sevenstringorg-20

 

[Hollowway]

I’m sketchy about anything out of China, but you could try them and return them if they don’t work, since it’s Amazon.

 

[Strobe]

No. No, they cannot.

(IMHO)

 

[elkoki]

No. No, they cannot.

(IMHO)

Looking through some of the reviews apparently the 3+3 tuners are great(they have a 1:21 ratio) but the 6 inline reviews are pretty mixed some good some bad. The 6 inline are the ones I need, I'm thinking they're at least an upgrade from cheap Ibanez stock tuners that come in an Indonesian guitar? I think I might get them just to try em, if they're total crap I'll return them, Amazon has free returns anyway

 

[diagrammatiks]

The guyker stuff is actually pretty ok?
At least the stuff they copy is pretty good. they probably just cheap out on materials.

 

[thedonal]

I would avoid and get a decent brand. I entertained a set of Chinese copies for an old Fender acoustic I have- went with a set of Wilkinson tuners that were a bit more, but still pretty cheap- no locking screw, but two holes in the post at 90 degrees- they turned out pretty good.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

When graphtech ratios and hipshots/gotohs are all under 100$ regularly, why bother with cheaper junk?

 

[akinari]

I'm gonna vote "no." I'd wait and get a set of Gotohs next paycheck.

 

[elkoki]

When graphtech ratios and hipshots/gotohs are all under 100$ regularly, why bother with cheaper junk?

Know of any tuners that are direct fit for an Ibanez RG3EX1?.. the stock tuners have no screws to mount them but have those dual pole things that hold them in place. I need some of those, this guitar is surprisingly freaking awesome, but the tuning stability could use improvement.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Know of any tuners that are direct fit for an Ibanez RG3EX1?.. the stock tuners have no screws to mount them but have those dual pole things that hold them in place. I need some of those, this guitar is surprisingly freaking awesome, but the tuning stability could use improvement.

gotohs are usually direct fits for ibbys. Hipshots and graphtechs come with mounting plates that work with most guitars ime.

Never hurts to measure the tuner height/ hole size and diameter to guarantee a good fit though.

 

[Omzig]

What are your guys' thoughts on tuners like these? I think they're made in China. They're called "Guyker" they got 6 inline and 3+3, at the moment they are $28 through a black Friday deal on Amazon, normally they are $34. Not a huge price difference but they're cheap enough to get my attention, I need some new tuners for an Ibanez RG and these look like they'd be a direct fit.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SH414T8/?tag=sevenstringorg-20

Well i got a set of these Guyker locking tuners for my HM strat about a year or so back so here's some feedback from someone who has this brands units in hand so to speak

These were the "Pro/upgraded version" and are Gear Ratio'ed @ 1:18 , also these are made in Korea not china and are really excellent quality, super smooth, hold tune and lock without issues & as good as anything x3 the price, the main reason they are much cheaper is because you are cutting out the middle man/retail's slice of the pie....anyone who's worked in retail knows there is pretty much a 70-100% markup on anything offered for sale (the reason they can still make money on 50% off sales runs) also chinese CCP pretty much pay the postage for you on this stuff because they want it to be exported cheaply.

Yep there are a lot of nasty cheap ass monkey metal shit locking tuners for sale on amazon and aliexpress but these guyker units aren't like those and id recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade from OEM stuff without the outlay of gotoh/grover/schaller

Shout if you want pic's of my units on the HM strat.

 

[elkoki]

Well i got a set of these Guyker locking tuners for my HM strat about a year or so back so here's some feedback from someone who has this brands units in hand so to speak

These were the "Pro/upgraded version" and are Gear Ratio'ed @ 1:18 , also these are made in Korea not china and are really excellent quality, super smooth, hold tune and lock without issues & as good as anything x3 the price, the main reason they are much cheaper is because you are cutting out the middle man/retail's slice of the pie....anyone who's worked in retail knows there is pretty much a 70-100% markup on anything offered for sale (the reason they can still make money on 50% off sales runs) also chinese CCP pretty much pay the postage for you on this stuff because they want it to be exported cheaply.

Yep there are a lot of nasty cheap ass monkey metal shit locking tuners for sale on amazon and aliexpress but these guyker units aren't like those and id recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade from OEM stuff without the outlay of gotoh/grover/schaller

Shout if you want pic's of my units on the HM strat.

post that pic

 

[foreright]

When graphtech ratios and hipshots/gotohs are all under 100$ regularly, why bother with cheaper junk?

With respect there’s a fair difference between “under $100” and $28. For what it’s worth I’d agree that hipshots are likely to be better quality but $60 better?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

With respect there’s a fair difference between “under $100” and $28. For what it’s worth I’d agree that hipshots are likely to be better quality but $60 better?

In my opinion, yes, they're worth the extra cost. I put those 3 brands on all of my guitars and have zero issues with tuning stability.

 

[Omzig]

post that pic

Here ya go

As you can see there aren't even any cast lines around the tuner units or even the buttons,but plz update us with what you think if you decided to buy that is once they arrive.

 

[foreright]

In my opinion, yes, they're worth the extra cost. I put those 3 brands on all of my guitars and have zero issues with tuning stability.

Fair enough - I tend to go with Hipshot myself but I’ve used some cheaper locking tuners in the past with good results. I’d say that your mileage is more likely to vary with non locking ones.

My point was more that if someone’s looking at sub $30 tuners then ones 3 times the cost are likely to be out of budget.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Fair enough - I tend to go with Hipshot myself but I’ve used some cheaper locking tuners in the past with good results. I’d say that your mileage is more likely to vary with non locking ones.

My point was more that if someone’s looking at sub $30 tuners then ones 3 times the cost are likely to be out of budget.

Again, speaking from experience, buying cheap usually means buying twice [or more].
There are places to cheap out on guitars (like electronics, pickup rings) but anytime I've gone cheap on tuners it ends badly. The screws to hold the tuners to the headstock are usually zinc shit that strip extremely easily, or there are burrs on the inside of the tuner.
Wilkinsons are the exception ime. They're pretty solid for the price point.

 

[Omzig]

Again, speaking from experience, buying cheap usually means buying twice [or more].
There are places to cheap out on guitars (like electronics, pickup rings) but anytime I've gone cheap on tuners it ends badly. The screws to hold the tuners to the headstock are usually zinc shit that strip extremely easily, or there are burrs on the inside of the tuner.
Wilkinsons are the exception ime. They're pretty solid for the price point.

All valid points on cheap ass tunners and ive seen those issues with the Burrs and Screws + locking pins that are under/oversizeds or miss cut threads ,but as you can see these units do not have any of those issues (screws used where the ones sent with the units) and are infact quite a ways above Wilkinson quality (which i also have to hand)

 

[elkoki]

Fair enough - I tend to go with Hipshot myself but I’ve used some cheaper locking tuners in the past with good results. I’d say that your mileage is more likely to vary with non locking ones.

My point was more that if someone’s looking at sub $30 tuners then ones 3 times the cost are likely to be out of budget.

In my case it's not necessarily a budget thing.. It's more like being a penny pincher lol... The guitar (RG3EX1) they'd go in actually cost me $120 lol. The previous owner installed a Crunch Lab / Liquifire set & Dimarzio strap so it was a great deal. I'm sorta real stingy about my money and I'm on a constant look out for deals on quality stuff, I didn't want to spend a lot on tuners, just sorta as a challenge to keep the overall price of the guitar low. You know cus you can sorta brag and be like "check out the guitar I got and it was only $$!".. I ordered the Guykers, I'll closely examine them, if they're crap I'll return em and order some hipshots.

 

[Phlegethon]

If you're going to drop money on something like locking tuners? It's one of those things where you buy the established, relatively expensive stuff or not touch it at all. Sure those amazon locking tuners are cheap but at best? They're going to be a sidegrade to the stock MII tuning machines. And it only goes downhill from there quality wise. There's a lot of high cost manufacturing involved in making locking tuners in general so if you're getting 30 dollar locking tuners? Corners have been cut, and your guitar will be worse off for installing them.

Looking at how much the guitar cost you is irrelevant. Does it already hold tune well? If not, then switching to any kind of locking tuners isn't going to fix the problem 100%. There's going to be other reasons behind tuning instability. If it does hold tune well? Why waste money on a halfassed solution?