Vintage Tuner Replacement Pain

[red_rob]

I love my V64. It's fantastic. It's a '99 model and has a nice deep fireglo with lovely woodgrain. It's gorgeous, sounds great, plays like a dream and is as cool as a-don't-know-what.

One thing that's been wrong ever since I got it though is that three of the (vintage Kluson) tuners are quite poor. There is a lot of slack in them and it makes tuning up much more of a pain than it should be. I finally bit the bullet and ordered some replacement (vintage Kluson) ones from RIC which arrived a while back and looked lovely and shiny. I had a spare evening yesterday and finally got round to replacing my old faulty ones with my spanking new shiny ones only to find that the holes drilled in my guitar's head are too narrow for the replacement parts which simply do not fit. I had rather reasonably (I thought) assumed they would be identical and a straight swap.

So I either drill wider holes in my guitar (never going to happen - I'm not a craftsman and I don't have tools. I work in a bank and play the guitar as a hobby) or write-off the money I spent on new tuners and make do with my old faulty ones. I am not impressed and more than a bit annoyed.

[admin]

Rob: Why not contact customer service at RIC to see how they might be able to be of assistance?

[red_rob]

Thanks Peter

[Woodie]

Did you put vintage Kluson tuners on your V64? They sure weren't stock in '99. Or, are they RIC Deluxe tuners?

[godber]

My '97 V64 also has RIC Deluxe tuners. What are the measurements Rob? You might be able to get different sized bushings to use the Klusons.

[red_rob]

Hmm. They do have different engravings on the back actually. The originals say "RIC DELUXE". I just can't believe they aren't interchangeable! I mean - come on!

Maybe I was naive but I just find it amazing. I've got a msater's degree in engineering, and making parts fit was covered in the morning of the first day of the first year. No huge life-destroying event but obviously a bit inconvenient.

So if I want replacement tuners I have to scour eBay for ones that used to be on a late 90s V series? And hope they aren't faulty as well? Am I alone in thinking this is a bit silly?

(Did I mention I love my guitar and that Rickenbackers are the coolest thing on the planet btw?)

[radioactive]

I ordered replacements for my 360/12v64 and the ones sent by Rickenbacker don't have anything stamped on the back, no Ric Deluxe.
They fit like the originals but I wonder if Rickenbacker has changed vendors.
Seems like instruments using these tuners from 1999 have an extraordinary amount of tuner slippage, I've got two guitars from 1999 and both have bad tuners.

[ozover50]

I don't know if they'd be any good for a 12 string but I replaced the tuners on my 360v64/6 with Gotoh vintage style locking tuners and they are absolutely fantastic! No slippage at all and they dropped straight in with no mods required - the holes lined up perfectly and the ferrules popped in easily with the tool provided.

They look exactly the same as the Rick ones except for the stamp on the back.

If anybody wants the part number of these I can provide it.