The Steel Guitar Forum

I've noticed that regular 6 string guitars like telecasters and stratocasters can be had with a locking tuning key.You just pull the string through the hole in the post and as you tighten the key, it locks down on the string and doesn't have to be wound around 3 times or looped around into the peg hole.

Is such a thing impractical for PSG? Those key pegs are so close together and changing strings can be a pain in the neck. These kinds of keys on a PSG would be an asset (IMHO).

Hi Jan. This is a subject that I investigated a few years ago when I was in the process of configuring and ordering my Carter. I noted that Carter uses Sperzel tuners, but not the locking tuners. I spoke with John Fabian at Carter who said that if I really really wanted them (locking tuners), he could put them on but he strongly discouraged me from doing it.
I called and spoke with Mr. Sperzel who was real jazzed about supplying the Steel Guitar trade with locking tuners.
But I spoke more with John F. and concluded that he was right, and that Mr. Sperzel did not understand the issue.

Here's the issue--no matter how well dressed the hole in the tuner post may be, no matter how well beveled & chamfered, the fact remains--if the post has, say, a 1/8" diameter, the string coming out of the locking tuner will be bent around the 1/16" radius of the halfway point of the hole in the post (the whole point of the locking tuner is that there will be less than a full wrap around the post to bring the string up to pitch). Combined with the repeated stress of the changer pulling and releasing, pulling and releasing, let me coin a phrase--a bent string is a sp.....---well, you get the picture.
Even forgetting the radius issue, a common bit of advice for premature death of a 3rd string is to provide enough winds around the post so that the string departs from the post well clear of the hole and the irregularity the hole creates for a string passing over it.

I put Sperzel locking tuners on a guitar I built and I am a huge fan. They work real well and stringing up the guitar couldn't be easier. I would love this convenience on my PSG but I am 100% convinced that this design would not work.
Hope this made some sense.

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Jan,

I don't know about the locking tuners but, I would rather see a C clip or something to hold the string on the changer ball post. That would make changing them a little bit easier.

Yeah, the same deal they use on six string guitars that lock at the nut. Why would that not work, even right now I am starting to think of 50 reasons. Bring that one up to John F.

Here is another reason.

As the string comes off the roller down to the tuner, I was taught and have always practiced putting enough winds to have the string continue in a straight line down on the peg from the roller, so the string isn't in a bind as your changer functions. It has always made good sense to me to do that, and it has always worked. This is giving the string the easiest path to stretch and return to pitch and since it isn't in a bind, I think each string lasts longer. Doing that and changing strings every 2 to 3 weeks, string breakage is NOT an issue with me any longer. Hope this helps.

That is the neat part of a keyless guitar, strings dont' pull from there, IE: less breakage.