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I decided to make my soloist look classier and upgrade to gold tuners. My friend had locking tuners in his guitar and I was impressed how quickly he was able to change the strings so naturally I decided to go one step further and get tuners that cut the string end meaning I no longer need any tools for string changes(no floyd).
The original Gotohs in Jackson use two-sized tuner holes, the tuner end being 13/32" and the face side having a 10/32" hole(see link on warmoth.com for details on tuner holes) meaning I'd need to do some drilling to fit the tuners. I soon found out that the black plastic veneer on a Jackson headstock is very brittle. Luckily the small chips were covered by the tuner washers but I recommend caution.
After drilling the bigger holes installation was pretty easy. As many of you know Jackson headstocks are a bit thicker than most headstocks and I needed to be careful tightening the nuts. The wood screw was on the same place as with the gotohs so no problems there.
Putting on new strings was a breeze. You just need to put the string straight through the hole, lock the thumbscrew and rotate the tuner for about 1/2 a turn and you're done. The cutter cuts the strings automatically although it takes some strenght to do it on the lower strings. And because there isn't any slack string on the tuner posts you only need to stretch the strings once to get it into good tune. The tuners holes are pretty large and I could fit a .60 string through them without problems.
So overall I recommend the Planet Waves auto-trim tuners if you're looking for locking tuners. String changes take less time so you can spend more time dreaming about new gear online.
Sorry for not having a picture. Note that the tuner posts are black no matter what colour tuners do you buy.
The original Gotohs in Jackson use two-sized tuner holes, the tuner end being 13/32" and the face side having a 10/32" hole(see link on warmoth.com for details on tuner holes) meaning I'd need to do some drilling to fit the tuners. I soon found out that the black plastic veneer on a Jackson headstock is very brittle. Luckily the small chips were covered by the tuner washers but I recommend caution.
After drilling the bigger holes installation was pretty easy. As many of you know Jackson headstocks are a bit thicker than most headstocks and I needed to be careful tightening the nuts. The wood screw was on the same place as with the gotohs so no problems there.
Putting on new strings was a breeze. You just need to put the string straight through the hole, lock the thumbscrew and rotate the tuner for about 1/2 a turn and you're done. The cutter cuts the strings automatically although it takes some strenght to do it on the lower strings. And because there isn't any slack string on the tuner posts you only need to stretch the strings once to get it into good tune. The tuners holes are pretty large and I could fit a .60 string through them without problems.
So overall I recommend the Planet Waves auto-trim tuners if you're looking for locking tuners. String changes take less time so you can spend more time dreaming about new gear online.
Sorry for not having a picture. Note that the tuner posts are black no matter what colour tuners do you buy.