Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners! They work!

[BenoA]

Hello everyone,

I'm not used to post technical stuff but I wanted to share with you all my lil' experience with Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners.

Some of you may know that I've owned a cheap Jackson JS30 Kelly since almost a year. As weird as it can be it's now my main axe and I had one major thing that I hated about it, it was the tuners, not that they are that bad but if you do strong soloing they would go slightly out of tune easily. So after reading a few posts here and also from a friend's recommandation, I decided to get a set of those Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners.

First, to let you know, I'm no guitar tech and I usualy pay a pro to do the work on my guitar, but recently, I decided that after all these years of playing the guitar, I should learn how to work on them.

So enough babbling and here we go. The Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners are very easy to install on a Jackson JS serie, quite easy job to do, they retrofit exactly with the original Jackson tuner.

You will need a 10mm and 12 mm wrenches and a small Philips screwdriver:


Here are the original Jackson tuners:



You remove the Jackson tuner and simply put the Planet Wave one right in the hole. Notice that the screw will exactly fit at the same place. No other holes to make:


It takes around 5 minutes to replace one tuner and put back the string. Here is a shot of a newly installed tuner from various angles:





As these tuners are "auto-trim", they will cut the excess of string as you tune. Just make sure you tighten the string clamp located on the bottom of the tuner before starting tuning. Another point is the feel of the tuner while you tune. Until the string excess is cut out, it is a bit hard to turn, in that case my low string is a 54, but once it is cut, it feels like a regular tuner.

After about 45 minutes, I had completed the whole job and properly tuned the guitar (drop B flat) and even my tools were back in their box! Here is the way it looks with the new tuners:


I tested the guitar for a good 30 minutes and was quite surprised: the tuning stays right! Nothing much more to add... I'm a happy guitar player!

Feel free to ask question.

[Szostak]

That is very cool, bro! Did you get these locally? I think I might take a nice trip downtown tomorrow

Cool review, very insightful. Good pictures you've got too, I envy your skillz.

Congrats and awesome tuners

-Paul

[BenoA]

That is very cool, bro! Did you get these locally? I think I might take a nice trip downtown tomorrow

Cool review, very insightful. Good pictures you've got too, I envy your skillz.

Congrats and awesome tuners

-Paul

Got them at Ital, 72.99$ +tax, it was the last set they had.

Don't envy my skills, these tuners are very easy to install, get some and do it yourself, you won't regret it and will save some $$$.

PS I posted this thread a lil' bit for you after reading yours on the Import message board.

Rock on!!!

[Szostak]

Got them at Ital, 72.99$ +tax, it was the last set they had.

Don't envy my skills, these tuners are very easy to install, get some and do it yourself, you won't regret it and will save some $$$.

PS I posted this thread a lil' bit for you after reading yours on the Import message board.

Rock on!!!

Which Ital, on Jean-Talon, or the other one?

Anyway, once again, cool stuff

[BenoA]

Ital on Jean-Talon. My best bet, before leaving home, do a few phone calls. Many places sell Planet Waves stuff.

[Szostak]

Alright thanks alot, bro. Glad I could help spark your project too

Keep it brutal.
-Paul

[toejam]

Cool. A few people here were wondering if they were a retrofit for Jackson tuners, and apparently they are.

[RacerX]

Cool review, great pics!

Can you talk more about the auto trim feature? When I read the title, I thought maybe these were "auto tuning" tuners I get that these are aftermarket tuners that hold tune better than the stock cheapo units, but....So the tuner cuts off excess string? How? And what's the advantage?

[Nuclear Vampire]

I put a set on my KVX10 this past summer and they work great.

Stringing them up was easy as pie, but there's a couple of things to note.

1. Insert the string through the opening on the tuner where the silver stud is located and hold the string tight. The string clamp located on the back of the tuner must be loosened considerably first, Especially for thicker strings. Some folks in another thread were worried that the holes would not be big enough for heavy gauge strings, but I was putting on a set of Dean Markley Jazz strings, and there was no problems sliding the .54 through.

2. Tighten string clamp located on the back of the tuner.

3. Tune up the guitar and the string will automatically be cut. This scared the fuck out of me at first because as I was tuning up, the peg got harder and harder to turn until I seriously thought I was going to break it. Then "click!" and the string end falls of. Don't be scared by this. It's worse for the top 3 strings as they are thicker and require more effort to cut. Just go slowly and it will be fine.

[RacerX]

I found some more info here: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...0&src=3SOSWXXA

[BenoA]

I put a set on my KVX10 this past summer and they work great.
1. Insert the string through the opening on the tuner where the silver stud is located and hold the string tight. The string clamp located on the back of the tuner must be loosened considerably first, Especially for thicker strings. Some folks in another thread were worried that the holes would not be big enough for heavy gauge strings, but I was putting on a set of Dean Markley Jazz strings, and there was no problems sliding the .54 through.

2. Tighten string clamp located on the back of the tuner.

3. Tune up the guitar and the string will automatically be cut. This scared the fuck out of me at first because as I was tuning up, the peg got harder and harder to turn until I seriously thought I was going to break it. Then "click!" and the string end falls of. Don't be scared by this. It's worse for the top 3 strings as they are thicker and require more effort to cut. Just go slowly and it will be fine.

Thanks Nuclear Vampire for the added infos.

And RacerX, I think you have found what you were looking, let me know if can give some more help... And sorry for the not too precise thread title... I'm tired and should be sleeping instead of looking at the JCF forums...

[BenoA]

Cool. A few people here were wondering if they were a retrofit for Jackson tuners, and apparently they are.

Yep, they are!

[kelly user]

i use a very thick low string and i was wondering, will the cutting part of the tuner wear out quickly, or will it last me a while

[Racerx2k]

Yeah, I was checking these out, in my Musicians Friend catalog, and wondered about them. The price seemed right, just wasn't sure of the quality. Figured they were a direct drop-in, from the pics I saw.

[jackson1]

Great pictures and thanks for the heads up on those, BenoA. Is that the only finish they come in (chrome+black)?