Heit Deluxe & Replacement Tuners

[mondrian]

So I bought a Heit Deluxe, a three pickup version of the one that usually shows up as a four pickup guitar. Single coils sound pretty high-output, not very noisy at all; kind of like P90s, I guess.

Anyway. So this has the six in a line tuners, and of course, they're open-back and kind of imprecise - so I'm planning on finding a replacement set. Any experience with whether Klusons or another brand fit without modifying the guitar? The local music store doesn't have anything (small town) so I'm going to have to order without seeing the product in person; I know it's a long shot, but thought I'd try this route first.

Right on.

Oh, and hello.

[VintAxe]

Hey mondrian,

I've looked around a bit concerning your tuner issue and this is what I've found.

I don't think Kluson style tuners will match the screw holes used for the open backs but if the shafts are right, the Klusons will probably cover the old holes. Here is a diagram showing the dimensions of Kluson style tuners for you to check against your Heit:



If they look like they will work you can order them here:


I think you should also consider repairing your open back tuners so they work better. I've found that with a little coaxing, I can get the old open backs to hold tune pretty well. I wouldn't trust them at a gig but for recording they are adequate.

The open backs can be completely disassembled and worn parts replaced. If you want to go this route, let me know. I have a good selection of open back strip tuner parts around here. sb

[mondrian]

Hey,

Thanks! I measured the tuners and concluded that Kluson-type tuners won't work (at least as intended.)

The original tuners aren't in bad shape, but they have a bit of play in the mechanism, so fine-tuning is really difficult. As far as the tuners go, I'm going to keep looking for some that don't require screws so that I can always revert the instrument back to original.

On your "sold" page, you mention a Heit on which you replaced the bridge (I think) with one from stewmac -- the strings skip around a lot on mine with the multiple string slots, and the intonation isn't predictable. I looked for a replacement, but the post-to-post distance on the Heit bridge is ~70-72 mm, and the replacement ones are 74 mm, so I may end up simply upgrading to an adjustable bridge (maybe a Mustang bridge, ha.)

-m

[mondrian]

Update:

Put Gotoh Kluson tuners on it; the posts aren't quite as long as needed and they sit about 1/16 of an inch apart from each other, but they work wonderfully and the cosmetics are OK.

Installed a Tune-O-Matic bridge -- perfect intonation now --

Only had a set of TI Bebop 12s around, so my Heit Deluxe is even weirder than before. Dig.

Just for reference, I don't think this guitar would have ever played in tune up the neck without a change of bridge ...