Upgrading Gotoh Locking Tuners with Hipshot Knurled Buttons and installing on a ESP LTD SD-2

[@Left_Hand_Path]

I just bought a sd-2 and plan on doing a lot of similar upgrades so I’m stoked I found your channel!

[@brutesmagootes3996]

Thanks man!

[@LuvBiteFGC]

love the hipshot brand. i replaced the hardware on my strat and tele with them. love it.

[@brutesmagootes3996]

No doubt!

[@ohshit.itszane]

Dude you nailed this! I’m following

[@DanielBobke]

I haven't tried it with Gotoh lockers, but the Hipshot Industrial barrel knobs fit perfectly on Tone Ninja lockers. The advantage of the Tone Ninja tuners for extended range guitars is they have stock larger string holes for bigger gauge strings (up to 0.086"). I was installing on an 8-string that I wanted to downtune. I LOVE those Hipshot Industrial barrel knobs - they are very cool looking and very metal.

[@brutesmagootes3996]

I did a review on the Tone Ninja tuners, and found them to be really good quality for the price they offer them. I think I got a 8 string set for $55. Crazy.

[@DanielBobke]

@@brutesmagootes3996 Agreed - very good tuners. They are the only tuners I have found that can take a string that large without modification.

[@theSilentCutter]

there is a guy on etsy selling 3D printed Barrel tuner buttons.- Awesome video! i am going to buy a set of the hipshot barrels for my KING-V yours look Bad Ass!

[@brutesmagootes3996]

I need to check those out

[@9th_note]

I did the same thing with my tuning machines, same brand of tuning machines, same tuning machine buttons L O L. only thing I did different was ordered 10mm wide foil, adhesive tape that was 0.06mm thick and wrapped it around a single time, and it tightened it up nicely.

[@brutesmagootes3996]

@@9th_note that was a great idea!

[@9th_note]

@@brutesmagootes3996 great minds think alike my friend. 😎

[@TheGradeZShow]

Great info. I'm also a gotoh tuner fan, and I've been passively trying figure out whether or not hipshot buttons would fit them for a while now. So if I understand correctly, just a bit of shim stock will make it work? Most forums I've searched on the subject (and modding in general) end in practically shaming the op for the very idea of modding any guitar built above the cheapest mass market specs. To that end, I enjoyed your pep talk at the close of the video. Thanks for posting! Mod on!

[@brutesmagootes3996]

Yes, some shim stock, and I removed most of the washers under the button because if you don’t, the barrel can bind against the tuner when you fully tighten down the screw. And thanks man! To me it’s fine if some people have that opinion, but don’t bash people who enjoy working on their guitar. It is THEIR guitar after all. Again, at the end of the day we all want to be inspired to play more. If making a change here or there accomplishes that, then that’s all that matters. Not someone else’s preferences.

[@leovan83]

What would be another alternative if I can’t access shim stock? Heat shrink tube? Black electrical tape? A little piece of copper shielding (I believe those are self-adhesive)? Question… before seeing your video I was halfway-through and I didn’t notice I was applying too much pressure towards the tuner and it “popped” a couple of mm on the underside (like a metal cylinder)… I just pushed it back in and the tuner works and all, but, did I break something? lol

[@brutesmagootes3996]

If it works I don’t think you broke anything. And copper shielding tape would work great.

[@leovan83]

@@brutesmagootes3996​​⁠thanks man! I just need to be able to rely on the tuners and the buttons. When you said you ended up using just one washer, was it one of the thin metal washers or was it the thicker black plastic one? Or a combination of both? Sorry for all the specific questions but this is my recording guitar and it’s my baby lol

[@leovan83]

@@brutesmagootes3996also… it’s weird because all the other 5 barrels work fine without using anything like a shim or copper shielding etc. it’s just one of them that for some reason seems to be the problem.

[@brutesmagootes3996]

No problem on the questions! I just used 1 thin metal washer.

[@sevii4860]

I never quite understood the barrel design of the machine heads, aesthetically i dig it, but wouldn't this sacrifice finger leverage for turning?

[@brutesmagootes3996]

I would totally get where you’re coming from if they were on standard tuners, but with locking tuners I only have to turn the button 1/2-3/4 of a turn to tune it.

[@DanielGonzalez-fw8kl]

Been thinking about getting those exact locking tuners on my sd-2, and was wondering if they just drop right in? Or do you have to do any additional screwing?

[@brutesmagootes3996]

If I remember correctly, the Gotohs were a direct replacement.

[@DanielGonzalez-fw8kl]

@@brutesmagootes3996 ok thank you!

[@leovan83]

How many washers should I keep from the original Gotohs? I have the same setup as you, but mine actually went in perfect except one, which I will fix it like you did with the shim or maybe a bit of electrical tape? Anyways, I’m more concerned about how many washers (and in what order? Since there are 3 metal and 1 plastic I think… also, they are very hard to turn - should they feel so tight? I’m guessing it will help in precision when tuning but it’s actually very hard to turn, am I doing something wrong? Thanks man!

[@brutesmagootes3996]

I ended up using just 1 metal washer and tightened the screw down to the point where the tuner had a good balance of being tight but not too hard to turn.

[@leovan83]

@@brutesmagootes3996 thanks man! Should electrical tape help keeping the loose buttons still?