Guitar Basics: What Are Locking Tuners, and Why Should I Care?
Fun fact: I played guitar for several decades before I got serious about learning the intricacies of the instrument.
A good case in point is locking tuners. I was oblivious to them for many, many years until a friend gifted me a set for doing some work on his guitar.
If you are a normal guitarist like I was, you may not exactly know what locking tuners are either. If so, don’t fear! We’re going to talk about them today, explain what they are, and discuss why you might choose to use them (or not).
What are locking tuners?
Locking tuners are pretty much exactly what they sound like: tuning machines on the headstock of your guitar that lock the string into place. This is in contrast to traditional tuning machines, which require you to wrap the guitar string around the post to create enough friction to keep the strings from slipping.
It seems like every manufacturer has their own “special” type of locking tuner, but they all basically rely on a post or clamp to bite into and secure the string. The mechanism usually moves into place via turning a screw.
The benefit of locking tuners is really one of efficiency and speed. In fact, they were first used in live settings because guitar techs needed a way…
