G&L Legacy With a Drop D Tuner

Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:56 pm

I recently purchased a String Drop (Tim Wallis) tuner on e-bay cheap as I wanted to experiment with using a drop D. I had to first of all see if it would change the whole tuning on the Legacy. It was not noticeable so I measured it and found that the Legacy stayed in tune. First hurdle cleared. My Legacy has Sperzels on it and the bracket on the String Drop mounts between the tuner nut and washer and it is designed to fit Schallers. No problem there either as I filed the bracket slot open so it would fit. It did not loose enough strength to flex when using it. So everything is cool as it works great, D string stays in tune and it does what a drop D tuner should do. I used this model because it is non invasive and can be removed with no change to the guitar. I removed it today as I believe it will cause a problem with the nut. The D string moves a fair amount when you set the lever for E tuning which is accomplished by an arm pushing down on the string to bring it up to E. The contact point is about an inch above the nut and you are essentially doing one file stroke each time you change the tuning. This would not be an issue with a LSR bridge as it is a bearing. Has anyone used a drop D tuner and what brand did you use. I am cautious about having to drill any holes. Would lubricant in the nut prevent this from happening as I do not want to destroy the nut. Any input/ideas would be great. An LSR nut is not an option as it will not work with a 12" radius. Maybe I am being too cautious. I can use it on one of my Strats that has an LSR but I would much rather use the Legacy. Thanks for any ideas that you may have. --- Darwin :confused0007: