Question about Taylor that came with gotoh 510 tuners from factory

[ritchie69]

Hi all guys, I have a question for you: anyone knows if the Taylor that came from the factory with the gotoh 510 installed have still the pre drilled hole to accomodate the taylor ping tuners? thanks in advance!

[Earl]

To my knowledge, no.  Taylor has always used Ping tuners with a Taylor branded cap on the back.  I have several guitars with 510's and really, really like the Gotoh 510's.  I even used Gotoh's 30 years ago to replace and upgrade worn-out machines on a late 60's vintage Sears Silvertone.  Never had any issues with the OEM Taylor tuners, however, so I never felt the need to swap them out from stock.  510's would be a reasonable upgrade, but not night and day.  I *think* that Taylor uses a hidden locator pin covered by the body of the tuner.

Steward McDonald has drawings with dimensions of the various tuners that they sell.  It would take some research, but you could figure it out. 
https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/tuning-machines/solid-peghead-guitar-tuning-machines/
https://www.stewmac.com/search/?q=gotoh+510

[Edward]

...anyone knows if the Taylor the came from the factory with the gotoh 510 installed have still the pre drilled hole to accomodate the taylor ping tuners? thanks in advance!

Hey Ritchie,

If I understand you correctly, you're asking that if the Taylor came with the gotohs from the factory, will it still have the hole that was meant for the Pings?  That's a new one ...never heard that asked.  I'd personally doubt it, but who really knows.  My question: you thinking of removing the 510s??!!!

Edward

[ritchie69]

Hello friends! First of all thank you! And yes Edward, that’s my question…I don’t have the 510s on my last Taylor and I’m ok with the ping, I have no plan to switch for gotohs, just my curiosity…

[Earl]

Sorry I misinterpreted your question (I've cut WAY back on caffeine and typically browse early in the day).  I kinda doubt that Taylor would bother with the step of drilling the locator pin hole for Ping's if they were going to use Gotoh machines.  They might drill both the hole through the peg head and the locator pin hole during the same machining step though.

[Edward]

…I don’t have the 510s on my last Taylor and I’m ok with the ping, I have no plan to switch for gotohs, just my curiosity…

Yeah, I get it.  The Ping machines Taylor uses are wholly fine and never gave me reason to change.  Until I found a set used once and put em on my main gigger for grins.  I became hooked.  Now every acoustic (except my BabyT) I own has 510s because they are that smooth, that precise, and that pleasing.  Or perhaps I am that nutty which is never beyond consideration.

Edward

[phavriluk]

Taylor tuners don't have a locating tab outside the tuner body, they use an internal pin which drops into a hole drilled for the purpose.   For anyone thinking about swapping out OEM tuners, there's no existing locating holes to worry about.