Taylor 'standard' machine heads - how good are they?

[Earl]

I don't play our GS Mini a lot, but I have tuned it up and down a number of times between Open G and Standard.  I've never noticed that they had more slop than the regular series tuners.  Often when someone here upgrades the tuners on their big Taylor, the removed tuning machines get put on their Mini as an upgrade for it.

[George]

A bit of a 'sideways' question, but I think still keeping consistent with the original thread:  Are the 'standard' branded Taylor tuners better in performance to the unlabeled tuners OEM to the GS Mini?  My Mini seems to show a lot of slop in the tuners and I have a set of 'standard' (Taylor branded) tuners.  Am I likely to see any kind of improvement from a swap?

Thanks very much.

I'm not sure if the standard machine head will fit.  The Mini machine heads are a little smaller, and for sure the buttons are a lot smaller.  I believe they're both Ping tuners, so my guess is that the fittings are likely to be the same.  Unless someone else answers your question, you could swap one over and see if it fits, and if it's any better (it's only a 5 minute job).  Try swapping the bottom E - you're less likely to damage the string when you put it back on.

FYI my plan was to swap over my Mini tuners to see if I liked the new look, and then do the same on my 816.  But when I noticed they were a different size, I didn't do anything to my Mini and played instead with the 816 ( that's why I can't answer your question).  If you're curious to see how the different combinations of machine heads and buttons look, I posted some photo's here

[Edward]

Not sure if the GSm are made by Ping, but my daughter's Mini definitely has sloppy tuners. I found some used Taylor machines that I will eventually mount. So my answer to you is yes, it seems worth doing, especially since they're often found used cheap.

Edward

[greg947]

I wanted to improve on the standard Mini tuners, so the first thing I did was put on a set of tuners from a full sized Taylor that I had put Gotoh's on.  I thought the new tuners were better (less slop, stayed in tune longer), but looked a little large.  I then tried changing the tuner buttons.  I put the original tuner buttons from the GSmini tuners on the full-sized tuners.  They fit, but were a little tight when I later removed them. That improved the looks.  I was satisfied with that until I got a good deal (used) on the mini tuners from a Taylor 12-string.  They are the same size as the original GSmini tuners, but have the quality of the full-size tuners.  I am very satisfied with those.  By the way, all of the tuners fit the holes in the headstock with no adjustments.

[George]

A bit of a 'sideways' question, but I think still keeping consistent with the original thread:  Are the 'standard' branded Taylor tuners better in performance to the unlabeled tuners OEM to the GS Mini?  My Mini seems to show a lot of slop in the tuners and I have a set of 'standard' (Taylor branded) tuners.  Am I likely to see any kind of improvement from a swap?

I don't play our GS Mini a lot, but I have tuned it up and down a number of times between Open G and Standard.  I've never noticed that they had more slop than the regular series tuners.  Often when someone here upgrades the tuners on their big Taylor, the removed tuning machines get put on their Mini as an upgrade for it.

Not sure if the GSm are made by Ping, but my daughter's Mini definitely has sloppy tuners. I found some used Taylor machines that I will eventually mount. So my answer to you is yes, it seems worth doing, especially since they're often found used cheap.

I wanted to improve on the standard Mini tuners, so the first thing I did was put on a set of tuners from a full sized Taylor that I had put Gotoh's on.  I thought the new tuners were better (less slop, stayed in tune longer), but looked a little large.  I then tried changing the tuner buttons.  I put the original tuner buttons from the GSmini tuners on the full-sized tuners.  They fit, but were a little tight when I later removed them. That improved the looks.  I was satisfied with that until I got a good deal (used) on the mini tuners from a Taylor 12-string.  They are the same size as the original GSmini tuners, but have the quality of the full-size tuners.  I am very satisfied with those.  By the way, all of the tuners fit the holes in the headstock with no adjustments.

I recently did this upgrade/swap on my Mini.  Some photo's and comments on this thread

[M19]

I recently purchased a Wee Lowden with the Schallers and I am not impressed. I am looking to upgrade to Gotoh mini 510's, even though that means drilling new holes. I would not recommend the Schallers.