Gotoh Parts

[cactuscurtis]

Hi, I havent used Gotoh Machine Heads or Bridges etc and have recently been given a price list of a lot of Gotoh hardware. I remember reading different comments a long while ago where some said they were one of the finest machine heads araound and some others that said they werent real good. I cant find these old reviews and just wondering what you guys think about them. Basically I've noticed price lists for say Tele Control plates and bridges that have Sung-il (Korean) brand on them. The prices dont seem too bad but I have heard some people say they are crap and suggest spending the extra bucks on the Gotoh control pplates and bridges as they are much better quality parts. I dont want crap on my guitars. Here's an example. I can buy a Sung-il tele control plate for $7.90 AUD or pay $13 AUD for a Gotoh. As I plan on buying a couple hundred bucks worth of parts from a couple of local suppliers just wondering if going with Gotoh and paying a few extra bucks is the best deal. Do you guys think Gotoh is good stuff?

[Scott French]

I like the quality of Gotoh's high end stuff, although I'm not sure I'd worry about that for a tele control plate unless the chroming is really bad on the cheap one.

I just got in a set of their 21 to 1 ratio delta locking tuners and they are super smooth. Very heavy though, I've been spoiled on light weight Sperzels.

[cactuscurtis]

I like the quality of Gotoh's high end stuff, although I'm not sure I'd worry about that for a tele control plate unless the chroming is really bad on the cheap one.

I just got in a set of their 21 to 1 ratio delta locking tuners and they are super smooth. Very heavy though, I've been spoiled on light weight Sperzels.

I'vebeen looking through Gotohs catalogue and they look good . I guy I was talking to today was telling me about Reso Lite Gotoh Bass Tuners. He loves them

No the control plate wouldnt worry me so much but looking at bridges and machine heads, its looks like Gotoh have a lot going them.

[Mickguard]

Definitely buy quality. I've come around to this thinking. Why put all the effort it takes into building a guitar, then use cheap parts for the most critical parts of the guitar?

And the difference in pricing you're talking about is pretty minor, all in all.

[ToneMonkey]

I bought a complete set of Gotoh: tuners, tail piece, TOM, neck plate, jack plate, knobs and screws (I think that was it). It all looks well made and he finsih is good. Infact, I'm so impressed that I'm using everything except the tuners and neck plate on the Patrick Eggle that I bought (although I'm starting to think about going chrome rather than the gold I've got now - but I'll probably buy the Gotoh stuff again).

I'm not using the tuners as they're not locking, but they seem nice enough, better than most that came with any cheap guitar I used to own. It's also a set neck so there's no need for the neck plate (but a big gold flat bit of metal is going to be handy sooner or later).

[rokeros]

Yer, Gotoh 510 series stuff and the wilkinson partnership stuff and nice.

[cactuscurtis]

Yer, Gotoh 510 series stuff and the wilkinson partnership stuff and nice.

I've started reading up on the 510 stuff and other Gotoh stuff and yeah I think I'll go with Gotoh. When I compared prices of cheaper Korean stuff, some Gotoh parts were much higher in price but still affordable and most other parts like cover plates, LP bridges and stuff were only really a few bucks dearer or pretty close in price. The more I read about the finishes with Gotoh and their lubricated system etc. the more appealing Gotoh is sounding to me.

I've got a couple of cheap imported axes at home and although they have good necks, tonal quality and so on, chrome started disappearing pretty quick and they dulled in appearence in no time. So I think I'll do as another guy said here and go for quality.

[Mattia]

Control plates aren't that critical, and should be more or less fine regardless (in chrome plating, anyway; for gold and/or black, all bets are off). Gotoh is one of my favourite brands for hardware, their 510 series is excellent, but even their 'regular' line of stuff (tuning machines, etc.) is more than up to the task. I tend to simply use Gotoh's regular, cheap, 30 bucks-ish tuning machine heads on my own guitars, and I've never, ever had problems with them.

For a TOM setup, I would say don't skimp.

[spazzyone]

+1 on gotoh

[Hambone]

I've been using Gotoh parts directly from Hosokawa LTD (Gotoh) for some time. IMO, they are some of the best mass produced parts on the market. I use their vintage Fender tuners as the ONLY ones that are truly like the originals - rivet and all. I've got nothing to say but good about Gotoh

Edited July 20, 2006 by Hambone

[ryanb]

I've used a lot of Gotoh tuners and they are great. I will definitely use more. They are a good price too.

[cactuscurtis]

I've been using Gotoh parts directly from Hosokawa LTD (Gotoh) for some time. IMO, they are some of the best mass produced parts on the market. I use their vintage Fender tuners as the ONLY ones that are truly like the originals - rivet and all. I've got nothing to say but good about Gotoh

Hi Hambone.

I managed to find Yoshi's email address and they are sending price list and catalogues. I'm thinking of ordering a few hundred bucks worth at a time (in AUD). I was told that for orders under their minimum desired quantity there's a fee that works out at about $58 AUD. Ok that's cool. Just wondering apart from T/T fee from my bank, whether they charge anymore apart from freight charges. I was thinking of using Japanese postal service as Fedex,UPS etc are too expensive.