Hipshot Grip-Lock Open-Back Locking Tuners — Nickel, Staggered, Butterbean

Description

Hipshot’s Grip-Lock open-back machines in nickel, staggered, fitted with butterbean buttons. Hipshot does not sell this combination as a set: the machines are one part number and the buttons another, so getting it means ordering the pieces and building the kit. That is what this is — built here, as a dealer, and sold as one thing.

The locking is a pin inside the string post. Thread the string through, tighten the thumbwheel, trim. No winds around the post, so there is nothing to slip and nothing to settle, and a restring takes a fraction of the time it used to. 18:1 gearing, so small corrections stay small.

The posts are staggered, descending across the set, which gives each string its own break angle over the nut rather than forcing the same one on all six. More consistent downforce, less nut buzz, and on a lot of headstocks it does away with string trees entirely.

Nickel rather than chrome — warmer, and it ages alongside vintage-spec hardware instead of sitting against it.

Fitment — read this first. These need 13/32in (10mm) peg holes, which is modern spec. They will not drop into a true vintage headstock: those holes are smaller, and opening them up means reaming, which you cannot undo. We know, because they do not fit our own vintage six-in-line. Measure before you order, and if you are unsure what you have, ask us first.