Help with maintaining my first archtop + finding new tuners for it

[acci]

Hello,

I just bought a DeArmond x155. (This guy in the middle here) Two questions about it

1. I like the guitar so far but the tuners are probably the worst tuners I've ever had on any guitar. I would need tuners that are the same size so I can just do a clean swap. Can you recommend me any tuners and/or is there a way to find out what tuners will fit the bill here?

2. This is my first archtop, and although it's not worth tons of money, I'd like to maintain it in as good condition as possible and keep it looking and playing great. I'm not that savvy with guitar maintenance. Any tips or instructions for regular care of an archtop?

Any help or info that would point me in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks...

[DaveG]

Stew-Mac carries a lot of different tuners, and they give diagrams with dimensions for each one... you might be able to match new tuners to what's on the guitar now:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners.html

[RnB]

The tuners on your guitar look like they have a locating pin to secure them on the back of the Hdstk...instead of mounting screws. Mostly likely they are bored for 10mm (3/8") tuners. Unless you find a set that of the same type (only better quality), like Planet Waves or Sperzels, which are locking tuners, you might have to drill a hole to mount other types of tuners the are available.

Your best option might be to find a set the has only 1 mounting hole that's below the casing (like Grovers), instead of the type that have 2 mounting holes per tuner...(like a vintage Style tuner)

Some of the other tuners have the mounting holes that are offset on the side of the casing...like Schallers or Gotohs. If drilling a hole doesn't bother you, Both of these tuners would work fine, cover your tuner's old footprints & are comparatively lighter than Grover Rotomatics!

[dkaplowitz]

Keep it in its case with an Oasis humidifier (runs you about $20.) if you're in a dry winter climate, like in the NE and the mid-west. Basically most of the rules that apply to caring for an acoustic guitar apply to archtops.

[jbraun002]

Is it a solid wood archtop? If so, just follow the same procedures you'd do with a good acoustic (use a humidifier, avoid exposing it to extreme temps, etc.).

There's nothing special about archtops that makes caring for them different from caring for any nice guitar, except that folks tend not to think of archtops with pickups as acoustic guitars and sometimes forget they need the same love flattop guitars get.

[acci]

Odd, I didn't get email notification of the replies

Thanks everybody for the responses.

I'd imagine any after-market tuner is going to be of a higher quality than what's in there now, and I would strongly prefer to not have to do any drilling. I don't have any specific brand in mind and don't mind shelling out some dough.

The picture is accurate. Giving a closer look, it looks like there is just a washer and a nut on the face of the headstock, but no screw to go into the guitar.

I will do some research on stewmac - in the meantime, if anybody has additional suggestions on specific tuners that will fit the bill, lemme know...

[acci]

Looks like this may work: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/G..._Machines.html

I guess the sure thing would be to remove one of my tuners and measure it to make sure everything matches.