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I recently bought a black Ibanez Mikro. Does anyone know what kind of machine heads come stock on this guitar?
First off, I want to understand how they rate. I assume they're fairly low end, because, well, the Mikro is not an expensive guitar, and nothing comes for free, right? I really like the overall feel and fit of the guitar (the neck feels especially nice in my hands), but I'm having doubts about some of the hardware. Oh well - it's a budget guitar, right?
Secondly, and more importantly, I want to get some opinions on the potential usefulness of upgrading them. Like a lot of other players of short scales, I think I'm having trouble getting the Mikro to stay in tune. I'm still waiting to see if I just need to let the strings settle in (I've now tuned it twice, stretched the strings a bit with my fingers by pulling gently but firmly away from the fretboard, let it sit for a day or two - I've done that twice now). If that doesn't work I'll probably try putting some 10s or even 11s on it (I believe they come with 9s - can anyone confirm this?). Higher string tension should help resolve this, right?
If all that fails, I may have to look into new machine heads, probably the Grover 406C6 Rotomatic Mini 6 in Line Self Locking Machine Heads. Can someone explain to me exactly what the difference is between these and what I already have? These are described as self-locking. I guess that means that mine are not? Are mine the kind that rely just on tension and friction to hold the string at its tuning?
Much thanks for any help you can give.