Dad's old NorMa parlor guitar has bent old cruddy tuning machines- a single set of three on each side. What's a good budget replacement brand?

[Eggs_n_Ham]

It's me again. Whilst cleaning dad's old guitar from the '70's I realized the tuners are really in bad shape and super cheap. I'd like to replace them with a decent budget priced set.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I'm not sure you can go wrong, budget-wise, with Grovers.

 

[baconsalad]

As a canuck, I'll give a shout-out to graph-tech https://graphtech.com/
They may not be gotohs but they aren't priced like them either.

 

[Wiggy]

I would first disassemble them and try to straighten, clean, polish, and lube before I gave up. They don't look that bad to me.

You don't have to remove the plates. Just remove the round gears and do all of the above.
(Look carefully for any washers and their placement... take closeup pics to help reassemble.)

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I would first disassemble them and try to straighten, clean, polish, and lube before I gave up. They don't look that bad to me.

I agree. I used just a drop of model train lubricant on my similar open-backed tuners, which made a huge & lasting difference. I’ve since been told that the sort of graphite powder that is sold in tiny tubes at craft store will do the same.

 

[ploverwing]

As a canuck, I'll give a shout-out to graph-tech https://graphtech.com/
They may not be gotohs but they aren't priced like them either.

Cool! I didn't know GraphTech was not only Canadian but based in Delta! I shall look a lot more closely at these as an alternative to my friction tuners which are annoying me.