Switching tuners

I've been buying Japanese Squires when I can find them. The first thing I do is ditch the tuners and put on Klusons. Just learned how to ream the headstock for Klusons.

My question is, I've been told that you cannot use Klusons if the original tuners are locking tuners. Whatever you replace them with must also be a tuner of the locking variety. True? It kind of limits my choices for new tuners. Going for the vintage look so anything other than Klusons really doesn't look the part.

I don't see why you couldn't replace locking tuners with a vintage style.

o Maybe the vintage style won't cover the mounting holes in the back of the neck. Big deal - fill them with wood putty if it bothers you.

o Maybe the staggered locking tuners were used without string trees. Big deal - get string trees.

Nope... no reason I can think of that won't have some solution or another.

o Maybe the staggered locking tuners were used without string trees. Big deal - get string trees.

That's it. The stagger on locking tuners eliminate the need for string trees.

Typically the sealed tuners require a bigger mounting hole than the vintage style tuners, but you can get a special bezel that is made to use in the larger hole, then you can install the vintage style tuners.
Stewart McDonald, among other places, sells the adaptor bezels and the tuners.