I’ve found myself playing and few songs that require drop tuning and would like to get one if these for my E string. Tried to find info about them on a TRBX174 in particular, but no luck.
Anyone have this combination? Any fitment issues?
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Call Hipshot. I have a TRBX304 and the tuners are most likely mass sourced and they’ll have one that’ll work. 607-532-9404 • Info@Hipshot.com
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I have Hipshot Extenders on all my basses and use them almost daily … for the few Drop D songs I play.
Love them!
Hipshot was slow to answer my requests, but @howard might say something about the size that fits a Yamaha. If you know that, it will be easy to find something fitting…
EDIT you might have 14mm holes on your Yamaha, see: Yamaha TRBX174 replacement tuning machines? - #3 by MikeC
If this is true, my Hipshot GB7 Bass Extender would fit. Note that they look a little different and require you to drill a new hole for the screw. No biggy!
There might be other ones that have the same look as your tuners and do not require drilling for the screws, like the Hipshot Ultralite Xtender HE6 Clover 3/8 Bass Tuning Machine
Note that there are two variations: one for 1/2" and one for 3/8"!
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Thanks. Yeah, the GB7 is a good match aesthetically, which is nice but not necessary. Hipshots website is strange. I don’t know if the product descriptions are vague or I’m just too much of a noob to decipher them. There’s a fair few different Extenders to choose from, I’m not really sure what the differences exactly are.
And the same tuners on eBay sell for $50-75 vs the $125+ on Hipshot’s site. I don’t know if that is Hipshot protecting their vendors, knockoffs on eBay or what’s up with that.
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I got mine very cheap (ca 80€) on Amazon Germany, but sent from Amazon US.
No knock-off!
The Hipshot Website s#cks totally 
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Nope, no idea, but should be easy to google.
One thing to bear in mind is that at least for the ultralites there are two versions, the USA and the International. The USA’s are machined aluminum while the Internationals are cast zinc. If this matters to you, that might be one reason for the diff.
My usual advice for the XTender is to skip it. Detuning and retuning takes seconds to do accurately once you practice for like 5 mins.
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This is the advice of most people here, many that are long time players!
Better ignore me
As for the hipshot gb7: it’s a modified gotoh gb707…
My beef is that it’s $500 for a set… I could put that towards a second bass instead.
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No, it’s about 80€ … a bass extender typically gets installed for the E String only.
I seem to be the only fan of bass extenders here
I play in drop c as much as I do in standard and drop d so I’d want a full set.
The GB7 Bass Xtender™ is recommended in their FAQ for the Yamaha TRBX304 and I see no reason it’s any different for the 174 or the 604
It’s also listed at $143 on hipshot’s site for the black version. I hadn’t thought to check to see if it was one of those inflated prices. That almost tempts me to say screw them anyhow… $572 direct, $412 from a reseller on amazon…
Still a lot of money that could go towards a new bass to keep at a different tuning with a set of higher gauge strings that’ll sound better.
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You just need to give Bezos some money to pay for a new haircut:
Ah, I read about a two mode bass extender (“Doublestop Lever”) - that should do it!?
I don’t think I’d set up a whole bass with Extenders on every string. I think I’d just get a 5 or 6 string at that point. But I also don’t want to have to pick up a different guitar when the song or my mood changes.
$50ish bucks to put a toggle on my E string isn’t enough money to bother me. Can’t take the wife out to a dinner and a movie for 50 bucks, and I get to keep the tuner for years to come.
I’ve certainly wasted money on worse things and it seems more practical than buying another guitar. I’ve only got one set of hands…
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yeah… cept I want the black one which is $20 more expensive for some reason.
Add another $35 bucks + tax to each one… 
That 5 string or dedicated BEAD bass is sounding just as tempting
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Yeah, I would NEVER get a bass extender if I were somebody else
But … the Bass Extender solves really only Drop D situations. For other tunings a 5 string surely is much better!!!
I had a 5 string shortly and was totally confused by the fifth string, but I am old and senile, so that might be the reason!?
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lol, I need to go try a 5 string at the store first see how much my brain balks at the concept.
I just hate to do that when I have no intention to buy what they got…
There’s nothing at all wrong with them, but it’s just so easy to do without them that unless you are playing live with no break, or planning mid-song tuning changes, then there’s little point.
But GAS isn’t about having a point