D'Addario Clip On Micro Tuner...repair discussion?

UkeStuff

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
2,773
Reaction score
503
Location
Twin Cities Area, Minnesota
I bought a pair of D'Addario clip on micro tuners after seeing positive reviews about them from Barry Maz and Cool Cat Ukes. Even with the discussion of buzzing units, I liked them (put scotch tape on one to stop the buzzing).

I had one on my Martin S1, until one day I pulled it out of the bag and the tuner fell off...

It turns out that the "L" that holds it to the ukulele broke in the middle of the longer part of the 'L" making it a tuner without a way to attach it to the ukulele.

I contacted D'Addario, and they are sending out replacement units--which is excellent customer service. They do not sell replacement parts for the tuners.

However, I am still left with one tuner with a top mounting piece and no "L". I don't want to throw it out.

So...a couple of questions:

Has anyone tried using 3D printing to make a new "L" or would anyone be interested in such as task?

If not...does anyone have a non-working D'Addario micro tuner on which the "L" is still intact and would be willing to send to me?

Or does someone have everything BUT a working tuner and would want the tuner itself?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

image2.JPG
image1.jpg
 
I bought a pair of D'Addario clip on micro tuners after seeing positive reviews about them from Barry Maz and Cool Cat Ukes. Even with the discussion of buzzing units, I liked them (put scotch tape on one to stop the buzzing).

I had one on my Martin S1, until one day I pulled it out of the bag and the tuner fell off...

It turns out that the "L" that holds it to the ukulele broke in the middle of the longer part of the 'L" making it a tuner without a way to attach it to the ukulele.

I contacted D'Addario, and they are sending out replacement units--which is excellent customer service. They do not sell replacement parts for the tuners.

However, I am still left with one tuner with a top mounting piece and no "L". I don't want to throw it out.

So...a couple of questions:

Has anyone tried using 3D printing to make a new "L" or would anyone be interested in such as task?

If not...does anyone have a non-working D'Addario micro tuner on which the "L" is still intact and would be willing to send to me?

Or does someone have everything BUT a working tuner and would want the tuner itself?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

View attachment 101028
View attachment 101029

I have a broken Snark tuner that I have kept around for too long. Tried to fix it with super glue and failed. It should be thrown out. Uh oh, I still have it. Don't be pathetic like me, just toss it out and buy a new one.
 
No, keep it! Carry it in your pocket and use it (surreptitiously) on odd and sundry humming or chiming gadgets and machinery. Amaze your family, colleagues, pupils and friends with your pitch identification prowess superpower. ;)

bratsche
 
Same thing happened to me.

On the tuner 'brain' I shaved off and sanded down the tiny flange post on the 'bottom' of the tuner 'brain' and then found a spring-loaded clip intended for potato chip bags that could open wide enough (about 1.25") and had a rubber inside edge fo the clamp part (found a dozen at the local dollar store) and then used hot-melt glue to fix the tuner to the chip clip's arm about midway between the jaws that hold and the part that you squeeze.

Now the D'Addarop NS-Micro can easily be moved to other instruments.

Just be careful not to get glue near where the battery slot is, otherwise you'll never get the battery out to change it when it dies. All you need on the bottom of the tuner is dab of hot-glue about the size of 2 peas, and then press and hold it on the chip clip until it cools off, about 10 mins...

if you already have the hot-glue gun and the hot glue, this repair cost me a dollar and about 15 mins of time. Otherwise my dollar store also sells a hot-glue starter kit, so the repair cost goes up to $2, and you can use the hot-glue kit for other projects...

It's not pretty, but it works fine, and nobody is every going to look at it but me. :)

Edited to add: BTW, this was not my original idea, I asked my friend Booli and he told me that was what he did, and I just duplicated it after seeing his in person.
 
Last edited:
If you search Boolis post he had removed the "L" arm and attach it to the unit with some kind of putty. Sorry but I only remember reading about that and can't remember when and where. Konamike was involved in the conversation and he had done something similar. Maybe send him a PM, Booli has gone AWOL, hope everything is ok.
 
I would think a machine shop should be able to replicate that part, aluminum or titanium, either would be nice ..
 
Top Bottom