What Are Peghead Tuners?

johninmass

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Can someone explain what Peghead Tuners are? I hear this tuner mentioned over and over again, but I don't know what they are. What are the pros and cons over regular geared tuners?
 
I have had a few ukes with Pegheds. The short answer is they are planetary geared tuners that many people feel look better on ukes because they are more similar to traditional friction pegs. Gotoh now also makes UPTs, another planetary geared system very similar to banjo tuners; the tuners look very different, but use the same basic gearing system. Pegheds are very good tuners, but I find myself preferring the UPTs.

Neither of these systems is inherently better for good tuning than the guitar-style tuners many newer ukes have; the preference for them is largely aesthetic.
 
Thank you both, good info! I have UPTs installed on my Kamaka and I love them. I now know enough about Pegheads to not shy away for them.
 
In addition to looks, as has already been pointed out, Pegheds are often chosen for weight. They are super-light, and can help maintain balance on very light ukuleles. That said, unless it is a very lightly built soprano (or maybe concert), most people won't notice the weight difference between the Pegheds and the UPT's. Both work great and are excellent choices.

-Steve
 
The replies to your question have been very accurately answered. Some do not like knobs sticking out the side both for looks and how it makes some cases not fit.. A ukulele does not need a 16:1 ratio geared tuner. 4:1 is adequate. PEGHEDS come with two different lengths of shafts. One is 27.5mm and the other is 19mm. If you measure the thickness of your headstock, you can see how much will stick out the back of it. The grip adds another 17mm to the very end of the tuner. Is there a warranty on the UPTs? PEGHEDS has a verrrrrry long warranty.
 
I have PEGHEDS on my tenor Fluke and Gotoh UPT-L's on my concert Flea that I installed myself easily.

I prefer the look of the PEGHEADS, but prefer the feel of the UPT's. They both have 4:1 tuning ratio, and are very light on the headstock, and a gigantic improvement over the standard screw-tension-adjusted friction tuners that I find nearly impossible to use without the accompanying profanity due to the slighty-over/slightly-under tuning result if using them.

Right now the PEGHEDS and UPT-L's are about the same price ~$60 for a set, but the installation of the PEGHEADS requires a bit more care, precision, patience and finesse while using a tapered reamer, while OTOH the Gotoh UPT-L's simply require a sharp 8mm drill bit, that can be turned by hand (with a T-handle) to enlarge the hole.

I think it's great that we have more choices now. :)
 
I really like the look of the peg heads without the need of the otherwise standard collar. It just seems better proportioned to a ukulele headstock. That was my immediate reaction upon first seeing them and without knowing anything about them.

Having to decide between them and the Gotohs is the kind of problem I'd like to have on my mind if I ever get my choice of problems.

On a Moore Bettah headstock who would want to give up any real estate beyond minimal requirement?

Jeff
 
Some ukulele player on this site sells both shaft lengths for $55.00 for a set of four. Shipping by priority mail is $6 to anywhere in the USA. He also has them for guitars and banjos as well. He is the only source for short 5th string PEGHEDS which work in a banjo with or without a truss rod. A set of 5 is $75 plus the same $6 shipping cost
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There are only two sources for the shorter 19mm shaft PEGHEDS. The FLEA/FLUKE site and thecraftedcow@comcast.net
 
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